Karoline Bax
- 13 May 2026
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 3232Details
- Abstract
- We examine whether banks incorporate firm-level biodiversity risk into their lending decisions. Using a large sample of syndicated loans matched to firm-level biodiversity risk measures, we document that borrowers with higher biodiversity risk face significantly higher loan spreads. Evidence on loan volumes is weaker, suggesting that banks primarily adjust along the pricing margin rather than restricting credit supply. To capture biodiversity risk exposure, we develop a novel text-based indicator derived from corporate disclosures that incorporates the contextual content of environmental risk. To strengthen identification, we exploit firm-level environmental violations as shocks to environmental credibility. In a stacked difference-in-differences framework, we show that such violations increase the sensitivity of loan pricing to biodiversity risk. Overall, our findings provide evidence that biodiversity risk is a financially material dimension of environmental risk in credit markets.
- JEL Code
- G21 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→Banks, Depository Institutions, Micro Finance Institutions, Mortgages
Q51 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→Environmental Economics→Valuation of Environmental Effects
Q57 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→Environmental Economics→Ecological Economics: Ecosystem Services, Biodiversity Conservation, Bioeconomics, Industrial Ecology - Network
- ECB Lamfalussy Fellowship Programme