Climate Change Salience and International Equity Returns
Helen Popper  1@  , David Parsley  2@  
1 : Santa Clara University
2 : Vanderbilt University

In this study, we examine climate change salience risk in international equity markets. We find that: (1) exposure to a single, broad measure of climate change salience risk is pervasive; notably it arises regardless of firms' greenhouse gas emissions, (2) the exposure is priced–a return discount emerges for equities that perform well when climate change salience is high, and (3) the pricing is nonlinear–the return discount itself rises when the gauge of climate change salience is high. We also find that firms in countries with low weather-related losses and those in countries with high per-capita GDP exhibit greater marginal exposure to climate change salience risk. Overall, the results suggest climate change salience risk is not merely a reflection of narrowly defined stranded assets or of investor distaste for high-emission firms; instead, the findings indicate that climate change salience risk is widespread and nondiversifiable, and we interpret its pricing as reflecting a compensated risk exposure.


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