The financial reward for environmental performance in the energy sector

This article studies the financial reward for environmental performance of firms in the energy sector. Because of their substantial impact on environment, energy sector firms convey a particular status in the environmental–financial performance question, as compared with firms outside this sector. We use the environmental scores compiled by Kinder, Lyndenberg, and Domini Research and Analytics to construct two portfolios that differ in their environmental performance. We find that, between 2000 and 2011, energy sector firms with good environmental performance financially outperform energy sector firms with poor environmental performance. A portfolio strategy with a long (short) position in energy sector firms with good (poor) environmental performance generates an annual abnormal return of 9.624% after correcting for market, size, book-to-market and momentum risks. For firms outside the energy sector, the performance of the two portfolios is statistically insignificant. Using the VIX index, we also show that the market does not reward environmental performance of energy sector firms in periods of high financial uncertainty.