Deloitte Climate & Sustainability Competency Lab

Massimo Tavoni

Climate change scenarios: narratives and business implications

The lecture focused on the topic of climate scenarios through a re-reading of the Sixth IPCC Assessment report, particularly Working Group III - Mitigation of Climate Change report, to better understand the impacts on businesses and industries of the measures needed to counter climate change.

Massimo Tavoni is full professor of climate change economics at the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano and director of the European Institute on Economic and the Environment (EIEE). He received a starting grant from the European Research Council (ERC) in 2014 and has subsequently participated in more than 20 EU-funded research projects, 2 of them as scientific coordinator. His research concerns climate change mitigation policies. He has been IPCC lead author (Fifth and Sixth Assessment reports) and serves as an advisor on mitigation issues for major international institutions, such as OECD and World Bank.

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Simone Borghesi

Regulated and voluntary carbon markets: perspectives and business opportunities

The lecture focused on the analysis of carbon markets, both regulated and voluntary, in order to offer a perspective on future scenarios, with particular reference to the European Trading System (EU ETS) and recent regulatory developments concerning some important industrial sectors. Additionally, issues related to opportunities for companies in developing offset projects aimed at generating carbon credits have been addressed.

Simone Borghesi is full professor of political economy at the University of Siena. He is president-elect of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE) and director of FSR Climate, the climate change research unit of the Robert Schuman Center of the European University Institute (EUI). He has won numerous national and international research projects on environmental issues; his research concerns globalization and sustainable development, the functioning of the European Emission Trading System, and eco-innovation.

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Enrica De Cian

Climate change adaptation: consumer response to climate risk

The lecture focuses on issues related to climate change adaptation, presenting the consumer perspective and the consequent changes in lifestyles and consumption decisions that will be required to cope with the ongoing climate change. Special attention will be given to the interactions between climatic and socioeconomic factors in determining the evolution of energy demand.

Enrica De Cian is a full professor of economic policy at Ca'Foscari University in Venice. She is a researcher in the Economic Analysis of Climate Impacts and Policy division of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC). In 2012 she received the Marie Skłodowska-Curie International Outgoing Fellowship and in 2017 she received a starting grant from the European Research Council (ERC), as well as participated in international research projects funded by the European Union. Her research concerns the global impacts of climate change on the economy and society.

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Irene Monasterolo

Economic impacts of climate risk: methodological tools for corporate assessment

The lecture focuses on the analysis of climate change risks and opportunities for businesses, a topic of importance both on the strategic front and for growing reporting requirements. It will also provide an account of the methodologies needed for calculating economic and financial impacts related to climate risks through approaches based on scenario analysis.

Irene Monasterolo is a full professor of climate finance at EDHEC Business School and research program director of the EDHEC-Risk Climate Impact Institute. Her research concerns the role of finance in achieving climate goals. She has contributed to the development of climate stress test methodologies that incorporate scenario analysis into financial valuation and risk assessment models, and which have been used by several financial institutions to measure exposure to physical and transition risks.

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Simone Tagliapietra

Industrial policies for Net Zero: short- and long-term energy scenarios for Europe

The lecture focuses on the industrial policies to be adopted to achieve Net Zero targets, with particular reference to the Green Deal Industrial Plan, that will complement the European Green Deal and REPowerEU in supporting the transition to climate neutrality. Proposals made at the European level will be presented and macroeconomic and industrial implications, especially for the energy sector, will be discussed.

Simone Tagliapietra is a senior fellow at Bruegel and teaches environmental policy at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and Johns Hopkins University. His research covers issues related to global decarbonization and he is an expert on European Union climate and energy policies. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Clean Air Task Force (CATF).

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Florian Berg

ESG ratings & sustainable finance

The lecture will delve into the ecosystem of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) raters, with a focus on what distinguishes them from corporate ESG disclosures. Next, the webinar will unravel how these ratings are leveraged by financial markets, and identify the ones that significantly influence financial decision-making. Moreover, light will be shed on how they are constructed, as well as the common problems that are associated with these kinds of methodologies. As a culmination of the talk, the most urgent issue - measurement noise, offering insight into potential avenues for improvement in the short and long run – will be unfolded.

Florian Berg is a research scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management where he cofounded the Aggregate Confusion Project. His research interest covers sustainable investing with a focus on ESG ratings, the disagreement between different rating agencies, and how it affects investors, firms, as well as academic research.

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Phoebe Koundouri

Measuring SDGs for a sustainable transition

The lecture will firstly connect the dots (using AI and ML approaches) between the major policy initiatives – the SDGs, the Paris Climate Agreement, the European Green Deal, the European Semester, the EU recovery plan, and showcase actionable strategies for policymakers that can guide EU-wide and national economic recovery in line with the EU's overarching sustainability agenda. It will then make the case for science-and-innovation-driven transformation to a sustainable world, introducing research projects, innovation accelerators, and science-policy interface institutions and networks, collaborating under the Alliance of Excellence for Research & Innovation on Aephoria-AE4RIA. Policy recommendations for implementing the ambitious sustainability agenda will be suggested.

Phoebe Koundouri is Professor in Economics at the Athens University of Economics and Business and the Technical University of Denmark. She is also President of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE) and chairs the World Council of Environmental and Natural Resource Economists Associations (WCERE).

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Thierry Roncalli

Net Zero Investment Portfolios

The lecture will focus on net zero investing, a concept that is not always well defined despite the fact that, since COP26 and the UN's Race to Zero campaign, net-zero alliances have proliferated to decarbonize the financial sector. Asset owners and managers focus primarily on portfolio decarbonization when talking about net zero. However, net zero investing implies a second dimension that is even more important: the transition dimension. This presentation will show how to combine the two dimensions from an asset allocation perspective by considering two approaches. The first is an integrated approach based on (multi-period) portfolio optimization, while the second implements a core-satellite approach. The lecture will also discuss how climate investing is different from ESG investing in terms of portfolio construction and risk/return profiles.

Thierry Roncalli is Head of Quant Portfolio Strategy at Amundi Investment Institute. Prior to joining Amundi in November 2016, he was Head of Research and Development at Lyxor Asset Management. Thierry is also Adjunct Professor of Economics at the University of Paris-Saclay (Evry), Department of Economics.

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Anne-Claire Van Den Wall Bake e Ian J. Bateman

Integrating ecosystem services in business decision making

The lecture will be divided into two parts. The first one will focus on understanding the financial, social and environmental consequences of investments in land use change, with a particular emphasis on decision support tools. These serve as guides for decision-makers, showing them the levers driving changes in land use and the related outcomes, exploring areas such as market production, financial returns, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity impact, water quality and quantity considerations, and even implications for recreation. The second part of the webinar will explore the role of natural capital in the path towards sustainable development. After an overview of the main issues related to it, a discussion on the work of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial will follow.

Ian J. Bateman is Professor of Environmental Economics and Director of the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute (LEEP) at the University of Exeter, UK. He has written over 170 papers in the leading international peer-reviewed journals in natural and physical sciences, economics and social science.

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Lee Ann Jackson

Evolving landscape of food systems policies: how shifting policies are transforming the agrifood sector

The lecture will highlight new developments in food systems policies, including EU agri-food policies, and how these policies incentivize transformation towards sustainable outcomes. The diversity of approaches creates opportunities as innovative policies can have positive cascading effects within the agri-food sector. At the same time there is need for supply chain actors to work together to avoid possible fragmentation associated with diverse reporting requirements.It will be held by Dr. Lee Ann Jackson with the contribution of Randy Jagt (Partner at Deloitte Netherlands and the Future of Food leader for Deloitte Global).

Lee Ann Jackson is the Head of the Agro-food Trade and Markets Division in the OECD’s Trade and Agriculture Directorate. She leads the work examining the links between policies and outcomes on food and agricultural markets. She has over 20 years of experience working in the area of trade and agriculture, including 16 years working at the WTO, where she served as the Secretary to the Committee on Agriculture, advising WTO member countries on issues related to agricultural trade policy and multilateral negotiations. She has served as a consultant for leading international organisations involved in agriculture policy and trade, including the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Consultative Group for International Agriculture Research.

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Ben Groom

Nature positive impacts in business organisations: measuring and valuing biodiversity

In this lecture, Ben Groom will discuss the importance of measuring and valuing biodiversity for decision making. Drawing from numerous studies including the Dasgupta Review, he will highlight the multiple ways of measuring biodiversity and the multiple economic values of biodiversity ranging from supporting and regulating ecosystem services, insurance/resilience services alongside cultural, bequest and option values. The difficulties of economics valuation of biodiversity lead to a cost-based proposal for biodiversity valuation to inform government investment appraisal and even private sector disclosure. The approach will be illustrated using examples from Europe and the tropics.The webinar will also feature a contribution from Daniele Strippoli, Partner at Deloitte Climate & Sustainability and Nature Service Leader at Deloitte North-Southern Europe.

Ben Groom has a PhD in economics from the Department of Economics at University College London, and he joined the University of Exeter from the London School of Economics in 2020 as the Dragon Capital Chair in Biodiversity Economics.He is a member of the HM Treasury Biodiversity Working Group, which looks at how to ensure biodiversity is accounted for Cost benefit Analysis of public policy and investment, and has advised governments across the world on their approach to long-term policy and investment in relation to environmental issues such as biodiversity and climate change. He has also worked as a consultant to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Pakistan and the OECD.His research interests include biodiversity and climate change economics, land-use change, and the causes of deforestation, habitat, and biodiversity loss.

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Ben Caldecott

Financing the energy transition: when and how

This lecture will explore how finance and investment influence the energy transition and, in turn, how the energy transition shapes financial decisions. It will also examine the expected trajectory of this shift and the role of corporate transition planning in supporting global decarbonization efforts.

Ben Caldecott is the founding Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group and the Lombard Odier Associate Professor of Sustainable Finance at the University of Oxford. Ben is also the founding Director and Principal Investigator of the UK Centre for Greening Finance & Investment. He is a Visiting Professor at the Wealth Management Institute in Singapore. In November 2024 he became Chair of the International Transition Plan Network (ITPN) Advisory Group, launched at COP29. He currently serves as a Trustee of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and on the UK Climate Change Committee, as well as on DBS Bank’s Board Sustainability Committee, UK Export Finance’s Export Guarantees Advisory Council, and the SBTi Technical Council.

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Teresa Domenech

Circular economy transformation in organisations

The Circular Economy proposes a new way to create value in organisations by transforming the way they operate to maintain circular flows of resources, based on regenerative and sustainability approaches. In this session we will explore key principles of CE in organisations, key drivers and challenges of the transition towards circularity and discuss pathways for implementation and adoption of circular practices.

Teresa Domenech is an Associate Professor in Industrial Ecology and the Circular Economy at the University College of London (UCL) and founder director of the UCL Circular Economy Lab and the UCL Plastic Innovation Hub. She has contributed to leading international research in the areas of sustainable industrial development, decarbonization pathways and the circular economy. Her expertise covers resource and energy implications of industrial sectors including construction (metals and cement), plastics, textiles and the bio-economy. She has also explored the resource implications (e.g., critical materials reliance) of green mobility (e.g., EV batteries) and renewable technologies. Her work also explores resource flows in cities and sustainable urban transitions.

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