Research Chair in Sustainable Finance and Responsible Investment

Since 2007, the FDIR Chair has brought together researchers, companies, investors, and institutions around a shared ambition: to advance knowledge and practices in sustainable finance and responsible investment. Through its research and educational activities, the Chair fosters the exchange of expertise and the development of innovative solutions. In particular, it seeks to develop new valuation frameworks that incorporate the long term environmental and social consequences of corporate behavior.

The Chair draws on the expertise of a team of around twenty researchers and is co-directed by Catherine Casamatta (Professor of Finance at TSE and TSM, Toulouse Capitole University), Guillaume Hollard (Professor at École Polytechnique and CNRS Research Director), and Sébastien Pouget (Professor of Finance at TSE and TSM, Université Toulouse Capitole).
The Chair is supported by a consortium of sponsors composed of around ten asset management companies, institutional investors, and consulting firms committed to advancing research in responsible investment and sustainable finance. The French Asset Management Association (AFG) and the Europlace Institute of Finance (IEF) of the Louis Bachelier Institute also play an active role in the organization and development of the Chair. 

Mission 

• Contributing to the development and dissemination of theories and practices in the field of responsible investment, through both research and training programmes
• Facilitating direct interaction between academic partners and Chair members, for their mutual benefit
• Enhancing and consolidating the level of excellence of academic partners and members by organising internationally oriented activities for reflection, training and research around a topic of general interest 

Activities 

• Producing theoretical and applied research
• Organising scientific seminars and workshops bringing together researchers and industry experts
• Hosting scientific conferences to disseminate knowledge to both academic and professional audiences
• Promoting research findings to a broader audience

To support these activities, the FDIR Research Initiative is guided by a Scientific Advisory Committee.

For the 2025-2028 period, the Scientific Advisory Committee selected five projects as part of a research program structured around three major themes:

Biodiversity conservation

Project 1: Objective and subjective measures of biodiversity

Principal Investigator: N. Treich (TSE, INRAE)

This project seeks to deepen our understanding of biodiversity-related challenges through three complementary research areas: assessing the effects of human activities on animal welfare, developing new analytical frameworks to measure biodiversity, and examining individual perceptions of biodiversity in order to inform the design of more effective conservation policies.

Project 2: How can socially responsible investors support firms’ biodiversity conservation strategies?

Principal Investigators: A. Attar (TSE, CNRS), C. Casamatta (TSE, TSM), A. Chassagnon (TSE, TSM), and J.-P. Décamps (TSE)

This project examines how socially responsible investors can encourage the financing of biodiversity-friendly initiatives when firms' environmental and social performance is difficult to observe. Through the development of a theoretical model, the researchers aim to study how such uncertainty affects investment decisions, firms' cost of capital, and the incentives to reconcile sustainability objectives with profitability.

Impact of climate change on businesses and ESG regulation

Project 3: The cost of climate change for workers and firms and adaptation pathways

Principal Investigator: M. Leroutier (CREST)

This research project aims to improve our understanding of the economic and social effects of climate change, particularly those associated with exposure to extreme heat in the workplace. The researchers analyze the impact of heatwaves on employees' health and on the performance of French firms. Their work also seeks to assess the effectiveness of adaptation strategies designed to mitigate the effects of extreme heat on employment, productivity, and worker well-being.

Project 4: ESG regulations in turbulent times

Principal Investigator: P. Crifo (ACPR)

This project seeks to better understand the evolving role of ESG criteria in public and private decision-making. Through a historical and comparative analysis of developments in the United States and Europe, the researchers aim to examine the factors that promote or hinder ESG adoption, as well as the tensions that arise between sustainability objectives, economic performance, and political priorities.

Social preferences for ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) criteria 

Project 5: How to value the societal benefit of reducing income inequalities and CO2 emissions ?

Principal Investigators: C. Gollier (TSE), K. Van Der Straeten (TSE), and J. Zheng (Aix-Marseille School of Economics and Centrale Méditerranée, TSE)

This research project aims to improve our understanding of collective preferences regarding inequality and social justice, two key issues for the evaluation of public policies and ESG strategies. The researchers seek to explore how individuals balance collective prosperity against reductions in inequality through innovative economic experiments. Their work aims in particular to measure inequality aversion across different redistributive settings and to better reflect societal preferences in the evaluation of long-term policies, especially those related to climate change and intergenerational equity.

Scientific advisory committee

To run these projects, the Research Initiative FDIR has a scientific orientation committee chaired by Guillaume Lasserre (President of the FDIR Association), and composed of internationally-renowned researchers, including Rob Bauer (University of  Maastricht), Marcel Boyer (Université de Montréal), Caroline Flammer (Columbia University), Jean-Pascal Gond (Cass Business School, City University, London) and Bouchra M’Zali (ESG-Université du Québec à Montréal), representatives of the SRI industry, Claude Jouven (ex-chairman of the Fondation HEC) and Isabelle Laudier (Institut CDC pour la Recherche), as well as representatives of the partners of FDIR. 

Explore the Chair's activities, research projects and key achievements through its annual reports. 

Scientific directors

• Catherine Casamatta
• Guillaume Hollard
• Sébastien Pouget
   

AFG contact

• Thomas Valli - Email

Researchers

• Ingela Alger, IAST & CNRS & Toulouse School of Economics - Email / CV
• Geoffrey Barrows, Ecole polytechnique - Email /CV
• Milo Bianchi, Toulouse School of Economics - Email / CV
• Catherine Casamatta, Toulouse School of Economics - Email  / CV
• Sandra Cavaco, University Paris 2 Pantheon Sorbonne & Lemma - Email  / CV
• Patricia Crifo, Ecole polytechnique - Email / CV
• Christian Gollier, Toulouse School of Economics - Email / CV
• Guillaume Hollard, Ecole polytechnique & CNRS - Email  / CV
• Guy Meunier, INRAE Paris & Ecole polytechnique - Email  / CV
• Anouch Missirian, INRAE & Toulouse School of Economics - Email  / CV
• Jean-Pierre Ponssard, CNRS & Ecole polytechnique - Email  / CV
• Sylvaine Poret, INRAE Paris - Email  / CV
• Sébastien Pouget, Toulouse School of Economics - Email  / CV
• Antoine Rebérioux, University of Paris & Ladyss - Email  / CV
• Benoît Schmutz, Ecole polytechnique - Email / CV
• Jean Tirole, Toulouse School of Economics - Email / CV
• Nicolas Treich, INRAE Toulouse & Toulouse School of Economics - Email  / CV

Doctoral and postdoctoral researchers 

• Li Bao, Toulouse School of Management
• Pau Juan Bartroli, Toulouse School of Economics
• Lea Bou Sleiman, Ecole Polytechnique
• Aurélien Bigo, Ecole polytechnique
• Vincent Bouchet, Ecole polytechnique
• Keller Martinez Solis, Toulouse School of Management
• Esteban Muñoz, Toulouse School of Economic
• Hung-Thuy Nguyen, Toulouse School of Economics
• Aatish Seewoolall, Toulouse School of Management
• Ruichen Wang, Toulouse School of Management
• Yixin Wang, Toulouse School of Economics

Through the Research Journal of the FDIR Chair, we share the key findings and insights generated by the Chair’s research activities in a format accessible to a broad audience. In previous years, some of these publications were included in the Louis Bachelier Institute (ILB) Research Journal.