Are impact and financial returns mutually exclusive? Evidence from publicly-listed impact investments

Interest in impact investing is on the rise. And yet, there a relative scarcity of academic literature financial performance and diversification potential investments. In this paper, we apply risk factors dynamic correlation analysis to an original dataset essentially made European publicly-listed firms. Our findings point risk-adjusted underperformance investments compared mainstream markets, reveal firms’ failure deliver non-negative returns investors. This contradicts practitioner literature, suggests that investors must sacrifice for line with their values. The results also indicate listed regard markets slowly decreases over time, suggesting attach only limited weight aspect.