This paper examines the role of the “Big Three” (i.e., BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street Global Advisors) on the reduction of corporate carbon emissions around the world. Using novel data on engagements of the Big Three with individual firms, we find evidence that the Big Three focus their engagement effort on large firms with high CO2 emissions in which these investors hold a significant stake. Consistent with this engagement influence being effective, we observe a strong and robust negative association between Big Three ownership and subsequent carbon emissions among MSCI index constituents, a pattern that becomes stronger in the later years of the sample period as the three institutions publicly commit to tackle Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues.
Paper can be found here: sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304405X21001896.
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José Azar is an economist specializing in antitrust and corporate governance. His work studies the implications for competition of the rise of common ownership of companies by large and diversified asset managers. More recently, he has done research on labor market concentration and power. He is a member of Economics for Inclusive Prosperity (EfIP). Before joining IESE, he worked at Charles River Associates in the Antitrust and Competition Practice. He received his BA from Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Argentina, and his PhD from Princeton University.
The Amsterdam Center for Law and Economics (ACLE) is a joint initiative of the Faculty of Economics and Business and the Faculty of Law at the University of Amsterdam. The objective of the ACLE is to promote high-quality interdisciplinary research at the intersection between law and economics.