Sustainable finance versus environmental policy: Does greenwashing justify a taxonomy for sustainable investments?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Inderst, Roman; Opp, Marcus M.
• 署名单位: Goethe University Frankfurt; Stockholm School of Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; European Corporate Governance Institute
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2024.103954
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: Greenwashing; sustainability; EU taxonomy; Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation; ESG funds; European Green Deal

摘要

Our paper analyzes whether a planner should design a taxonomy for sustainable investment products when conventional tools for environmental regulation can also be used to address externalities arising from firm production. We first show that the private market provision of ESG funds marketed to retail investors involves greenwashing, so that a mandatory taxonomy is necessary to generate real effects of sustainable finance. However, the introduction of such a taxonomy can only improve welfare, on top of optimally chosen environmental regulation, if financial frictions constrain socially valuable economic activity. Otherwise, environmental policy alone is sufficient to optimally address externalities.