Circular Economy Impact Analysis on Stock Performances Through an ESG-Based Approach for Preselecting Equity Portfolios: An Empirical Comparison with the Euro Stoxx 50® ESG Index

In a world increasingly careful of the environmental and social evolutions, a method to measure if the same carefulness is provided also by the financial and productive world consists on verifying evidences of higher profitability of stocks of those firms that have shown a more respondence to circular economy criteria. The aim is pursued elaborating the data of firms which are ESG-ranked and that have demonstrated a circular economy criteria receptiveness. The method is based on the assumption that the circular economy element is a component of the ESG taxonomy. The analysis will empirically point out that both the ESG compliance and circular economy criteria respondence don’t imply necessarily better stock performance of the companies that comply with both the elements.