Abstract
We study the impact of climate-related patents on financial markets. We exploit the quasi-random assignment of patent examiners with different degrees of leniency as an exogenous shock in patent approvals to allow for causal interpretations. We find that firms with more lucky climate-related patents subsequently display higher positive cumulative abnormal stock returns and enjoy a lower cost of capital, compared with similarly innovative but unlucky firms. These results hold especially during periods of high attention towards climate change and for initial climate patent granting. Firms with more lucky climate-related patents also exhibit better environmental ratings and attract more responsible institutional investors. OLS regressions show that firms developing more climate-related technologies reduce more direct carbon emission intensity.
Keywords
climate-related patents; green patents; examiner leniency; climate change; implied cost of capital; ESG ratings; responsible investors; CO2 emissions.;
JEL codes
- G11: Portfolio Choice • Investment Decisions
- G23: Non-bank Financial Institutions • Financial Instruments • Institutional Investors
- G24: Investment Banking • Venture Capital • Brokerage • Ratings and Ratings Agencies
- O34: Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
Reference
Ulrich Hege, Sébastien Pouget, and Yifei Zhang, “The Impact of Corporate Climate Action on Financial Markets: Evidence from Climate-Related Patents”, TSE Working Paper, n. 23-1400, January 2023, revised April 2023.
See also
Published in
TSE Working Paper, n. 23-1400, January 2023, revised April 2023