Green Fund Research Articles

DEA frontier improvement and portfolio rebalancing: An application of China mutual funds on considering sustainability information disclosure

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) has been a widely used methodology for evaluating the relative performance of portfolios. Extensive work has appeared for realizing the role of DEA in the aspect of assessing portfolio performance and deriving the relative rankings. However, the role of providing realizable benchmarks is not fully explored in the existing literatures. Most importantly, the DEA-based portfolio performance evaluation methods developed in the existing literatures can hardly provide support for fund managers in pursuing sustainability performance. In this paper, we first propose a DEA frontier improvement approach under the mean-variance framework. This approach provides investor with a rebalancing strategy as well as an improved DEA frontier which approximates the portfolio efficient frontier better than the traditional DEA model does. Then, this approach is extended to a general return-risk framework. Our in-sample simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach for a wide range of applications. In addition, the out-of-sample tests show that the rebalancing investment strategies can achieve higher Sharpe ratios and Sortino ratios than those of the original ones. Finally, we apply the proposed approach to evaluate mutual fund performance in China with the consideration of sustainability information disclosure. We construct a disclosure index to indicate the extent of sustainable information disclosure of each mutual fund. The results show that the proposed approach provides not only investment recommendations, but also references for constructing sustainable green funds.

第２報告 体験から学ぶ森と川のプログラム（2016年国土緑化推進機構「緑と水の森林ファンド」助成シンポジウム：子どもと森のルネサンス─育てよう 地域の宝もの─）

第２報告 体験から学ぶ森と川のプログラム（2016年国土緑化推進機構「緑と水の森林ファンド」助成シンポジウム：子どもと森のルネサンス─育てよう 地域の宝もの─）

第１報告 都市と地域と子どもをつなぐデザイン（2016年国土緑化推進機構「緑と水の森林ファンド」助成シンポジウム：子どもと森のルネサンス─育てよう 地域の宝もの─）

第１報告 都市と地域と子どもをつなぐデザイン（2016年国土緑化推進機構「緑と水の森林ファンド」助成シンポジウム：子どもと森のルネサンス─育てよう 地域の宝もの─）

第３報告 北海道の森の恵みを都会の子どもに（2016年国土緑化推進機構「緑と水の森林ファンド」助成シンポジウム：子どもと森のルネサンス─育てよう 地域の宝もの─）

第３報告 北海道の森の恵みを都会の子どもに（2016年国土緑化推進機構「緑と水の森林ファンド」助成シンポジウム：子どもと森のルネサンス─育てよう 地域の宝もの─）

開催にあたって（2016年国土緑化推進機構「緑と水の森林ファンド」助成シンポジウム：子どもと森のルネサンス─育てよう 地域の宝もの─ ）

開催にあたって（2016年国土緑化推進機構「緑と水の森林ファンド」助成シンポジウム：子どもと森のルネサンス─育てよう 地域の宝もの─ ）

第４報告 保育園児への自然労作保育（2016年国土緑化推進機構「緑と水の森林ファンド」助成シンポジウム：子どもと森のルネサンス─育てよう 地域の宝もの─）

第４報告 保育園児への自然労作保育（2016年国土緑化推進機構「緑と水の森林ファンド」助成シンポジウム：子どもと森のルネサンス─育てよう 地域の宝もの─）

第５報告 人生の門出を木のおもちゃとともに !（2016年国土緑化推進機構「緑と水の森林ファンド」助成シンポジウム：子どもと森のルネサンス─育てよう 地域の宝もの─）

第５報告 人生の門出を木のおもちゃとともに !（2016年国土緑化推進機構「緑と水の森林ファンド」助成シンポジウム：子どもと森のルネサンス─育てよう 地域の宝もの─）

Institutional Influence, Transition Management, and the Demand for Carbon Auditing: The Chinese Experience

The primary objective of this study is to investigate factors associated with the increase in demand for carbon auditing in China. Based on an analysis of publically available carbon-related information and data, this paper documents the large scale of carbon auditing occurring in the public sector during the period from 2009 to 2013. This paper finds that the creation of carbon institutions and the significant increase in governmental green funding are the main reasons for the emergence of carbon auditing in this period. The change in models of economic development attempting to balance GDP growth and ecosystem protection, plus institutional reform has led carbon auditing from rhetoric to practice. In addition, we show that carbon auditing serves as a tool for the management of transitions and the governance of sustainable socio-technical and organizational innovation and transformation.

Environmental Performance and Financial Performance of Green Mutual Fund—Evidence from China

We compared the environmental performance and financial performance between green fund and non-green fund to explore the balance between environmental goals and financial objectives of green funds by in the context of China government’s strong advocacy of “developing green finance and setting up green development fund”. In this paper, the open-ended active fund with the shareholding ratio of over 75% is taken as the object of study. By the PSM method, 28 green funds are matched by 1:5 to obtain 140 non-green funds. Through the large sample data of 2010-2016, the results show that: 1) the green fund investment portfolio is cleaner than non-green fund. From the long-term environmental performance of the holding enterprises, the green and the non-green fund’s environmental performance and financial performance are tested empirically. Fund environmental performance is better than non-green fund. From the perspective of the short-term environmental performance of the holding enterprises, there is no difference between the environmental performance of the green fund and the non-green fund. 2) The excess return of the green fund is higher than that of the non-green fund. In the period of China’s economic transformation, green funds not only assume the responsibility of investing in environmental performance of enterprises, but also take into account its financial performance, to achieve a win-win result of low pollution and high yield.

Study on Evaluation of Carbon Accounting Information Quality in Coal-fired Power Generation Enterprises

In this paper, by selecting the 2016 annual report or social responsibility report of China's five major coal-fired power generation groups and using content analysis method to make an empirical analysis of the carbon accounting information quality, we found that the carbon accounting information disclosure quality of the five major power generation groups is at medium level. The indicators with higher scores include Pollution Emission, Low-Carbon Awareness and Green Funding. The indicators with lower scores include Carbon Emission Investment, Carbon Emission Transaction. Then, we put forward a series of countermeasures to solve the problems of carbon accounting, including improving carbon accounting research system and guidelines, raising awareness of environmental protection, strengthening social supervision, increasing government carbon emissions monitoring, and implementing a carbon accounting auditing system.

Panel Discussion (The 2016 Symposium Sponsored by “Green Fund” of the National Land Afforestation Promotion Organization, “Children and Forest Renaissance: Bringing up Regional Treasure”)

Panel Discussion (The 2016 Symposium Sponsored by “Green Fund” of the National Land Afforestation Promotion Organization, “Children and Forest Renaissance: Bringing up Regional Treasure”)

Role of Nonprofit Organizations in Creating the Local Economic System: Focus on the Social Reform Model of the Hokkaido Green Fund

Role of Nonprofit Organizations in Creating the Local Economic System: Focus on the Social Reform Model of the Hokkaido Green Fund

Cash flow timing skills of socially responsible mutual fund investors

This paper studies, for the first time, the cash flow timing skills of socially responsible (SR) mutual fund investors. Our findings show that SR investors neither worsen nor improve their returns according to their cash flow timing decisions, although they show good timing for net purchase and perverse timing for net withdrawal decisions. When controlling for fund characteristics, investors in larger, institutional, with longer mean manager tenure, lower expense ratio, no load, lower mean turnover ratio and a fee level below the average funds, show better timing results; in other words, sophisticated and better informed investors make better cash flow timing decisions. Controlling for SR strategy, green fund investors (our proxy for profit-seeking investors) had the worst results (similar to those obtained for conventional investors in the prior literature), and religious fund investors (our proxy for the values-driven profile) had results that were most different from conventional investors.

BIOBOARD

SINGAPORE – NUS Study Uncovers Novel Genetic Alterations Contributing to Development of Leukaemia. AUSTRALIA – Meat Consumption Contributing to Global Obesity. AUSTRALIA – Warmer Climate Could Lower Dengue Risk. UNITED KINGDOM – Treatment Option for Alzheimer’s Disease Possible. UNITED STATES – Hot News Flash! Menopause, Sleepless Nights Make Women’s Bodies Age Faster. UNITED STATES – Innovative Technology Improves Detection of Bladder Cancer. UNITED STATES – Research Shows New Neurons Created Through Exercise Don’t Cause You to Forget Old Memories. INDIA – Praj to be the First Indian Technology Provider to Launch ‘Green Fund’ for 2G Ethanol Projects. MALAYSIA – Tunku Laksamana Johor Cancer Foundation Partners Singapore-based Asian American Medical Group to Conduct Feasibility of Establishing Centre of Excellence in Southern Malaysia to Treat Cancer. TAIWAN – Curcumin Derivatives May Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease by Promoting Amyloid-β Clearance.

Learning to realize a more sustainable world

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (2015) established 17 targets — such as “no hunger,” “clean water” and “climate action” — to unite humanity in pursuit of a shared, prosperous future. These diverse global goals provide a universal agenda to enlist today’s learners in creatively ensuring our collective well-bring throughout their careers. How can higher education foster effective, intentional learning across courses and curricula to prepare our students to realize these global goals? George Mason University has established a diverse set of over 130 “green leaf” courses, along with regular co-curricular activities, to help our students develop their sustainability skills and practical expertise. These span a new 18-credit “sustainability pathway” through our Mason Core general education requirements and a score of undergraduate and graduate academic programs. Together, these curricula – and others Mason faculty might opt to deliver — permit students to move from first year through accelerated graduate programs while continuously building their sustainability understanding, reflection and intentionality. Meanwhile, co-curricular activities like Mason Earth Month, organic food gardening and Patriot Green Fund projects provide students opportunities to develop and apply “critical doing” skills far beyond the classroom as well.

The performance of US and European green funds in different market conditions

The effects of incorporating environmental criteria in investment decisions is of upmost importance to an increasing number of investors. This paper evaluates the performance of US and European green funds that invest globally by using conditional models that consider both time-varying performance and risk measures. The results show that green funds tend to underperform the benchmark, particularly European funds. Fund underperformance is mainly concentrated in times when short-term interest rates are lower-than-normal and in non-crisis periods. Also, the performance of green funds is higher in crisis periods compared to non-crisis periods. Furthermore, although at the aggregate level green funds that are certified with a SRI label perform similarly to green funds without a label, there are less certified funds presenting negative performance compared to non-certified funds. US green funds perform better than other socially responsible funds in times of crisis, whereas European green funds match their performance in crisis periods but underperform them in non-crisis periods. Overall, the results support the importance of using conditional models in evaluating fund performance.

Changes in bottlenose dolphin whistle parameters related to vessel presence, surface behaviour and group composition

T.G. was funded during the initial stages of this work by a NERC PhD studentship, a University of St Andrews Russell Trust Award and later the University of Pretoria Vice Chancellor's postdoctoral fellowship. Postdoctoral fellowships from the University of Pretoria and Claude Leon Foundation provided assistance to S.E. Equipment and running costs were provided by Idea Wild Fund, Professor V. Janik and the Nedbank Go Green Fund. International Master of Science in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation Programme.

A Class of Mechanisms for Financing a Green Fund Through Taxes on International Flights

In this article I propose and analyze a new class of mechanisms, called ‘Contribution Contingent Green Fund Mechanisms’. These mechanisms are based on the financing of a green fund through taxes on international flights. It has often been proposed to finance climate change mitigation (e.g. Keen, Strand 2012) or climate change adaptation (Mueller, Hepburn 2006) through taxes on international flights. However, to my knowledge it has not been explored through which mechanisms this could best be done. In part 1 we define various versions of the Contribution Contingent Green Fund (CCGF) Mechanism. The CCGF would reward countries that contribute funds to it for their climate change mitigation actions. An important aspect is whether these reward payments be based on quantities (carbon emissions) or prices (carbon prices). To obtain the payoffs in the various mechanisms we firstly estimate the matrix of emissions from international flights between all pairs of countries, secondly use available estimates for parameters in countries’ emissions abatement costs and thirdly develop models that enable us to compute the welfare effects of various aviation taxes. We compute the maximal emissions reductions that the different classes of mechanisms can achieve through Nash equilibria at which all countries participate. We also define and study an equilibrium selection concept that is based on the assumption that countries act in the participation game based on their myopic incentives. We prove some general results that suggest that the predictions obtained from this equilibrium selection concept provide a lower bound on the extent of participation that will occur.

From plastic bottle recycling to policy support: An experimental test of pro-environmental spillover

Little research has investigated the extent to which performance of one pro-environmental behavior (PEB) spills over to increase or decrease support for pro-environmental policies or the mechanisms underlying spillover effects. In this study, 283 U.S. university students were randomly assigned via situational manipulations to either recycle a water bottle, throw the bottle in the trash, or a control condition. All participants then completed surveys assessing environmental identity, guilt, and environmental worry, as well as support for a pro-environmental campus green fund. Results showed evidence for negative spillover among Democrats only, which was mediated by environmental identity: Democrats who recycled the water bottle had lower environmental identities and were less supportive of the green fund than those in the control condition. Neither Republicans nor Independents displayed spillover. The results have implications for those interested in increasing small, easy PEBs in hopes of gaining future support for environmental policies.

F. Serbia

This report aims to highlight all of the key issues for the past year in the Republic of Serbia in regard to legislative development for protecting the environment as well as the process of preparing for EU accession in accordance with Chapter 27 negotiations on environment and climate change. In 2016, Serbia adopted a new national approximation plan in which all legislation affecting the environment is to be in line with the European Union (EU) acquis by the end of 2018. Development was slowed significantly due to events related to the parliamentary election and its outcome, which took place from April to the beginning of August, as well as from other regional and self-governing body elections. The new government, as it is composed of the same parties and coalition of its prior counterpart, brought no significant changes to any ministry. Thus, no decision was reached in order to divide the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection into two respective ministries. For this reason, the same administrative issues have yet to be resolved—in particular, the budget allocation between these two areas. The absence of two distinct ministries has not proven beneficial to expediting legislation. Nevertheless, there were a number of noteworthy developments, such as several key laws being adopted and a Green Fund prescribed within newly adopted amendments to the law on environmental protection (coming into effect on 1 January 2017).