Gunnar Gutsche

Climate policy aims to reduce emissions by redirecting investment from emission-intensive toward carbon-neutral assets. One key instrument, carbon pricing, guides investors and asset managers by lowering the return of fossil fuel-related assets. This chapter reviews three key mechanisms on how sustainable finance can support climate policy: first, providing investors with the necessary information to factor climate risk into their investment and portfolio decisions; second, building awareness for sustainable investing by differentiated means for institutional investors and retail investors; and, finally, addressing the cost of capital as an obstacle to low-carbon investments. For each, we critically review opportunities and shortcomings based on recent research and draw up recommendations for investors and policymakers.

This study aims to shed light on the relationship between individual and regional Christian religion and individual sustainable behaviors in an exploratory manner, with a special focus on sustainable consumption and investment decisions. To this end, we econometrically analyze online representative survey data that contains information on the self-reported importance of the consideration of ecological and social/ethical criteria in the context of a large variety of individual behaviors. The target group are financial decisions makers in German households, i.e., important actors in the largest economy in Europe. Results of the econometric analysis suggest that Christian religion is positively related to a variety of ecological and social/ethical activities. Our findings empirically support explanations postulating a positive relationship between Christian religion and environmental behavior, such as the stewardship hypothesis, rather than opposite theories like White’s :1203–1207, 1967) dominion hypothesis. Particularly, we find that both individual and regional measures for Christian religion positively affect various behaviors emphasizing the importance of individual and contextual norms for individual behavior. Hence, we provide empirical evidence for the importance of Christian religion for another country than the USA, which is typically in the focus of similar studies. Our results can be used for targeted information campaigns by politicians to enhance sustainable behaviors or acceptance for related policy measures.