Ethical Investing and Sustainable Finance. Arguments, Norms, and Regulation

Seminar organized by the Christian Walter and Émmanuel Picavet Chair in Ethics and Finance, with Boudewijn de Bruin (University of Groningen) who will give a lecture entitled: "Ethical Investing and Sustainable Finance. Arguments, Norms, and Regulation".

Speech summary:

In this talk, I consider  key arguments that have been given in favour of ethical investing/sustainable finance, and evaluate their plausibility. I examine arguments based on religion (going back as far as to Methodist views from the 1750s) as well as on public goods, and point to a number defects from which these arguments suffer. I propose a philosophically more rigorous approach to ethical investing, focusing among other things on the underlying normative framework as well as a number of measurement issues that have to be addressed first. I conclude by linking these ideas to regulation, the Sustainable Finance Action Plan of the European Commission in particular.

Contact

Christian Walter : christian.Walter@msh-paris.fr
Emmanuel Picavet : emmanuel.Picavet@univ-paris1.fr