Financial implications of sustainability for companies and capital markets

Abstract

Facing a growing concern about environmental issues and seeing the political and social movements that have started to require a strict commitment with the environment conservation by economic agents, it is essential to integrate the consideration of environmental objectives into Finance Theory in order to support, thus, companies and financial markets' decision-making processes and management strategies. Expressing environmental consideration in terms of risk, profitability and value will allow to identify the better actions to attain a sustainable economic development that is compatible with the classic financial objective of maximizing shareholder value. It is, therefore, necessary, to develop valuation and analysis instruments that allow to integrate the environment into financial management, both in the field of Corporate Finance and y the field of Market Finance, as well as to deepen into the theoretical knowledge regarding the relationships between the environment and Finance Theory.