Green bonds and gold: A new financial–environmental relationship

In the transition to a low carbon economy the green bonds play an eminent role. On the other hand, gold has attracted a lot of attention in energy economics literature. In this study, we examine the relationship of corporate green bonds with gold, an issue that has attracted very little attention in the relative literature. We aim to narrow this gap, adopting a methodology that offers the opportunity to capture asymmetries and structural volatilities while simultaneously testing for short-run and long-run relationships between series with non-stationary regressors. The most interesting result is that we find a short-term asymmetrical relationship between the variables during the latest period of our study. Therefore, it seems that with the passage of time the changes in corporate green bonds are beginning to affect the changes in gold prices. The coronavirus contributes to this relationship by changing the relative effect of the control variables. These results have important implications for investors aiming to achieve better risk-adjusted performance but also decarbonization and sustainability of their portfolios. Furthermore, our results have significant implications for policymakers in designing and implementing policies aiming to mitigate climate change risk and the transition to a more sustainably economy.