Were Green Bonds Better Than Gold in Hedging Against the “Uncertainty” of the Pandemic?
A news article based on Dr Muhammad Tahir Suleman‘s working paper Green Investments: A Luxury Good or a Financial Necessity? has been featured on Institutional Investor. The authors made the point that green bonds were the “preferable safe haven” investments to hedge against market fluctuations. Read the full article from the following link:
Green Bonds Were a Better Safe Haven Than Gold During the Pandemic
Quyen and Iftekhar Accepted for Presentation at the 3rd JRC Summer School on Sustainable Finance
Dr Quyen Nguyen and Iftekhar Ahmed‘s papers have been selected for presentation at the 3rd JRC Summer School on Sustainable Finance. Dr Quyen Nguyen will presented a paper entitled “In Search of Climate Distress Risk” (co-authored by Associate Professor Ivan Diaz-Rainey and Dr Duminda Kuruppuarachchi). Iftekhar Ahmed will present the paper entitled “Expand or Avoid: Microfinance Credit Risk and Climate Vulnerability” (co-authored by Associate Professor Ivan Diaz-Rainey, Dr Dung Nguyen and Associate Professor Helen Roberts) Find out more:
JRC 3rd Summer School on Sustainable Finance
Dr. Sebastian Gehricke’s Podcast on Sustainable Investing
Dr Sebastian Gehricke joined AB and Char talking about the global change in sustainable investing. They unpacked big issues like the profitability of ethical investment strategies vs traditional approaches, and how students can make a huge impact on the planet with just a few simple steps. A podcast of their discussion is available at:
Sustainability Sussed Podcast – Episode 4. Dr Sebastian Gehricke
University of Otago New Sustainable Investment Course
Our new Sustainable Investing course starting S2 2021 provides undergraduate students with the knowledge and skills needed for a future career in this exciting and growing branch of accounting and finance. Discover more:
FINC399 Special Topic: Sustainable Investing
Paper by CEFGroup Gains International Attention
See the coverage of CEFGroup Director Associate Professor Ivan Diaz-Rainey and colleagues Dr Sebastian Gehricke, Associate Professor Helen Roberts, and Dr Renzhu Zhang‘s paper Trump vs. Paris: The impact of climate policy on U.S. listed oil and gas firm returns and volatility in Academic Times from the following link:
Trump’s Election Hurt Shares of Fossil Fuel Companies — But They’re Rallying Under Biden
Will Budget 2021 Account for Climate Costs of Policies?
CEFGroup Director, Associate Professor Ivan Diaz-Rainey, quoted in newsroom article about Budget 2021 account for climate costs of policies. He raises concerns that this has not happened before. Read the full article here
Marsden Fund Award: Climate-Change Risks to Property Values
CEFGroup Director Associate Professor Ivan Diaz-Rainey and colleagues Associate Professor Antoni Moore (School of Surveying), Dr Paul Thorsnes (Department of Economics), Dr Simon Cox (GNS Science) and Dr Greg Bodeker (Bodeker Scientific) have secured a Marsden Fund grant ($869,000) from the Royal Society of New Zealand. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is a partner in the project.
Project Title: Should I stay or should I go? Climate-change risks to property values across space and time, and the related implications for financial stability
Read more on Otago Bulletin and the ODT
CEFGroup Director on Mindful Money Sustainable Finance Forum Discussion
CEFGroup, Director Associate Professor Ivan Diaz-Rainey, was on a panel hosted by Mindful Money with Anne-Maree O’Connor (Head of Responsible Investment. New Zealand Super Fund) and Justine Sefton (Head of Sustainable Finance, KPMG) discussion Aotearoa Circle Sustainable Finance Forum Roadmap for Action Final Report 2020. See recoding of the panel here.
Aotearoa Circle Roadmap for Action Final Report 2020 – Input from CEFGroup Director
The Aotearoa Circle Sustainable Finance Forum Roadmap for Action Final Report 2020 was published at an launch event 3 November 2020, Auckland. CEFGroup Director, Associate Professor Ivan Diaz-Rainey is on the Technical Working Group of the Aotearoa Circle Sustainable Finance Forum and contributed to the report.
IAEE Working Paper and Webinar: International Comparison of the Efficiency of Electricity Futures
A team of CEFGroup researchers have just published an IAEE Working Paper on International Comparison of the Efficiency of Electricity Futures.
The paper will be presented at an IAEE Webinar next Tuesday, 27th October, at 9am NZT.
Abstract:
The paper makes an original contribution to the electricity market literature by using an international sample to explore the efficiency of electricity futures across different markets. We focus on the efficiency of five futures markets (Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Nord Pool and the PJM Interconnection) between 2002 and 2016. Our analysis has three components; first we explore the validity of the unbiasedness hypothesis in this context; second, we test the forecast power of futures prices; and; third we explore market characteristics as determinants of efficiency. Our analysis of the unbiasedness hypothesis finds that the German and New Zealand markets are the only efficient markets for the entire sample, even though they are at the two extremes in terms of liquidity and market maturity. When testing the forecast power, all futures markets outperform naïve forecasts and the predictability seems to be improving as markets mature, except for the U.S. futures which show a decline. The generating mix does not seem to affect forecastability. We find that market efficiency is time varying, mostly improving with market maturity and is related to risk and liquidity factors.
