Agenda
This year the 5th Annual GRASFI Conference will be hosted in person. Paper presenters who are unable to join us in Zurich will be accommodated virtually.
The Programme is indicative and is subject to change; all listed times are CET (Central European Time).
GRASFI AGM: 8 September
Time: 9h00 – 11h00 CET
Venue: RAI-H-41, University of Zurich, Faculty of Law (RAI), Rämistrasse 74
Virtual attendees:
PhD Workshop (closed event for PhD students with approved application only)
08:30 – 11:30 CET | Venue: RAA building of the University of Zurich
Pre-selected PhD students will be invited to present their papers or projects and faculty and senior researchers from GRASFI universities will provide feedback, as well as advice on research, publications, and careers.
Leaders: Professor Paul Smeets, Professor of Philanthropy and Sustainable Finance at Maastricht University School of Business and Economics and Dr Falko Paetzold, Assistant Professor in Social Finance, EBS University, and Managing Director of the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth (CSP) at the University of Zurich.
Format: Short input; moderated PhD speed-dating rounds
Welcome address
13:15 – 13:30 CET | Venue: Kunsthaus Zürich
Dr. Falko Paetzold, Assistant Professor in Social Finance, EBS University, and Managing Director of the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth (CSP) at the University of Zurich.
Dr. Ben Caldecott, Director, Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, and Lombard Odier Associate Professor, University of Oxford. / Heidi Raubenheimer, Executive Director GRASFI
Opening remarks
13:30 – 13:40 CET | Venue: Kunsthaus Zürich
Fabio Pellizzari, Head of ESG Strategy and Development, Zurich Cantonal Bank (Zürcher Kantonalbank).
Opening discussion: How can Science drive Real World Impact?
13:40 – 14:15 CET | Venue: Kunsthaus Zürich
Deputy State Secretary Stefan Flückiger, State Secretary for International Finance at the Federal Department of Finance (FDF).
Marie-Claire Graf, Co-Founder & Advisor Sustainability Week for Business
Professor Rob Bauer, Professor of Finance and Institutional Investors chair, University of Maastricht.
Thomas Vellacott, CEO, WWF Switzerland. (Moderator)
Paper Session A1 - ESG-Ratings &-Data: How do we make sense of it?
14:45 – 16:15 CET | Venue: Kunsthaus Zürich
Exploring ITR score: Framing robust company-specific benchmarks and future company-level GHG emissions ranges
Authors: Ruben Haalebos and Felix Fouret
ESG Rating Revisions and Stock Returns
Authors: Rients Galema and Dirk Gerritsen
Inflated ESG ratings through socially responsible investing: An inverse relation to sustainable performance
Authors: Bram van der Kroft and Dennis Bams.
Paper Session B1 - ESG Funds: Lemons, Resilience, Skills
14:45 – 16:15 CET | Venue: RAA building of the University of Zurich
In Holdings We Trust: Uncovering the ESG Fund Lemons
Lachie McLean, Ivan Diaz-Rainey, Sebastian Gehricke and Renzhu Zhang
Starting a new conversation: Activating an additional institutional logic in Shareholder Engagement
Authors: Tanja Ohlson, Emilio Marti, and Michael Smets
The investment skill of ESG aware mutual funds
Auhtors: Ellie Luu, Marco Ceccarelli, Richard Evans, Simon Glossner, and Mikael Homanen
Paper Session A2 - Companies and their stakeholders: What is happening at the intersection?
16:45 – 18:15 CET | Venue: Kunsthaus Zürich
An Inside View of Corporate ESG Practices
Author: Hoa Briscoe-Tran
Investors pushing for sustainability: How firms assess the authenticity of stakeholder requests
Authors: Anne Kellers, Julian Kölbel and Falko Paetzold
ESG and firm value effects of shareholder proposals
Authors: Timo Busch, Lisa Scheitza, Tobias Bauckloh and Christian Klein
Paper Session B2 - Markets & Trends: Allocations, Competition, Optimal Design
16:45 – 18:15 CET | Venue: RAA building of the University of Zurich
Responsible Investing and Stock Allocation
Authors: Marie Briere and Stefano Ramelli
Competition Depresses Corporate ESG Performance: Evidence from Product Market Treats
Authors: Hanwen Sun and Yue Xiang
The Optimal Design of Green Securities
Authors: Adelina Barbalau and Federica Zeni
Paper Session A3 - Firm sustainability: How do investors drive it ahead, if at all?
08:45 – 10:15 CET | Venue: Kunsthaus Zürich
Cheap Talk in Corporate Climate Commitments: The Effectiveness of Climate Initiatives
Authors: Julia Anna Bingler, Mathias Kraus, Markus Leippold and Nicolas Webersinke
Which institutional investors drive corporate sustainability?
Auhtors: Daniel Schmidt, Marco Ceccarelli, Mikael Homanen and Simon Glossner
Do Firms Cater to Investor Demand for Environmental Investment?
Authors: Stuart Gillan, Naciye Sekerci and Laura Starks
Paper Session B3 - Europe: Key topics in Taxonomy, Carbon and Transition
08:45 – 10:15 CET | Venue: RAA building of the University of Zurich
Financing the low-carbon transition in Europe
Authors: Olimpia Carradori, Katia Vozian, Margherita Giuzio, Dilyara Salakhova, and Sujit Kapadia
Revenue Alignment to the EU-Taxonomy Regulation
Authors: Othar Kordsachia, Alexander Bassen, Weiqiang Tan and Kerstin Lopatta
Carbon home bias of European investors
Authors: Rients Galema and Martijn Boermans
Paper Session A4 - Climate Policy: What is its effect, if any?
10:50 – 12:20 CET | Venue: Kunsthaus Zürich
Believe me when I say green! Heterogeneous expectations and climate policy uncertainty
Authors: Emanuele Campiglio, Francesco Lamperti and Roberta Terranova
Climate Laws and Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions
Authors: Tong Li, Dragon Yongjun Tang and Fei Xie
Over with carbon? Investors’ reaction to the Paris Agreement and the US withdrawal
Authors: Lucia Alessi, Stefano Battiston, and Virmanta Kvedaras
Paper Session B4 - Measures, Metrics & AI
10:50 – 12:20 CET | Venue: RAA building of the University of Zurich
Scope 3 Emissions: Data Quality and Machine Learning Prediction Accuracy
Authors: Quyen Nguyen, Ivan Diaz-Rainey, Adam Kitto, Ben McNeil, Nic Pittman, and Renzhu Zhang
Green Investor Clientele Effects
Author: Antti Yang
Net Zero Carbon Metrics
Authors: Thierry Roncalli, Théo Le Guenedal, Takaya Sekine, and François Lombard
Paper Session A5 - Individual Investors: What are their preferences & behaviors?
14:00 – 15:30 CET | Venue: Kunsthaus Zürich
Sustainable Finance Literacy and the Determinants of Sustainable Investing
Authors: Massimo Filippini, Markus Leippold and Tobias Wekhof
The power of information nudges for individual sustainable investment: Empirical evidence from a framed field experiment
Authors: Sophia Möller, Daniel Engler, Gunnar Gutsche and Andreas Ziegler
Why Do Investors Pay Higher Fees for Sustainable Investments? An Experiment in Five European Countries
Authors: Gunnar Gutsche, Daniel Engler and Paul Smeets
Paper Session B5 - Pricing Climate Change (I): Key developments & Frameworks
14:00 – 15:30 CET | Venue: RAA building of the University of Zurich
Carbon Beta: A Market-Based Measure of Climate Risk
Authors: Joop Huij, Dries Laurs, Philip Stork and Remco Zwinkels
Internal Carbon Markets and Corporate Carbon Emissions Behavior in the EU ETS
Author: Santanu Kundu
Asset-level climate physical risk assessment and cascading financial losses
Authors: Giacomo Bressan, Anja Duranovic, Irene Monasterolo and Stefano Battiston
Paper Session A6 - Climate Change: Where do we already see effects, and regulation?
16:10 – 17:40 CET | Venue: Kunsthaus Zürich
Surging Sovereign Spreads: The Impact of Coastal Flooding on Sovereign Risk
Author: Atreya Dey
Nailing Down Volatile Temperatures: Examining their Effects on Asset Prices
Authors: Leonardo Bortolan, Atreya Dey, and Luca Taschini
Environmental regulatory risks, firm pollution, and mutual funds’ portfolio choices
Author: Simon Xu
Paper Session B6 - Pricing Climate Change (II): Key developments & Frameworks
16:10 – 17:40 CET | Venue: RAA building of the University of Zurich
Pricing Physical Climate Risk in the Cross-Section of Returns
Author: Glen Gostlow
Shocks to transition risk
Authors: Christoph Meinerding, Yves Schueler and Philipp Zhang
Floods and firms: vulnerabilities and resilience to natural disasters in Europe
Authors: Gabor Katay, Serena Fatica and Michela Rancan
Paper Session A7 - Bond Markets: Key trends and insights
08:30 – 10:00 CET | Venue: Kunsthaus Zürich
Who Pays for Sustainability? An Analysis of Sustainability-Linked Bonds
Authors: Adrien-Paul Lambillon and Julian Kölbel
Nature as a Defense from Disasters: Natural Capital and Municipal Bond Yields
Author: Claudio Rizzi
Information on Hot Stuff: Do Lenders Pay Attention?
Authors: Mandeep Singh and Emdad Islam
Paper Session B7 - Key themes on Banks, ETFs, Private Markets
08:30 – 10:00 CET | Venue: RAA building of the University of Zurich
Bank Presence and Health
Author: Kim Fe Cramer
Navigating Climate Uncertainty: Clean Tech vs Fossil Fuel ETFs
Authors: Minh Nhat Nguyen and Ruipeng Liu
The Pace of Change: Socially Responsible Investing in Private Markets
Authors: Jan Starmans, Deeksha Gupta and Alexandr Kopytov
Science Meets Practice - Biodiversity
10:40 – 12:10 CET | Venue: Kunsthaus Zürich
Biodiversity is a key sustainability issue, yet it is largely un-tackled and a new frontier in finance. Deep-dive into the role of finance and research; key questions and way ahead.
With Robert-Alexandre Poujade, Senior ESG Analyst, Biodiversity Lead BNP Paribas AM and Professor Rob Bauer, Professor of Finance (chair: Institutional Investors) at Maastricht University School of Business and Economics, Jessica Smith, Nature Lead UNEP Finance Initiative, and Amadine Favier, Head of Sustainable Finance WWF Switzerland.
Science Meets Practice - Private Wealth
10:40 – 12:10 CET | Venue: RAA building of the University of Zurich
Following intense wealth concentration, about 50% of global wealth is controlled by < 1% of the population – so-called high net worth and ultra high net worth individuals (i.e., private millionaires, billionaires). We will show a rich set of impact-portfolio data, options for surveys and interviews, with the impact-focused (U)HNW members of the toniic community. See example research projects based on that data and discuss future avenues and ideas for research projects.
With Kristin Siegel, Head of EMEA and Director of the 100% Network, Toniic; Dr. Charly Kleissner, self-made UHN impact investor and co-founder of Toniic, and Dr Falko Paetzold, Assistant Professor in Social Finance, EBS University, and Managing Director of the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth (CSP) at the University of Zurich.
Science Meets Practice - Measuring Impact
13:30 – 14:30 CET | Venue: RAA building of the University of Zurich
Diving into key questions about investor impact, measuring impact, deep impact and systems change, and shaping a research agenda.
With Dr. Jonathan Harris, Founder, Total Portfolio Project; Dr. Julian Kölbel, Assistant Professor in Sustainable Finance, University of St. Gallen; Dr. Falko Paetzold, Assistant Professor in Social Finance, EBS Universität, and Managing Director of the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth (CSP) at the University of Zurich; and Harald Walkate, advisor on ESG and former Head of ESG at Natixis Investment Managers.
Science Meets Practice - Banks & Climate
13:30 – 14:30 CET | Venue: Kunsthaus Zürich
Bank Credit to Fossil Fuel, Diesel Cars … Brown Abroad but Green at Home. Four 8-minute presentations by Professor Steven Ongena, Professor of Banking, University of Zurich, and his colleagues Winta Beyene, Emanuela Benincasa, and Emilia Garcia, as we all as Chiara Colesanti Senni, Council on Economic Policies, followed by discussion and shaping a future research agenda on the theme of banks and banking in the context of climate change.
Best Paper Presentations & Awards
15:00 – 16:00 CET | Venue: Kunsthaus Zürich
GRASFI Best Paper Award (by BNP Paribas)
GRASFI Best Paper Award for Transparency for Stakeholders (by Swiss Sustainable Finance)
GRASFI Best Paper Award for Climate Finance Research (by Imperial College)
GRASFI Best Paper Award for Impactful Research (by Impact Foundation)
GRASFI Best PhD Paper Award (by GRASFI)
Closing remarks
16:00 – 16:30 CET | Venue: Kunsthaus Zürich
Roger Miners, Head of Distribution, Europe & CEO BNP Paribas Asset Management UK.
Announcement GRASFI 2023: Dr Ben Caldecott, Co-Chair, GRASFI; Director, Oxford Sustainable Finance Group and the Lombard Odier Associate Professor of Sustainable Finance, University of Oxford.
Impact Community Dinner in Zurich
19:00 – 22:00 CET | Venue: Tibits, Seefeldstrasse 2, 8008 Zürich
Enjoy an informal dinner with like-minded people from the sustainable finance and impact investing space, organized by the Coalition for Impact (C4i) and the Impact Foundation. Venue: Restaurant Tibits, Falkenstrasse 12, Zurich
Supporters
GRASFI 2022 has been generously supported by:
