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  • 2022
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

The Issuance and Design of Sustainability-linked Loans

By: Maria Loumioti and George Serafeim
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:74
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Abstract

Sustainability-linked loans (i.e., syndicated loans for which pricing is linked to a sustainability performance indicator) have rapidly evolved into a significant private debt product. We find that sustainability-linked lending has been available mostly to borrowers with low environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risk profiles. We show that borrower’s ESG risk is associated with the use of aggregate (e.g., ESG score) rather than granular (e.g., carbon emissions) performance indicators and the monitoring by a reputable sustainability verifier. Further, ESG risk is unrelated to sustainability indicator materiality and target restrictiveness. Overall, we provide evidence consistent with the sustainability-linked lending market acting as a signaling mechanism of ESG credentials and being at the early stages of contract design sophistication.

Keywords

Sustainability; Sustainability Management; Credit Products; Loan Contracts; Loans; Corporate Finance; Credit Risk; Environment; ESG; ESG Ratings; Climate Change; Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Risk and Uncertainty; Credit

Citation

Loumioti, Maria, and George Serafeim. "The Issuance and Design of Sustainability-linked Loans." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 23-027, November 2022.
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About The Author

George Serafeim

Accounting and Management
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • Vytal: Packaging-as-a-Service By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel and Stacy Straaberg
  • Northvolt: Building Batteries to Fight Climate Change (B) By: George Serafeim, Debora L. Spar, Peter Tufano, Hugo Etchegoyhen and Emilie Billaud
  • Climate Solutions, Transition Risk, and Stock Returns By: Shirley Lu, Edward J. Riedl, Simon Xu and George Serafeim
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