Impacts of ownership changes on emissions and industrial production: Evidence from Europe

Bettina Chlond and Robert Germeshausen

No 23-016, ZEW Discussion Papers from ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Abstract: Firm ownership is a major determinant for the economic performance of firms, and emissions of pollutants are often by-products of industrial production. We investigate the impact of ownership on pollutant emissions of firms and their industrial facilities in Europe jointly with their output, productivity, and other key economic outcomes. To disentangle the influence of ownership from other firm characteristics, we analyse the effects of ownership changes in an event-study approach. We find that facilities and firms do not change their emissions and emissions intensity if they remain in operation after a change in ownership. Firms that shut down after acquisition strongly reduce their emissions via reductions in output. The reductions cannot be attributed to the ownership change as they already start before acquisition. There is no evidence for transfers in pollution abatement technologies between target and acquiring parent company. Overall, we do not find environmental benefits from ownership changes.

Keywords: Ownership changes; pollution; productivity; event study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D22 D23 Q53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024, Revised 2024
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-cfn, nep-eff, nep-ene, nep-env and nep-sbm
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:zewdip:23016

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