Together with Matthew Kahn, I have revised our paper on commercial building energy consumption, now titled “Energy Consumption and the Durable Building Stock: The Capital Vintage Paradox.” We have documented evidence that tenants in newer buildings and tenants in higher quality buildings consume more electricity on hotter days than cooler days. This finding implies that peak demand will increase with the rejuvenation of the commercial building stock, which augments the impact of climate change on electricity consumption.

Does it pay for businesses to act morally? That is the subject of research of Tobias Gössling, Assistant Professor of Organization Studies at Tilburg University, Netherlands. In this video, he outlines that there is hardly any evidence for a general negative impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on business performance. He explains this using three theories: the market explanation, the finance market explanation and the labor market explanation.

Tackling building retrofits is crucial if the EU is to meet its ambitious 2020 energy and climate goals: improving energy efficiency by 20% and achieving a 20% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report, “Investing in energy efficiency in Europe’s buildings: a view from the construction and real estate sectors”, explores how companies in the EU building sector approach energy-efficiency investments. The financial crisis, which has caused downward pressure on real estate valuations across much of the EU, has highlighted the need for renovation of existing building stock.

“We quantify what is typically considered to be qualitative.” That’s how Chief Analyst Ric Marshall explains simply how his company GMI Ratings has developed environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk models. “We regard ESG issues as a set of additional factors that can also be rated — that’s our job.” In this video, he explains how GMI’s Accounting and Governance Risk ratings do the exact opposite. “We try to judge the quality of those numbers. Rather than looking to see if they simply add up, we look to see if they tell a story about the possibility of fraud or manipulation in the numbers themselves.”

The paper “Investing in mutual funds: does it pay to be a saint or a sinner in times of crisis?” investigates the performance of US equity funds that employ different stock selection criteria: religious, social and ‘irresponsible’ criteria. The study contributes to the ongoing debate whether it is possible to consider social issues without sacrificing financial performance. The findings suggest that during periods of crisis, socially responsible companies might provide better investments.