SGFIN focuses on developing two streams of research:

Fundamental research on sustainable and green finance

SGFIN will pursue foundational and inter-disciplinary research covering sustainable and green finance, including topics in household finance, corporate finance, investments, financial development and inclusions, developments of sustainable banking practices, sustainable considerations of industry and business processes, and other related topics.

Applied research on sustainable finance

A key research focus at SGFIN will be on developing a sustainability and impact measurement and assessment framework to capture the monetary value of companies’ environmental and social performance. The development of such a framework is crucial for Asia, given the lack of consistent and standardised measures for firms operating in Asia. A more transparent and standardised measurement of companies’ environmental and social performance will facilitate more efficient capital allocations to business entities that are capable of creating social and environmental values that meet the expectations of investors and other stakeholders. By aiding financial institutions with comprehensive data, robust benchmarks and indexes, SGFIN aims to support businesses with solutions designed to facilitate access to green finance and achieve broader sustainable growth objectives.

SGFIN will also develop collaborative research to meet sustainability needs of the financial and commercial sectors. SGFIN will collaborate with industry partners who are interested in improving the sustainability performance of financial and real investments, both in Singapore and the region.

 

Research Publications

“Water conservation through plumbing and nudging” (Sumit Agarwal, E Araral, M. Fan, Y. Qin,  and H H Zheng), Nature Human Behaviour, 2022

“Impact of Temperature on Morbidity: New Evidence from China” Sumit Agarwal, Eduardo Araral, Mingxuan Fan, Yu Qin and Huanhuan Zheng), Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2021, Vol. 109, Pp. 102495

“Impact of Transboundary Haze Pollution on Household Utilities Consumption” (Sumit Agarwal, Sing. T., and Z. Yang), Energy Economics, 2020, Vol 85

"The Value of Corporate Social Responsibility: Decomposing Positive and Negative Deviations from the Norm” (Weina Zhang and H. Zhang), Nomura Journal of Asian Capital Market, Autumn 2019, Vol 4, No.1, 26-31.

“Environmental Regulation as a Double-edged Sword for Housing Markets: Evidence from the NOx Budget Trading Program” (Sumit Agarwal,  Deng Y. and L. Teng), Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2019, Vol. 96, Pp. 286-309

“Institutional Investors and Corporate Social Responsibility” (John R. Nofsinger, Johan Sulaeman, Abhishek Varma), Journal of Corporate Finance, 2019, Vol. 58, 700-725

"Can Corporate Social Responsibility Fill Institutional Voids"(S.S. Lam, Weina Zhang, C. Chien, Firm Value, (Ed. By Paolo Saona Hoffmann)), Aug 2018, InTechOpen. ISBN 9789535162070. 75-96.

“The 10% carbon challenge: Nudge and energy savings” (Sumit Agarwal,  Rengarajan Styanarain, Tien Foo Sing, and Yang Yang), Energy Economics, 2017, Vol. 61, Pp. 29-41

 

Ongoing Research

"Public Media Campaign and Energy Conservation: A Natural Experiment in Singapore" (Agarwal, S., Sing, T. F., & Sultana, M.)

"Plumbing vs Nudging: The Lasting Effect of Efficiency Improvements on Water Conservation" (Sumit Agarwal, Fan, M., E. Araral, Y. Qin, and H. Zhang), forthcoming Nature Human Behavior

“Blessing in Disguise? Environmental Shocks and Performance Enhancement” (Sumit Agarwal, Long, W., and Z, Wang), forthcoming Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization

“Expanding Footprints: The Impact of Passenger Transportation on Corporate Locations” (Yatang Lin, Yu Qin, Johan Sulaeman, Jubo Yan, Jialiang Zhang), forthcoming Review of Finance