An Empirical Study on Stock Price Responses to the Release of the Environmental Management Ranking in Japan

This paper investigates how stock prices respond to the release of the environmental management ranking by using a standard event study methodology. Examining top 30 manufacturing companies in the environmental management ranking published by Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei newspaper) from 1998 to 2005, we find that stock prices on the whole did not respond significantly to the release of the ranking within a three-day event window. Moreover, stock prices of companies that experienced a downgrade increased significantly, while those that experienced an upgrade decreased significantly. We would like to thank an anonymous referee for helpful suggestions