| dc.description.abstract | This thesis examines the impact of the war in Ukraine on sustainability-related investor
preferences, performance, and exposure to downside risk in the European mutual fund
market. We analyse a sample of 1,952 actively managed global equity mutual funds
registered for sale in Europe using data from February 2021 to February 2023.
We do not find evidence of statistically significant differences in relative flows between
high sustainability funds and their conventional peers in response to the war. However,
investigating specific sustainability strategies, we find climate action-themed funds to
experience higher relative flows and funds applying exclusion of either military contracting
or fossil fuels to experience lower relative flows after the out break of the war, reflecting
changes in public opinion and energy demand. Examining these effects, we observe no
statistically significant difference in relative flows between institutional and retail investors.
We find high sustainability funds and climate action-themed funds to perform better
relative to their peers during the war, but we find no evidence of a relationship between
sustainability and downside risk exposure. Overall, our findings suggest that sustainability
remains a source of resilience through the war and that some investors have increased
their sustainability focus, despite increased acceptance of controversial industries like fossil
fuels and military contracting. | en_US |
