Science-based emission targets neither hurt nor improve stock prices of S&P 500 companies
- Replication materials here
Companies have announced greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. To address claims about greenwashing, about 4,000 have submitted these targets to a nonprofit organization, Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), for verification. Our examination of quarterly share prices of S&P 500 companies for the period 2013-2022 suggests that verification neither hurts nor supports companies’ stock market prices, irrespective of whether their target was consistent with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C aspirational goal or higher.
Are wind turbines the new smokestacks? Restrictive renewable energy land-use ordinances across U.S. counties, 2010-2022.
Renewable energy (RE) facilities provide a global public good of climate mitigation but impose local costs such as landscape disruption and harming the rural character. Because of their land-intensive nature, utility-scale RE facilities tend to be located in rural areas with plentiful and cheap land. In the U.S., about every fourth county (729 of 3,143) has enacted ordinances restricting the siting of RE facilities. Drawing on a novel dataset of county-level restrictions on wind and solar RE facilities for the period 201o-2022, we explore whether levels of ruralness motivate the onset of such restrictions. We find support for this hypothesis for wind energy facilities only, probably because wind facilities with their huge turbines tend to stand out in the rural landscape and are visible from long distances. We also find that counties are more likely to adopt restrictions for both wind and solar facilities when adjacent counties have enacted them, thereby suggesting a contagion effect in the onset of restrictions. Contrary to the prevalent view on partisanship in climate policy, liberal counties are likely to restrict wind facilities.