Sustainable Management and Finance

HUM-289 / 2 credits

Teacher(s): Danthine Jean-Pierre Marie Ghislain, Kecht Valentin

Language: English

Remark: Une seule inscription à un cours SHS+MGT autorisée. En cas d'inscriptions multiples elles seront toutes supprimées sans notification.

Summary

This course provides the foundations of sustainable management and finance. It details how the transgression of planetary boundaries affects our economic organization, reviews the responsibility of corporations and examines the levers of action for the State and the Finance sector

Content

Session 1 The economy and the Planetary Boundary Challenge

  • The foundations of our mixed economic system
  • The invisible hand and the Welfare theorems
  • Liberalism, prices and competition
  • Planetary boundaries: A game changer
  • Missing markets, externalities, the tragedy of the commons
  • Markets vs. State: the disrupted equilibrium


Session 2  Responsible Capitalism/Sustainable Management

  • The corporate governance problen
  • Shareholder Value Maximization vs. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
  • The Benefit Corporation Movement
  • The levers of public intervention
  • Towards a public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in Regulation
  • On the role of finance


Session 3: ESG Investing in Public Equity

  • Sustainable investing
  • The cost-of-capital channel
  • ESG and asset pricing
  • The ESG outperformance puzzle

Session 4: ESG Measurement and Investing in Public Debt

  • Transition vs. physical risk
  • ESG measurement
  • Sustainable debt instruments: green bonds vs. sustainability-linked bonds

Session 5 How should the economic system and the corporate world adapt ? (Selected topics - time permitting)

  • Growth vs. De-growth
  • Moving to a Circular Economy
  • Managing the Natural Capital
  • Case Studies: Corporate Sustainability Strategies (e.g., Holcim, Nestlé, LO)
  • The Emission Trading System
  • Externalities in Innovation and Industrial Policy
  • Introduction to Poster Topics

Session 6: Does ESG Investing Work, and What Are the Alternatives?

  • Developments in sustainable markets and the impact of sustainable investment
  • Shareholder activism
  • Introduction to poster topics

Keywords

  • Sustainability

  • Externalities

  • ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance)

  • Climate Risk

  • Green Finance

  • Corporate Responsibility

  • Public Policy

  • Market Failures

  • Circular Economy

  • Carbon Pricing

  • Capital Allocation

 

Learning Prerequisites

Required courses

None

Recommended courses

None

Important concepts to start the course

Those reviewed in the Durabilité ENV-101 course, in particular the Political and Economic Levers covered by prof. Aklin

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

  • Assess / Evaluate the nature of the environmental challenge for our economic system
  • Critique the sustainability strategies of corporates, SMEs and investors
  • Contextualise the policy measures as well as corporate and financial actions with regards sustainability objectives

Transversal skills

  • Communicate effectively, being understood, including across different languages and cultures.
  • Evaluate one's own performance in the team, receive and respond appropriately to feedback.
  • Design and present a poster.
  • Make an oral presentation.
  • Use a work methodology appropriate to the task.
  • Assess progress against the plan, and adapt the plan as appropriate.

Teaching methods

Ex Cathedra courses with preliminary readings

Q&A's forum and slides on Moodle

Group work for creation and oral presentation of posters

Expected student activities

Intermediary report on poster preparation and poster

Oral presentation of own poster and comments on other groups' posters

Active participation in class

Assessment methods

QCM following the ex-cathedra presentations: 40%

Poster: 60%

 

Supervision

Office hours No
Assistant.e.s Yes
Forum Yes

Resources

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)

No

Bibliography

Available on Moodle

Ressources en bibliothèque

Références suggérées par la bibliothèque

Notes/Handbook

No

Background readings on Moodle

Moodle Link

In the programs

  • Semester: Fall
  • Number of places: 120
  • Exam form: During the semester (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Sustainable Management and Finance
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: mandatory

Reference week

Tuesday, 15h - 17h: Lecture CM1

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