Sustainability is a broad concept where sustainability factors have become more fundamental during the recent years. However, the importance of these factors has not been as central when explaining stock returns. Thus, we perform this study with the aim to investigate the relationship between sustainability factors and financial performance. Specifically, by investigating the relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) variables and risk premiums. This is evaluated during the period 2014 to 2021, based on stocks included in the MSCI ACWI index. The explanatory variables are used as different levels of sustainability factors, where they reach from ESG scores at the top, down to raw data points at the bottom. To investigate this relation, Panel regression is used, which is a common method when analyzing data including both time series and cross-sectional data. Further, we evaluate if the dependencies vary across sectors, different market performance periods, time periods, and geographical regions. The results obtained show a clear general trend, that sustainability factors have had a positive impact on financial performance. However, this result diverges depending on sectors, time periods, regions, and market performance. Further, we see an increasingly positive effect from sustainability factors over time, and differences arise when analyzing individual sectors. To sum up, from results, we can not conclude that highly ranked companies, in the shape of ESG scores, have yielded higher risk premiums over the observed period.  Based on that the relation has diverged during different time periods, which implies that further outcomes become more unreliable. The relationship between sustainability factors and financial performance is not the same in all sectors, which opposes the general result. We recommend that investors should be aware when investing sustainably because sectors and time periods have a great impact on potential outcomes. / Hållbarhet är ett väldigt brett begrepp, där flertalet hållbarhetsfaktorer under senaste åren har fått en större betydelse inom finans. Hållbarhetsfaktorer är dock oftast inte lika centralt när det kommer till att förklara avkastning. Därför genomförs denna studie för att undersöka relationen mellan hållbarhetfaktorer och finansiell prestationsförmåga, mer specifikt genom att undersöka sambandet mellan ESG variabler och riskpremier, vilket undersöks under perioden 2014 till 2021 på företag som är inkluderade i MSCI ACWI index. Som förklarande variabler används olika nivåer av hållbarhetsfaktorer, där skalan sträcker sig från sammanvägda poäng högst upp till rådatapunkter längst ner. För att undersöka denna relation används Panel regression, vilket är vanligt förekommande i studier som undersöker data som innehåller både tidsserier samt tvärsektioner, vilket även kallas för Panel data. Vidare undersöker även studien ifall detta samband varierar beroende på sektorer, geografiska regioner, tidsperioder och olika marknadsfaser. De erhållna resultaten visar en tydlig generell linje, att hållbarhetsfaktorer har haft en positiv påverkan på finansiell prestanda. Dock uppstår divergenser beroende på vilken tidsperiod, region och marknadsprestanda och sektor som analyseras. Resultatet påvisar att den positiva effekten från hållbarhetsfaktorer ökar över tiden, samt att den uppstår tydliga skillnader beroende på vilken sektor som analyseras. Slutligen, från resultatet, kan vi inte dra slutsatsen att högt rankade företag, i form av ESG scores, har generellt generat högre riskpremier under den observerade tidsperioden. Detta baserat på att hållbarhetsfaktorers påverkan har divergerat över den observerade tidsperioden, vilket betyder att framtida utfall blir mer oberäkneliga. Samtidigt är relationen mellan hållbarhetsfaktorer och finansiell prestanda inte den samma över sektorer, vilket går emot det generella resultatet. Vi rekommenderar därför investerare att vara varsamma vid investeringar baserade på hållbarhetsfaktorer, där sektorer och tidsperioder har centrala roller i potentiella utfall.

Sustainability and finance should go hand in hand. A financial system that supports sustainablegrowth is necessary for the transition to a carbon-free society. Environmental, Social andGovernance (ESG) is a sustainability performance measurement used worldwide. Previousresearch within the ESG area has mainly focused on ESG score and financial performance.Environmental performance gets more attention from investors, and the Nordic countries areall in the top five when it comes to sustainability ranking. This research examines the relationbetween sustainability ratings (E score and ESG score) in the Nordic countries as well as if therelation differs between different rating agencies. To study the relationships, a regressionanalysis was performed, and we could not draw any concrete conclusions whether low CO2emissions are associated with a higher E- or ESG score in the Nordic countries. The resultindicates that a high E- or ESG score does not seem to be associated with lower CO2 emissions.A significant result was found on the fact that the E- and ESG scores relation to CO2 aredifferent between rating agencies. However, full access to one of the rating agencies has notbeen granted, which entails some limitations and further research on the questions isrecommended.

This thesis investigates the relationship between sustainability performance and ownership structure, measured using the ESG (environmental, social and governance) rating and ownership structure divided into four different ownerships (family/founder, institutional, corporate and governmental). In the pursuit of analysing the relationship between the ESG rating and the ownership structure, this study investigates publicly listed companies within the Nordic countries.This thesis has the aim of examining if a publicly listed company can use sustainability ratings and ownership structure, to understand broader market dynamics and help the manager thru this maximise firm value. Results from this could help them and the public in decision making processes around sustainability initiatives and how these characteristics influence the Nordic market dynamics, by having a better understanding of how the ESG ratings are prioritised among different ownership structures. This knowledge would allow management and the public to better understand how the ESG rating affects firm’s sustainability value as well as how market dynamics of this information is related to the market as a whole and direct competition.Using secondary data collected from Refinitiv database and Nasdaq, this thesis is a deductive and quantitative research that analyses companies for the target year 2020. In addition, this research can be considered to be a historic study.The findings of this research indicate a causal relation between sustainability performance and ownership structure, leading to the conclusion that a different ownership structure might influence and lead to a different score on the scale of sustainability performance. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the governmental ownership structure has the highest positive effect on sustainability performance.Concluding with discussing how this research contributes to the current field of knowledge on the topic through analysing the results using the legitimacy, shareholder, stakeholder and agency theory. The results are aligned with the legitimacy theory on ownership structure and the stakeholder theory. Additionally, the shareholder and the agency theory help with explaining why some structures put less value on sustainability performance than others.From the results one can conclude that sustainability performance is of importance to a varying degree among the different ownership structures. This tells us that there is still a gap in understanding why different ownership structures engage in different sustainability initiatives and future research is needed to examine why different structures engage in it over others.

ESG investing is a hot subject in today’s world with socially responsible investments under management reaching 35.3 trillion in the beginning of 2020. Corporations today are highly affected by social and government pressure to take on corporate social responsibility. This rise in corporate social responsibility has led to a need for a deeper understanding of what lies beneath the ESG score and how this affect financial performance. In this study we disassemble the ESG score into its 10 subcategories and test how risk and financial return get affected by investing in a high scored portfolio compared to a low scored one. The study is carried out from the start of 2012 to the end of 2021. When testing our portfolios, the Fama-French five-factor model is applied, and we find results that shows that the alpha is positive and significant in 16 out of 20 portfolios. Our findings suggest that investing in low scored portfolios produce higher excess return than both the top portfolio and the market and that a portfolio consisting of low scored corporations have a higher Sharpe ratio in general than a portfolio consisting of high scored stocks. Furthermore, we find results indicating that for most of the ESG subcategories, investing in the portfolios with high ESG subcategory scores will provide significant excess return to the market.

Background: Investment in sustainability has long been said to be the future of stock trading. However, according to previous research, this has not proven to be the case. The question then is whether ESG points are significant for private investors' equity portfolios and, if not, which macroeconomic factors are important. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the market has been in a volatile state. Most market indices in the world have fallen as a result. This thesis seeks to examine the impact of this turbulent market time on ESG investment. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how portfolios built based on their Environmental, social and Governance (ESG) score perform in relation to each other during the period of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Methodology: The study is based on four portfolios in which stocks are divided depending on their ESG-score. The stocks all have an ESG-score between 1-100 and the portfolios include stocks in the intervals of 1-25, 26-50, 51-75 and 76-100.  Results: According to the method used, the ESG score has not had a significant impact on the development of the portfolios. The factors that have been most important during the time period 7/2-2022 to 7/4-2022 have turned out to be the market factor CAPM and the size factor SMB. / Bakgrund: Investering inom hållbarhet har länge sagts vara framtiden inom aktiehandel. Detta har dock enligt tidigare forskning inte visat sig vara fallet. Frågan är då om ESG-poäng är signifikant för privatinvesterares aktieportföljer och om inte, vilka makroekonomiska faktorer är det då som är viktiga. Sedan Rysslands invasion av Ukraina har marknaden varit i ett volatilt tillstånd. De flesta marknadsindex i världen har sjunkit till följd av detta. Denna uppsats strävar efter att undersöka konsekvenserna denna turbulenta tid på marknaden har på ESG-investering. Syfte: Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka hur portföljer byggda baserat på deras Environmental, social och Governance (ESG) poäng presterar relativt varandra under tiden för Rysslands invasion av Ukraina. Metod: Arbetet är baserat på fyra stycken portföljer där aktier är uppdelade utefter deras ESG-poäng. Aktierna har alla en ESG-poäng mellan 1 och 100 och portföljerna innehåller aktier i intervall om 1-25, 26-50, 5-75 och 76-100. På dessa portföljer genomfördes först en simpel linjärregressionsanalys med ESG-poäng som oberoende variabel och tillväxt som beroendevariabel. Därefter genomfördes en multipel linjär regression i form av Carharts 4-faktor modell för att undersöka vilka faktorer som har varit signifikanta i utvecklingen av de 4 portföljerna. Resultat: Enligt den använda metoden har ESG-poängen inte haft en signifikant påverkan på portföljernas utveckling. De faktorer som har varit viktigast under tidsspannet 7/2-2022 till 7/4-2022 har visat sig vara marknadsfaktorn CAPM samt storleksfaktorn SMB.

The relationship between national culture and CSR has received increased attention over the past few decades. However, to date, the results of this relationship are inconclusive as they show positive, negative, and non-significant results. Moreover, the results are outdated as only the first four dimensions of the Hofstede framework have been researched thoroughly, while the two newest dimensions have received very little attention with regards to their relationship to CSR. The key objective of this study is to contribute to the debate by testing the influence of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity, long-term orientation, and indulgence on CSR. This is done by analyzing 215 companies from 23 different countries, which are on the Forbes 2000 list. Furthermore, the moderating role of state of development is assessed in this context, by using the distinction made in the MSCI ACWI Index. By conducting a moderated multiple regression analysis, mixed results were found on the influence of national culture on CSR, which could be ascribed to a difference in sample. Moreover, the influence of state of development was not significant in the main regression, however, it gave interesting opportunities for future research. The findings of this study thereby add to the body of knowledge on national culture, CSR, and state of development, and provide several theoretical and managerial implications.

Aim: The purpose of the study is to investigate the connection between Nordic banks’ sustainability reporting within ESG (environmental, social and governance issues) and the impact it has on their financial performance.   Method: Quantitative data was obtained for 22 public companies for the years 2020-2022 from the Refinitiv Eikon database. The data was then analyzed using Pearson’s correlation test, VIF-test and three multiple regression analyzes through the statistical program IBM SPSS.   Result and conclusion: The study’s results show a weak negative correlation between the ESG-score and the companies’ financial performance. The study finds the strongest significant negative correlation between return on equity (ROE) and ESG-score, where ROE decreases by 12,6% when ESG increases by one unit. The result of the study shows that there is a weak negative relationship between the ESG-score and the banks return on total capital and return on equity. The relationship between ESG’s subcomponents also show a weak negative relationship to the banks return on total capital and return on equity. Finally, the result also shows a weak negative relationship between the bank's market performance and return on total capital and return on equity.    Contribution of the thesis: As the purpose of the study is to study what connection there is between ESG and the financial performance of Nordic banks, the study addresses a research gap as previous studies have not limited themselves to this geographical area. The study thus contributes to research within the subject of business economics. The result consistently shows a negative relationship between ESG and financial performance, which may be of interest to investors and stakeholders as previous research did not establish this result for the area concerned.   Suggestions for future research: A proposal for future research is to measure ESG’s impact on profitability in other industries with an environmental impact and in other countries. Future studies can also choose a qualitative research method to study in depth the impact ESG has on the companies, this because the quantitative research method with the collection of short-term data does not go in depth with this.

Sustainability is a topic that has gained significant traction over the last decade. To ensure that we meet the needs of the present without compromising future generations' needs, this study examines the relationship between ESG (environmental, social and governmental) scores and external demographic pressure in an attempt to examine the relationship and a direction between the two. The primary purpose is to investigate whether external demographic pressure drives corporate sustainability. The study uses Age, Education, Gender and Income as variables for demographic pressure, where Age implies median age, Education tertiary attainment, Gender distribution of the sexes, and Income GNI per capita. Through utilizing a quantitative method, ESG scores have been collected from the Thomson Returns Eikon database, and for the demographic factors The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and the World Bank have been used.  To produce a model that works globally, a global sample has been used, with the majority of the companies based in western countries. The theoretical models Behavioural Finance, Stakeholder Theory and Agency Theory have been used to analyse the underlying dynamics of the relationships between demographic pressure and corporate sustainability performance. The conclusion is that such a relationship exists, and more specifically, that all four variables used display statistically significant effects on ESG scores. However, our results diverge from previous research on corporate sustainability performance, suggesting that higher Age in a population increases ESG scores, while higher numbers of males to females, higher education level, and higher income level decreases corporate sustainability performance.  The conclusion of this study contributes to new knowledge of sustainability and an expanded understanding of the role of demographic factors in corporate sustainability. This further suggests that sustainability should be a more integrated part in companies and civil society.

This thesis investigates the two investment strategies Dogs of Dow and The Magic Formula. We test how the strategies perform when getting weighted to ESG scores and also if they outperform OMXSPI during the years 2012-2022. What we find in our study is that when returns are risk adjusted, both Dogs of Dow and The Magic Formula and their ESG weighted portfolios outperform the benchmark during the period. We also conclude that ESG weighted portfolios yield lower returns than equally weighted Dogs of Dow and The Magic Formula portfolios. The portfolio that produce the highest return was the equally weighted Dogs of Dow portfolio. For the value at risk we find that on a five percent significant level, the portfolios observe values from -1,55% to -1,69%.

Titel: Miljökontroverser och dess påverkan på företags marknadsvärde   Nivå: Examensarbete på Grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi   Författare: Carl Tangfelt och Olivia Wikberg   Handledare: Jan Svanberg   Datum: 2021 - juni     Syfte: I dagens samhälle debatteras hållbarhet och klimat i stor utsträckning. Detta påverkar också företagen. Allt större krav från omvärlden att som företag verka hållbart föreligger, samtidigt som förekomsten av företagsskandaler successivt ökar. Hur företag bör förebygga och agera vid företagsskandaler kopplade till hållbarhet är därför en essentiell fråga. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om miljökontroverser påverkar företags marknadsvärde genom att svara på om företagens marknadsvärde påverkas negativt. Studien undersöker också om företagens synlighet har en inverkan på en eventuell effekt mellan marknadsvärde och miljökontroverser.    Metod: Studiens metod bygger på en positivistisk forskningsfilosofi med en hypotetisk-deduktiv forskningsansats. Studien karaktäriseras av en kvantitativ metod med en longitudinell design då studiens data sträcker sig mellan åren 2010–2020. Sekundärdata är insamlad från databasen Refinitiv Eikon och omfattar 133 publika företag. Data har därefter behandlats i SPSS.   Resultat & slutsats: Studiens resultat visar ett överraskande signifikant positivt samband mellan miljökontroverser och företags marknadsvärde. Resultatet tyder också på att detta samband påverkas av graden synlighet i företaget. Resultaten indikerar i och med detta att all publicitet är god publicitet gällande miljökontroverser sett ur ett marknadsvärdesperspektiv.   Examensarbetets bidrag: Studien bidrar till att fylla ett forskningsgap inom området företagskontroverser och dess finansiella påverkan på företag då marknadsvärde i förhållande till miljöskandaler inte tidigare studerats. Studien bidrar också till en ökad kunskap om hur företags förebyggande hållbarhetsarbete påverkar den finansiella prestationen och således medför insikter till företagare i det fortsatta hållbarhetsarbetet. Slutligen bidrar studien praktiskt till intressenter som har ett intresse kring företags hållbarhetsprestationer och dess finansiella påverkan på företaget.   Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Intressanta riktlinjer för fortsatt forskning i ämnet utgörs av de sociala- och styrningsmässiga ESG-dimensionerna. Framtida forskning skulle också kunna ta mer hänsyn till endogenitet samt studera den miljömässiga prestationen i förhållande till miljökontroverser och marknadsvärde.   Nyckelord: CSR, ESG-betyg, Miljökontroverser, CSP-poäng, företagsskandaler, marknadsvärde, synlighet. / Title: Environmental controversies and their impact on companies' market value   Level: Student thesis, final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration   Author: Carl Tangfelt och Olivia Wikberg   Supervisor: Jan Svanberg   Date: 2021 – June     Aim: In today's society, sustainability and climate are widely debated. This also affects companies. There are increasing demands from the outside world to operate in a sustainable way as a company, at the same time as the incidence of corporate scandals is gradually increasing. How companies should prevent and act in corporate scandals linked to sustainability is therefore an essential issue. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether environmental controversies affect companies' market value by answering whether companies' market value is negatively affected. The study also examines whether companies' visibility has an impact on a possible effect between market value and environmental controversies.   Method: The study method is based on a positivistic research philosophy with a hypothetical-deductive research approach. The study is characterized by a quantitative method with a longitudinal design as the study data extend between the years 2010–2020. Secondary data is collected from the Refinitiv Eikon database and comprises 133 public companies. Data were then processed in SPSS.   Result & Conclusions: The results of the study show a surprisingly significant positive relationship between environmental controversies and companies' market value. The results also indicate that this relationship is affected by the degree of visibility the company has. The results thus indicate that all publicity is good publicity regarding environmental controversies from a market value perspective.   Contribution of the thesis: The study contributes to fill a research gap in the area of corporate controversies and its financial impact on companies since market value in relation to environmental scandals has not been studied before. The study also contributes to an increased knowledge of how companies' preventive sustainability work affects financial performance and thus brings insights to entrepreneurs in the continued sustainability work. Finally, the study contributes practically to stakeholders who have an interest in companies' sustainability performance and its financial impact on the company.   Suggestions for future research: Interesting guidelines for further research in the subject consist of the social and governance ESG dimensions. Future research could also consider more endogenicity and study the environmental performance in relation to environmental controversies and market value.   Key words: CSR, ESG-score, Environmental controversies, CSP-score, corporate scandals, market value, visibility