CANDRIAM ("Conviction and Responsibility in Asset Management") is a recognised European benchmark in asset management, drawing on strong values and management expertise developed over more than 20 years. It is a pioneer in Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) and in taking ESG criteria into account when analysing investment opportunities and risks.
"The main consequence of the regulatory agenda imposed on investors is to generate biases and behaviours in their portfolios - often counter-intuitive - that are still difficult to understand.
This lack of knowledge provides an exceptional opportunity for academic research to demonstrate its added value - in particular KEDGE Business School, which is one of the few institutions to have anticipated the ESG trend.
The KEDGE-CANDRIAM partnership is a meeting of minds between a pioneer in ESG research and a pioneer in responsible investment.
Above all, it is a shared conviction that finance must be used as a lever to create a sustainable future and that research has a crucial role to play in accelerating this transformation."
Vincent Compiègne, Head of ESG Investments & Research
The objectives of the Finance reconsidered chair: Addressing Sustainable Economic Development
The aim of the Chair will be to understand how sustainability and responsibility issues can create additional value and impact for companies as well as society. There are several objectives:
- Understand how sustainability issues contribute to better economic development in the service of society.
- Understand the real impact of integrating sustainability criteria into financial decisions and how this can be effectively integrated into management methodologies (with the aim of achieving double materiality).
- Promote a link between research and teaching by carrying out specific actions in connection with KEDGE Business School's programmes (internships, workshops, conferences, dissertation projects, case studies, etc.) and the academic world in general.
THE CHAIR WILL FOCUS ON 4 KEY AREAS
- Area 1: Research on "Financialization of ESG data and impact indicators": This multidisciplinary research project involving researchers in finance, sustainability and sociology aims to carry out a comprehensive review of current practices in terms of the evaluation and integration of ESG information (on the part of ESG data providers and investors) and to understand how ESG data providers construct their information (i.e. to understand the life cycle of ESG data, from its conception to its use and integration into a model, in order to identify possible levers for de-embedding). The project also seeks to assess the technical and institutional barriers that currently prevent the re-embedding of ESG ratings, and to study the institutional processes at work in the adoption of ESG criteria by investment communities in their asset allocation processes. Finally, it also seeks to identify techniques for assessing the real impacts of companies on ecosystems.
- Area 2: Research into "the challenges of responsible and sustainable finance with a view to transforming financial models": The research included in this area corresponds to the subjects developed by KEDGE Business School's research teams on the challenges of green and sustainable finance:
- ESG, Impact Investing
- Teaching and educational models in finance and sustainability
- ESG & Asset Pricing
- Ecological Macroeconomics
- New models of governance
- Territorial resilience and alternative models (microfinance, solidarity finance, alternative currencies, etc.)
- Epistemology of financial modelling and risk models
- Area 3: Training and education: Organisation of educational activities in connection with KEDGE Business School programmes (definition of dissertation topics, internship proposals, organisation of events and conferences) and the academic world in general (Impact Investment Challenge).
- Area 4: Raising awareness, media: Raising awareness among the general public, the scientific community and companies on the challenges of sustainable finance, in particular by writing articles, speaking in the general and specialist media, organising conferences and other events, and organising an annual conference of the Chair, bringing together researchers and practitioners.
FINANCIALIZATION OF ESG DATA
As part of its 2023-2026 mandate, the KEDGE-CANDRIAM Chair is developing a specific research area on the theme of "FINANCIALIZATION OF ESG DATA".
The aim of this research area will be to conduct several projects on the initiatives and methodological approaches undertaken by ESG assessment players to make ESG a genuine criterion for allocating financial resources to investment projects in the ecological transition.
In line with recent developments aimed at reincorporating financial activity into the biosphere, the objective will be to understand whether it is possible to reintegrate ESG rating into the ecosystem objective, by trying to establish ways for defining new impact indicators.
The stakeholder and socio-historical surveys will enable to understand the quantification of the ESG data market and its material and financialised approach.
In addition to Prof. Christophe Revelli, head of the KEDGE-CANDRIAM Chair and co-founder of the research project, the Chair includes 4 members associated with the project:
Michelle van Weeren, assistant professor at KEDGE Business School, specialising in sustainable finance and ESG ratings.
She worked as an ESG analyst for three years before starting her thesis at Paris-Dauphine University, which was awarded the RIODD-Moody's 2022 prize for the best interdisciplinary thesis on sustainable development and organisations.
After a one-year post-PHD at the London School of Economics, she joined KEDGE BS in September 2023. She is co-founder and member of the 'Financialization of ESG data' project, funded by the KEDGE-CANDRIAM Chair.
Félicien Pagnon is a post-PHD researcher at KEDGE Business School, associated with the KEDGE-CANDRIAM Chair.
"After Growth: Controversies surrounding the production and use of alternative indicators to GDP".
This thesis aims to provide an account of the genesis, circulation and institutionalisation of alternative wealth indicators. These indicators provide a quantified response to the criticisms against GDP (Gross domestic product). Félicien Pagnon shows the cleavages that run through the social configuration of the actors behind these indicators. He begins by examining the exchange between the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi commission and the Forum for Alternative Indicators of Wealth (FAIR) in 2009. He then shows how these indicators have been adopted at supra- and sub-national levels. Finally, he analyses the specific case of the law on 'new wealth indicators' passed by the National Assembly in 2015 and its consequences.
Félicien holds a PHD in sociology from the University of Paris-Dauphine and is a graduate of Sciences Po (master's degree in international relations) and the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (master's degree in economic and social sciences). He is a specialist in economic sociology and the sociology of quantification.
His thesis focused on alternative indicators to GDP and the controversies surrounding their production and use.
His mission within the Chair will be to analyse and understand the quantification practices of extra-financial ratings, from a socio-historical point of view, and to conduct qualitative surveys of the players identified (asset managers, ESG rating agencies).
Christel Dumas is a Professor of Finance at ICHEC Brussels Management School. She holds a PHD in applied economics from Ghent University.
Her research on sustainable finance and organisational finance focuses on how finance can serve society.
She studies this topic through the practices of sustainable finance, impact finance, ESG labels and rating agencies.
As a committed academic, she is a member of the advisory board of Triodos Bank Belgium, the advisory board of KBC AM SRI and the KBC Group, the ethics committee of Solifin, the supervisory board of Impact Finance Belgium, the register committee of Forum Ethibel and an auditor of the Belgian towards Sustainability label. Christel is co-founder and member of the "Financialization of ESG data" project, funded by the KEDGE-CANDRIAM Chair.
David Bourghelle has a PHD in finance and is a senior professor at the University of Lille (IAE).
He has taught at EDHEC and the University of Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne. He is the author of several articles in international peer-reviewed journals and has co-edited two research books (in 2005, "Croyances, représentations collectives et conventions en Finance", published by Economica and in 2021 "Rethinking financial theory in the face of new challenges", published by Emerald Publishing).
His research focuses on the mechanisms of value determination, behavioural finance and sustainable finance.
He is particularly interested in the importance of collective beliefs in the process of integrating information into prices and the role of social representations and institutional mechanisms in the emergence of valuation conventions.
David is co-founder and member of the 'Financialization of ESG data' project, funded by the KEDGE-CANDRIAM Chair.
ESG & ASSET PRICING
The KEDGE-CANDRIAM Chair has recruited Ricardo Henriquez-Salman as a PHD student within its team to conduct research on the theme of "ESG & ASSET PRICING" and the challenges of the financial materiality of ESG.
Ricardo, a graduate of KEDGE Business School's MSc Sustainable Finance (class of 2019-2020), joined the Chair in September 2020 as an intern to work on the "ESG and Fixed Income" topic during his final year internship.
Since 2021, he has been conducting his doctoral research at KEDGE Business School and Aix-Marseille University (CERGAM laboratory).
His work is supervised by Prof. Philippe Bertrand, Professor of Finance at IAE Aix-Marseille, affiliated professor at KEDGE Business School and researcher at the Aix-Marseille School of Economics (AMSE), and Prof. Christophe Revelli, Professor of Sustainable Finance and holder of the KEDGE-CANDRIAM Chair.
SOVEREIGNS, ESG AND MACROECONOMIC FLOWS
The KEDGE-CANDRIAM Chair has taken on Bentley TANG as an intern research assistant from July to December 2021 to carry out research on "Aspects of Sovereignty in ESG & Climate Environments".
This research assesses the underlying factors and highlights capital flows as a contributor to a country's commitment to sustainability, climate scenarios and ESG practices, for both developed and emerging markets.
Bentley is a graduate of the MSc Sustainable Finance (class of 2020-2021). His research work was supervised by Professor Luis Reyes-Ortiz, Professor of Finance and Economics and Director of the MSc Sustainable Finance at KEDGE BS, and Professor Christophe Revelli, Professor of Sustainable Finance and founder of the KEDGE-CANDRIAM Chair.
Published studies
- Studies 2023
Uncovering ESG's Potential: Less is more at Long-Horizon Returns
- Studies 2022
"Launched in 2021, the Impact Investment Challenge is the pedagogical innovation of the KEDGE-CANDRIAM Chair "Finance Reconsidered: Addressing Sustainable Economic Development".
Its aim is to enable students, who take on the role of impact investors, to create an investment project that contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined by the UN, in terms of financial viability, strategic development and replicability.
In groups of 5, students must create a tailored investment plan to finance a project with an ecological and/or social impact.
All financial strategies and financial vehicule can be considered (debt, equity, structured funds, private equity funds, asset management, green bonds, sustainable bonds, microcredit, crowdlending, etc.) and must be adapted to the project, which aims to contribute to at least 3 SDGs over the duration of the investment and beyond.
Each impact investment projects must:
- identify the sustainable finance gap and financing needs (sector, country, etc.)
- propose a solution that meets the challenges (project)
- create and detail the business model and business plan
- identify potential partners and explain the monetary and non-monetary relationships between stakeholders
- design the structure of the investment vehicle
- detail the methodology for measuring the ecological and social impact of the project and the impact objectives".
The aim of this challenge is to build a large library of potential impact investment projects that can be used by the academic community and investors (source of information and project monitoring, deal flow, project accelerator, etc.).
The winning projects will receive €2,000 (winning project) and €1,000 (finalist projects). The Impact Investment Challenge Awards ceremony takes place during the annual conference of the KEDGE-CANDRIAM Chair, with a presentation of the winning project.
Winning projects from recent editions
2021 edition
6 projects; 23 students
Jury: Isabelle Ducassy (KEDGE Finance Professor); Anja Stoll (KEDGE CSR & Impakt Director); Marine Durrieu (ESG ISS-ESG Consultant); David Czupryna (Head of ESG Development Candriam); Christophe Revelli (KEDGE Sustainable Finance & Impact Investing Professor)
Winning project: Light Up Africa (Alejandra Amarillo Icardo - Ashnika Goyal - Chin Yuan Chong - Wendy Fernandez; KEDGE MSc Sustainable Finance )
2022 edition
13 projects; 64 students
Jury: Luis-Reyes Ortiz (KEDGE International Finance Professor and Head of MSc Sustainable Finance); Pierre Casanova (KEDGE Finance Professor & Head of MSc Corporate Finance); Christophe Revelli (KEDGE Sustainable Finance & Impact Investing Professor)
Winning project: Green Flux (Carolin Gorzelitz - Lisa Fleury - Samantha Cole - Saara Haapamäki - Ayman Gaballa; KEDGE MSc Sustainable Finance)
Finalist projects:
B.Living (Lisa Brisson - Roberto Bellabarba - Asmaa Majdi - Maryam Mshelia - Jérémy Yong; KEDGE MSc Corporate Finance)
Carbon Catcher (Lou Rivière - Risa Siriwat - Chia-Yen Lin - Noura El Maadi - Marwa Ben-Daoud; KEDGE MSc Sustainable Finance)
Edition 2023
13 projects; 65 students
Jury: Xavier Heude (CEO Backbone); Cyrille Antignac (CEO Uberis Capital); Christophe Revelli (KEDGE Sustainable Finance & Impact Investing Professor)
Winning project: HomeLife (Chaimae Bia - Amine Idrissikaitouni - Manuela Jimenez Velez - Mathilde Emonides - Pierre Canovaggio; KEDGE MSc Corporate Finance)
Finalist projects:
Satet (Clara Philippe - Ana Laura Vallejo Canales - Raki Nouria Coulibaly - Stanislas Van Gaalen - Zeineb Kooli; KEDGE MSc Sustainable Finance)
Urban Oasis (Marie Bourelly - Victor Cuvier - Lucie Flambeau - Colman O'Kelly - Lucie Lemasson; KEDGE MSc Sustainable Finance)
Academic articles, books and book chapters
- Lagoarde-Segot, T. (2024). Monnaie et finance écologique, Éditions De Boeck, Collection Ouverture Economique, Bruxelles.
- Bedu, N., Granier, C. & Revelli, C. (2024). Gestion d'actifs et durabilité. Perspectives critiques et questions de réforme. In Lagoarde-Segot T. (Ed.), Monnaie et finance écologique, Éditions De Boeck, Collection Ouverture Economique, Bruxelles.
- Bedu, N., Granier, C. & Revelli, C. (2024). Gestion d'actifs et durabilité. Industrie et réglementation. In Lagoarde-Segot T. (Ed.), Monnaie et finance écologique, Éditions De Boeck, Collection Ouverture Economique, Bruxelles.
- Revelli, C., & Walter, C. (2024). Conventional Approaches to Private Green Finance and its Limits. In Dziwok, E., & Jäger, J. (Eds.). Understanding Green Finance. Conventional approaches and alternative perspectives. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham.
- Lagoarde-Segot, T., & Revelli, C. (2023). Ecological Money and Finance. Introducing Ecological Risk-Free Assets. International Review of Financial Analysis, 90, 102871.
- Barkemeyer, R., Revelli, C., & Douaud, A. (2023). Selection Bias in ESG Controversies as a Risk for Sustainable Investors. Journal of Cleaner Production, 405, 137035.
- Lagoarde-Segot, T. (2023). Ecological Money & Finance. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, 655pp.
- Bedu, N., Granier, C. & Revelli, C. (2023). Asset Management and Sustainability. Critical Perspectives and Reform Issues. In Lagoarde-Segot T. (Ed.), Ecological Money and Finance. Exploring sustainable monetary and financial systems (SDSN France), Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke.
- Bedu, N., Granier, C. & Revelli, C. (2023). Asset Management and Sustainability. Industries and Regulatory Issues. In Lagoarde-Segot T. (Ed.), Ecological Money and Finance. Exploring sustainable monetary and financial systems (SDSN France), Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke.
- Bassino, JP., Lagoarde-Segot, T., & Woitek, U. (2022). Prenatal climate shocks and adult height in developing countries. Evidence from Japan (1872–1917). Economics & Human Biology, 45.
- Cassely, L., Benlarbi, S., Revelli, C., & Lacroux, A. (2021). Corporate Social Performance (CSP) in Times of Crisis. Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, 12(5), 913-942
- Lagoarde-Segot, T. & Martinez, E. (2021). Ecological finance theory: New foundations, International Review of Financial Analysis, 75.
- Revelli, C. (2020). Préface de l’ouvrage de François Faure, Emporwement et Finance, L’Harmattan, Paris.
- Walter, C. (2020). Sustainable Financial Risk Modelling Fitting the SDGs: Some Reflections. Sustainability MDPI.
- Lagoarde-Segot, T., & Revelli, C. (2020). Quels instruments financiers pour l'Agenda 2030 ? L'éclairage de la Théorie Financière Ecologique, Entreprise et Société (ENSO).
- Cassely L., Revelli C., Benlarbi S., & Lacroux A. (2020). Sustainable Development Drivers of Companies: An International and Multi-Level Analysis. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management
- Lagoarde-Segot T. (2020). Financing the Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainability (MDPI)
- Lagoarde-Segot T. & Martinez E. (2020). Ecological Finance Theory: New Foundations. WP PoCFIN
- Lagoarde-Segot, T. (2019). Sustainable Finance, A critical Realist Perspective. Research in International Business and Finance.
- Paranque, B., & Revelli, C. (2019). Ethico-economic Analysis of Impact Finance: The Case of Green Bonds. Research in International Business and Finance.
Participation in events, conferences and seminars
- Private Finance and Sustainable Finance. Roundtable organized by Université Libre de Bruxelles for Environnement et Finance Conference, Bruxelles, February 20, 2024.
- Finance and Planetary Limits. Roundtable organized by IAE Lille, Lille, December 12, 2023.
- The Financial Model and Planetary Limits: From Observation to Action. Roundtable organized by Convention des Entreprises pour le Climat, Paris, November 29, 2023.
- Training in ecological finance. Hearing for The Shift Project (for the publication of the ClimatSup Finance report), 3 November 2022.
- The integration of extra-financial information: Limits and prospects. Round table organised during the AFEP international conference, 30 June 2022.
- Training in ecological finance. Seminar/roundtable organised by the association Pour un Réveil Ecologique and WWF for the publication of their report "Training in ecological finance", 7 June 2022.
- 01/12/2021: Can Sustainable Finance break the Tragedy of Horizons? Participation in the roundtable organised by the Observatoire de la Finance at the Building Bridges Conference in Geneva (Christophe Revelli)
- 22/04/2021: Research seminar organised by the SEEFAR research centre at KEDGE BS, "Selection Bias in ESG Controversies" (Ralf Barkemeyer and Christophe Revelli)
- 30/03/2021: Participation in the "Sustainable Finance" roundtable organised by the Salon de la Finance (Association Transaction) in Bordeaux (Christophe Revelli)
- 22/09/2020: "Les Rencontres du Développement Durable" conference organised in Montpellier, at the invitation of the Open Diplomacy Institute (Christophe Revelli)
- 09/07/2020: Online conference organised by Finance For Tomorrow (Paris Europlace) on "The profile of sustainable finance professions" (Christophe Revelli)
- 25/06/2020: Online conference organised by a parliamentary group (RDV de la transition) on the theme "Economic activities and investments: which models to build" (Christophe Revelli)
- 09/06/2020: Online conference organised by KEDGE BS Executive Education on the topic "Is sustainable finance the key to societal change?" (Christophe Revelli)
- 12/04/2020 : Participation in the "Festival du monde d'Après" (online festival) (speakers : Cyril Dion, Pablo Servigne, Jean-Marc Jancovici, Cynthia Fleury, Marion Cotillard, Claude Lelouch...) (Christophe Revelli)
- 08/11/2019: Conference with former environment minister Corinne Lepage at Avignon town hall on 08/11/2019 (moderated by Hubert Huertas) on the theme "Can your savings help defend the values of democracy and the environment?", at the invitation of the Réseau CEP and in partnership with the Forum pour l'Investissement Responsable (FIR) (Christophe Revelli).
Events organised by the KEDGE-CANDRIAM Chair
- 03/10/2023: Roundtable discussion on "Financiarization of ESG data", with Thierry Philipponnat (Chief Economist FINANCE WATCH) Julia Haake (ESG Consultant BHUMI CONSULTING, ex ISS-ESG and Moody's), Christel Dumas (ICHEC Brussels Management School) and Wim Van Hyfte (Global Head of ESG Investments & Research CANDRIAM).
- 25/09/2020: "Ecological Accounting" conference, organised by the CANDRIAM/KEDGE Chair, the AgroParisTech Ecological Accounting Chair and the Forum pour l'Investissement Responsable (FIR), Paris (speakers: Christophe Itier, Ciprian Ionescu, Hélène Valade, Céline Charton, Marie-Pierre Peillon, Vincent Compiègne, Alexandre Rambaud, Christophe Revelli, Alexis Masse)
- 15/01/2020: Conference "Pour un Réveil Ecologique", organised by the CANDRIAM/KEDGE Chair, at KEDGE Business School (Triplex Bordeaux, Paris, Marseille), with the spokespersons of the student collective "Pour un Réveil Ecologique".
