As part of our support for the transition to a more resilient and inclusive society, the Candriam Institute for Sustainable Development finances academic chairs and PhD research on sustainable investing and key sustainability themes. The goal is to develop ESG knowledge in the community, and support academic projects on sustainable investing.
In this context, Candriam and Kedge Business School (France) renewed our partnership for another four years.
Candriam’s partnership with this renowned French business school began in 2019 with the launch of the research chair entitled “Finance Reconsidered: Addressing Sustainable Economic Development”. This chair explores how sustainability and accountability issues create additional value and impact businesses and, ultimately, enhance the economic development of society as a whole. The guiding principle of the chair over the first four-year endowment was “materiality”. Our shared objective was to understand whether ESG materiality does produce discernible financial results, and to identify keys to materiality depending on asset class, investment horizon, or sector and also according to different methodologies. Eighteen researchers have participated and have produced several notable conclusions described through more than 800 pages of published research.
The renewed partnership will explore two specific issues:
- What is the real impact of integrating sustainability criteria into financial decisions, and how should this be effectively integrated (with a dual materiality objective) into investment methodologies;
- How sustainability issues may enhance economic development, or produce other measurable benefits for society.