Climate Values Discovery 

69 Pages Posted: 10 Oct 2023 Last revised: 17 Apr 2025

See all articles by Zacharias Sautner

Zacharias Sautner

University of Zurich - Department of Finance; Swiss Finance Institute; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Laurence van Lent

Frankfurt School of Finance and Management

Grigory Vilkov

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management

Ruishen Zhang

The University of Hong Kong

Date Written: October 9, 2023

Abstract

Fund flows and capital allocations increasingly reflect values-driven, pro-social investor preferences alongside profit motives. We examine how analysts discuss values-related climate concerns in earnings calls using a computational linguistics framework.  The frequency of values-oriented climate questions increased over time. Analysts do not exhibit a fixed tendency toward green issues; only 3% of the variance in climate and climate values questions stems from individual traits. Portfolios that incorporate insights from values questions earn higher returns due to investor flow effects and also exhibit better environmental performance. For analysts, specialization in climate values discovery correlates with career progression, shaping their professional trajectories.

Keywords: Climate change, earnings calls, financial analysts, value and values discovery, analyst careers

JEL Classification: G18, G32, G38, Q54, Q55

Suggested Citation

Sautner, Zacharias and van Lent, Laurence and Vilkov, Grigory and Zhang, Ruishen, Climate Values Discovery  (October 9, 2023). TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency Working Paper Series No. 136, Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper No. 23-92, HKU Jockey Club Enterprise Sustainability Global Research Institute - Archive, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4596668 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4596668

Zacharias Sautner (Contact Author)

University of Zurich - Department of Finance ( email )

Plattenstr 32
Zurich, 8032
Switzerland

Swiss Finance Institute ( email )

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

Laurence Van Lent

Frankfurt School of Finance and Management ( email )

Adickesallee 32-34
Frankfurt am Main, 60322
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.laurencevanlent.org

Grigory Vilkov

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management ( email )

Adickesallee 32-34
Frankfurt am Main, 60322
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.vilkov.net

Ruishen Zhang

The University of Hong Kong ( email )

Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong, Pokfulam HK
China

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,285
Abstract Views
3,701
Rank
34,231
PlumX Metrics