When Black Swan Meets Green Swan: ESG Engagement and Financial Resilience in U.S. Airlines during COVID-19
Working Papers
Under Submission
Abstract
It is a challenge for firms to survive the combination of black and green swans, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the airline industry as our target laboratory, we investigate the commitment to ESG of firms and its effects during this black-swan period. We find that airline companies who have implemented sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) experienced better operating performance during the pandemic. Companies with greater financial pressure are found to allocate less resources to ESG when passenger numbers plummet. Overall, the worsening financial situation resulting from the black swan does not significantly decrease the attention given to green swan initiatives.
Keywords
Sustainability, COVID-19 pandemic
Conference
- International Conference of Taiwan Finance Association (TFA), Taichung, Taiwan, Jun 2023.