Beliefs About the Climate Impact of Green Investing

Florian Heeb, Julian F Kölbel and Camilla Weder
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Florian Heeb: Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE; Goethe University Frankfurt - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management
Julian F Kölbel: University of St. Gallen - School of Finance; MIT Sloan; Swiss Finance Institute
Camilla Weder: University of St. Gallen

No 26-01, Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series from Swiss Finance Institute

Abstract: This paper surveys beliefs about the climate impact of green investing among academic experts and retail investors. Using the views of academic experts as a benchmark, we show that retail investors have overly optimistic climate impact beliefs. While most academic experts do not believe that a typical green fund has a meaningful climate impact, the vast majority of retail investors do. The median retail investor expects a €10,000 green investment to offset 10% of an average person's carbon footprint. By contrast, the median estimate among academic experts is 2%, with 0% being the most common estimate. Impact beliefs influence investment decisions: When informed of academic experts' views, retail investors reduce their climate impact beliefs and willingness to pay for the green fund. Qualitative statements suggest that retail investors' optimistic beliefs are driven by a neglect of financial-market transmission mechanisms.

Keywords: Subjective Beliefs; Climate Change; Willingness to Pay; Expert Survey; Behavioral Finance; Green Finance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D14 G11 G41 H41 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 82 pages
Date: 2026-01
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp2601

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