When sustainability meets financial markets – SFM

The efficiency of financial markets depends on timely and accurate information about companies, including non-financial information. Sustainability reporting, which enables companies to disclose their environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities and their impact on society, is crucial for informed investment decisions and risk pricing. With the growing interest in socially responsible investing, initiatives have been developed to encourage better reporting. In Europe, for example, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) has been implemented in 2021, and in the US, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has released its long-awaited proposals on climate disclosure for US public companies. However, many companies are not voluntarily providing this information (Ilhan et al., 2023), suggesting countervailing considerations. The SFM project aims to examine different measures of corporate performance in relation to sustainability and to explore in depth the implications of sustainable reporting for corporate behaviour in general and for the secondary market in particular. The project proposes several ways to advance the importance of ESG in promoting ethical and socially responsible investment, including developing and disseminating innovative research designs, proposing new measures of ESG disclosure, and tackling greenwashing in corporate ESG reporting. The results of the SFM project will be crucial for companies, investors and policy-makers, highlighting the role of ESG in ethical investment. It can help companies understand the strategic importance of sustainability reporting, help investors assess its importance in investment decisions, and help policymakers design policies that support companies' sustainability reporting efforts.