Ο ρόλος του ESG στις επενδυτικές αποφάσεις και η εξέλιξή του μετά την εμφάνιση της πανδημίας COVID-19
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Keywords
Αειφορία ; Ε.Κ.Ε. ; Βιώσιμες επενδύσεις ; ESG ; COVID-19 ; Επενδυτικές αποφάσεις ; Γενικός Δείκτης Τιμών Χ.Α. ; Athex ESGAbstract
2020 was without a doubt a year which will be very hard to forget. The rapid spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and the silence of the imposed isolation triggered a period of rapid changes, creating a domino effect that testa the resilience of society and the economic system till this day.
The instability caused directly affected the investment world. After the jerky reactions of the first months, investors began to realise that sustainable investments, in addition to an ethical investment approach, could constitute the protection shield in physical shock, supporting longterm positive impacts. However, interest in the long-term sustainability of investments was
nothing new. A company’s ESG performance has long been an indicator for measuring the overall corporate responsibility of an organisation and in 2020 it helped transform it from a relatively specific strategy into one of the most important developments in the investment landscape.
This study aims to depict the path from the introduction of the concept of Social Business and Sustainability to the adoption of ESG criteria in investment decisions, with completeness, clarity and validity. With the help of academic literature and organisations’ official websites, the way that ESG factors meet modern investment concerns before and after the pandemic is
examined on the one hand, and on the other hand how their institutionalisation in the financial system takes place. Reference is also made to ESG corporate disclosure and the efforts of states and global organisations to provide adequate guidance and legislative frameworks. The investment interest in the benefits of sustainable investment is studied, with a review of systematic and independent academic studies and published primary research, before and after nodal 2020. The work is completed with an empirical study, which investigates companies listed on the Athens Stock Exchange. More specifically, the change, over 52 weeks, in the share price and financial indices of the 17 companies in the Athex Composite Share Price index, which do not disclose ESG information, is compared to the 47 companies in the Athex ESG Index. Comments on the results, conclusions and suggestions for future research are presented at the end of this study.