SPEAKER：孙成竹（香港理工大学 助理教授）

TIME/DATE：2025.6.3  12:00-13:00

CLASSROOM：A505

TENCENT：707143763

PW：460014

LINK：https://meeting.tencent.com/dm/O4tiOnIOPsYH

ABSTRACT

The possibility that investment funds use the ESG-investing label to attract investment flows without making real ESG-oriented investments is a widespread concern. Exploiting the launch of the SEC’s Climate and ESG Task Force (the Task Force hereafter), we investigate whether securities regulators’ oversight disciplines the funds to “walk the talk.” We show that ESG-labelled funds improve their fund-level ESG performance after the launch of the Task Force. Such changes are more pronounced among ESG funds located closer to the SEC and those whose prospectuses have a greater emphasis on ESG issues. Further analyses reveal that ESG funds claiming negative/positive screening strategies are more likely to exclude/include stocks as suggested by their prospectuses; those claiming ESG integration strategies reduce portfolio weights of firms with negative ESG incidents; and those claiming active ownership strategies are more likely to participate in voting of environmental and social proposals and their votes are more supportive of proposals advocating greater transparency in ESG issues. We also explore how the improved ESG-oriented investments affect fund returns and fund flows. Collectively, our results suggest the effectiveness of regulatory oversight in disciplining ESG funds to “walk the ESG talk”.

GUEST BIO

Chengzhu Sun is an Assistant Professor of School of Accounting and Finance, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She obtained the Ph.D. degree in accounting in 2021 and master degree in environment in 2016 from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She also visited Columbia University for one semester during her PhD study. Her research interests center on information economics, regulations/laws, and ESG, and she teaches ESG investment and green finance at master level. Her papers have been published on Review of Financial Studies, Accounting Review, Management Science, and Contemporary Accounting Research.