Transparency and divestment: the impact of a public database about insurers' carbon-intensive investments on their portfolio choices

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Zhang, Xiao
• 署名单位: Shanghai University of Finance & Economics
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ACCOUNTING STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1380-6653; 1573-7136
• DOI: 10.1007/s11142-025-09928-x
• 发表日期: 2026-03
• 页码: 37-73
• 关键词: Information processing costs; TRANSPARENCY; Carbon-intensive investments; Climate risk information; INSURANCE INDUSTRY; portfolio choices; G11; G14; G22; Q5; SOCIAL-RESPONSIBILITY; investor attention; INFORMATION; reputation; press

摘要

In 2016, the California Department of Insurance introduced a public database of carbon-intensive holdings of certain California-licensed insurers. The database lowers the cost to external stakeholders of assessing insurers' carbon investments by removing the need to analyze complex statutory filings. Using a difference-in-differences design, I find that, after the introduction of the database, affected insurers (i.e., those included in the database) reduce their carbon-intensive holdings by approximately 14% relative to unaffected insurers. The reduction is more pronounced for insurers with harder-to-process statutory filings, greater public visibility, or operations in states with more climate-conscious stakeholders. In terms of insurers' divestment consequences, I find that affected portfolio firms reduce bond offerings and capital expenditures following the database's introduction. Overall, my findings suggest that enhancing transparency on institutions' carbon-intensive investments helps redirect capital away from the carbon economy.