N°25-43: Empty ESG Promises: A Text Analysis of Mutual Fund Prospectuses

We construct novel measures of mutual funds’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitment by analyzing the discretionary investment-strategy descriptions of their prospectuses. We find that fund flows respond strongly to such text-based ESG measures. Using discrepancies between text- and fundamentals-based ESG measures, we identify greenwashing. We find that greenwashing is more prevalent since ESG issues have started attracting mainstream attention and among funds with lower past flows and weaker oversight. Furthermore, greenwashers attract similar flows but have worse performance than genuinely-green funds, suggesting that investors cannot distinguish them and suffer welfare losses. Our methodology could help regulators combat ESG-related misconduct.