On the Validity of Environmental Performance Metrics

Different proprietary databases have been used extensively in research to assess the environmental performance and environmental risk of companies. This study explores the convergent validity of the environmental ratings of MSCI ESG STATS (formerly known as Kinder, Lydenberg, and Domini Research &am...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Semenova, Natalia (Author)
Contributors: Hassel, Lars G.
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2015
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 2015, Volume: 132, Issue: 2, Pages: 249-258
Further subjects:B Measurement
B Convergent validity
B Corporate environmental responsibility
B Environmental Performance
B Environmental risk
B Ratings
Online Access: Volltext (JSTOR)
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Description
Summary:Different proprietary databases have been used extensively in research to assess the environmental performance and environmental risk of companies. This study explores the convergent validity of the environmental ratings of MSCI ESG STATS (formerly known as Kinder, Lydenberg, and Domini Research & Analytics; KLD), Thomson Reuters ASSET4 (ASSET4) and Global Engagement Services (GES). The study shows that the ratings have common dimensions, but on aggregate, they do not converge. On the environmental opportunity side, KLD environmental strengths, and ASSET4 and GES environmental performance metrics correlate highly and provide convergent scores for US companies from 2003–2011. On the environmental risk side, KLD environmental concerns converge with the GES environmental industry risk and company emissions from the ASSET4 database. Further analysis confirms that industry-related risks are drivers of company-specific environmental performance.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2323-4