Dear all,
the Department of Economics of Ca' Foscari
University of Venice organizes the following online seminar on
Friday, November 28 at 12:15 (ZOOM only) by
Guglielmo Alessandro Visentin (University of
Reading) The Financial Cost of Biodiversity Loss for SMEs (joint
with Lisa Schopohl and Simone Varotto)
Abstract: In this study, we investigate the impact of
biodiversity loss on the performance of small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Leveraging
firms’ financial information and postcodes from Moody’s Bureau
van Dijk and the Biodiversity Intactness Index – a geospatial
dataset developed by the Natural History Museum – we geo-locate
SMEs, quantify biodiversity loss in the area where firms
operate, and assess their exposure to biodiversity-related risks
over time. We then employ a fixed effects regression model to
estimate the effect of biodiversity loss on firm performance.
Our findings indicate that a one-standard-deviation decline in
biodiversity leads to a statistically significant reduction in
firm operating income by 0.59 percentage points. This impact is
economically meaningful when benchmarked against the sample’s
average operating income. Moreover, SMEs located in more
ecologically degraded areas are found to be more exposed to
biodiversity-related risks. We also provide evidence of the
materiality of dependency risk, while transition risk appears to
be non-material within the UK context. The results remain robust
across various econometric specifications and when controlling
for climate risk factors.
The Zoom link is:
More information available here.
Antonella Basso
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Antonella Basso
Dipartimento di Economia
Università Ca' Foscari Venezia
Fondamenta S. Giobbe - Cannaregio 873
30121 Venezia - Italy
Tel. +39-041-2346914
E-mail address: basso@unive.it
Web page: https://www.unive.it/data/persone/5591751