Abstracts Engineering

Show Your Hand : A Quantitative Study of ESG Disclosure in Connection with Financial Performance of Swedish Real Estate Firms

by Erik Andersson

Several studies have been conducted with the purpose to investigate the connections between real estate financial performance and ESG performance, mostly on asset level. The literature on ESG disclosure and real estate financial performance is not as explored. On portfolio level there have been different studies investigating if the number of green buildings affects the financial performance of real estate companies, yielding different results which shows that more attention is required in the research area. This paper has investigated disclosure of certified properties in Swedish real estate companies as well as EPRA sBPR participation and effects on the total return index of individual stocks. Panel data models are constructed using daily trading data from fifteen Swedish real estate companies. The results of the analysis indicate that there are positive signs associated with disclosure of green properties and in being part of organizations with clear sustainable ambitions, however the fact that there is not an overwhelming consistency in the results of all models can be seen as a signal that there is still uncertainty in the market around the usefulness of implementing information on certified buildings. For participation in EPRA sBPR a positive effect is found, being significant with cluster robust standard errors. For receiving a sBPR award the effect is slight but positive which is in line with previous findings. It still seems that there is disagreement in the business world on the paths to choose to efficiently incorporate ESG into business decisions. The results of this paper indicating that returns of real estate stocks are only in some cases significantly conditioned by green factors can also reflect this general level of uncertainty in the market. Ett flertal studier har genförts i syfte att undersöka förhållandet mellan fastigheters finansiella prestanda och ESG prestanda, mestadels på tillgångsnivå. Litteraturen om ESG information och finansiell information för fastigheter är inte lika utforskad. På portfolionivå har olika studier undersökt om antalet gröna byggnader påverkar den finansiella prestanda hos fastighetsbolag, vilket gett olika resultat vilket visar att mer uppmärksamhet för forskningsområdet är nödvändigt. Det här examensarbetet undersöker information om certifierade fastigheter för svenska fastighetsbolag såväl som EPRA sBPR deltagande och effekter på totalavkastningsindexet för individuella aktier. Panel datamodeller konstrueras med hjälp av dagliga handelsdata från femton svenska fastighetsbolag. Resultaten av analysen visar på att det finns positiva tecken associerad med information om gröna fastigheter och att delta i organisationer med tydliga hållbara ambitioner. Samtidigt så visar inkontinensen i resultaten av alla modeller indikationer på att det fortfarande är osäkerhet på marknaden med användbarheten av att offentliggöra information om certifierade byggnader. För deltagande i EPRA sBPR så observeras en positiv effekt som är signifikant med kluster robusta…