Symposium: Portfolio Decarbonization - Issues and Challenges

CIRANO

Tuesday 12 Nov 2019
From 2:30PM To 6PM

This symposium was sponsored by the Desjardins Centre for Business Finance Innovation (Concordia University), the Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair in Corporate Governance (Concordia University) and the Financial and Organizational Information Chair (CIFO, ESG-UQAM).

Climate change, along with its socio-economic consequences, has implications for the construction of investment portfolios, particularly for institutional investors, whether they are managers or asset owners.

The purpose of this CIRANO Symposium was to discuss the conceptual and practical issues arising in portfolio management in this new environment, including corporate disclosure as well as measurement and analysis of the impact of greenhouse gases. We also discussed the asset allocation challenges facing institutional investors. The symposium adopted a practical orientation and concluded with a panel discussion of managers who took stock of the issue based on their experience.

Denis Cormier

Denis Cormier is Professor in the Department of Accounting Sciences at the École des sciences de la gestion of the Université du Québec à Montréal.

[ - ]

[ + ]

Nathalie De Marcellis-Warin

Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin joined CIRANO in 2000 as a postdoctoral researcher and was appointed President and CEO in 2016, after serving as Vice-President from 2008 to 2016. Since 2011, she has led the CIRANO Barometer project on risk perception in Quebec, which annually collects data on Quebecers’ concerns regarding 47 major societal issues. She is also Head of the CIRANO Research Pole on the Socioeconomic Impacts of Digital Intelligence and Principal Investigator of the Innovation and Digital Transformation research theme.

She is a Full Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering at Polytechnique Montréal, where she also serves as Academic Director of PolyFinances. In addition, she is a Visiting Scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an Associate Researcher at the Institute for Data Valorization (IVADO).

She holds a PhD in Management Science (specializing in risk management and insurance) from the École normale supérieure de Cachan. Her research focuses on risk management and decision-making in contexts of risk and uncertainty, as well as the design and evaluation of public policies. Her work combines economic analysis, cost-benefit analysis, survey data analysis, and more recently, large-scale unstructured data analytics.

In 2008, she founded the RISQH network, a knowledge-sharing and awareness network dedicated to risk management, patient safety, and quality of care in healthcare institutions. She contributed to the development of the Montreal Declaration for a Responsible Development of Artificial Intelligence.

She serves as Scientific Director of the Measurement Tools, Monitoring and Surveys Division at the International Observatory on the Societal Impacts of AI and Digital Technologies (OBVIA). She is also co-founder of the International Francophone Network on Scientific Advice (RFICS).

At CIRANO, she leads and contributes to several large-scale research initiatives, notably the creation of an economic digital twin of the St. Lawrence–Great Lakes region (GVCdtLab), developed in collaboration with the federal government.

She has published numerous scientific articles, several books, and more than 40 reports for government and other organizations. She has delivered over one hundred conferences and is regularly invited to speak in the media.

[ - ]

[ + ]

Martin Latulippe

Director of Continuous Disclosure, Autorité des marchés financiers

[ - ]

[ + ]

Michel Magnan

A CIRANO Researcher and Fellow since 2003, Michel Magnan is Professor at the John Molson School of Business of Concordia University.

Holding a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Washington, his research, teaching and professional interests encompass financial reporting, financial statement analysis, governance, executive compensation, ethics and the environment, and corporate disclosure.

His academic career spans over 30 years. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 papers that have been published in academic and professional journals and has presented his work at several conferences in America, Europe and Asia. He is currently Consulting Editor of Contemporary Accounting Research, Section Editor of the Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences and Associate Chief Editor of Revue française de gouvernance d’entreprise. He is a member of the Canadian Accounting Standards Board.

[ - ]

[ + ]

Bertrand Millot

Vice-President and Chief of Responsible Investing, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec

[ - ]

[ + ]

Marie-Josée Privyk

ESG Advisor, FinComm Services

[ - ]

[ + ]

Nicolas Richard

Nicolas Richard is Chief Operating Officer at Desjardins Global Asset Management. He started his career in 1995 with Citigroup, where he worked in portfolio management, research and financial strategy before becoming Managing Director at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. Prior to his current leadership role, he headed Desjardins Global Asset Management’s Systematic trategies and Asset Allocation activities.

Mr. Richard has a Master’s degree in Finance from the London Business School and a Bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Science and Mathematics from Université de Montréal.

[ - ]

[ + ]