Is public attention a catalyst for fossil fuel companies?

Marie Cellou ()
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Marie Cellou: CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR - Université de Rennes - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, IGR-IAE Rennes - Institut de Gestion de Rennes - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - Rennes - UR - Université de Rennes, UR - Université de Rennes

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Abstract: We study the relationship between public policy and corporate profitability in the context of climate change. We use panel regressions on a sample of 25 S&P500 fossil fuel companies from 2004 to 2018. We show that public attention to climate issues can have a significant impact on financial performance of firms. Indeed, we observe that climate regulatory uncertainty, as well as the stringency of public environmental policies, do not have a significant impact on the ex-post profitability of the fossil fuel companies in our sample, except when public attention to climate issues intensifies.

Keywords: climate change; public attention; regulatory stringency; regulatory uncertainty; Financial performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-02-17
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05558197v1
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Published in Bankers Markets & Investors : an academic & professional review, 2026, N° 182 (3), pp.41-52. ⟨10.54695/bmi.182.0041⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05558197

DOI: 10.54695/bmi.182.0041

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