Samvariationen mellan hållbarhetsarbete (ESG) och finansiell prestation : En kvantitativ studie om ESG inom banksektorn i Sverige, Norge, Finland, Danmark och Island

Sammanfattning: Sustainability work has garnered increasing attention in society and among stakeholders. A key concept within sustainability is ESG, which encompasses environmental, social work, and corporate governance. The ESG concept builds upon CSR, which focuses on companies' societal responsibilities. Due to inconsistent findings in previous research, there is a growing interest in exploring the impact of sustainability work on companies' financial performance. Thus, this study aims to examine the relationship between sustainability work (ESG) and financial performance within the banking sector of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland. To achieve this goal, correlations between ESG ratings and ROA, as well as ROE, were analyzed for 148 companies in the aforementioned countries. The data was obtained from the Refinitiv Eikon database and analyzed using the statistical software IBM SPSS. The results indicated a positive association between sustainability work (ESG) and financial performance, with corporate governance having a greater influence on financial performance compared to social and environmental factors. Further research suggestions include conducting similar studies in other countries and industries, as results may differ. Additionally, exploring alternative databases apart from Refinitiv Eikon could be beneficial to assess if different results are obtained.