Financial sector: measuring differently for a sustainable world (MAPMONDES)

Scientific project

The financial sector as a whole – insurance companies, asset managers, banks and investment funds – is exposed to unprecedented challenges, characterised by increasingly extreme risks and calling into question their current business models:

• environmental issues, such as climate change and the extinction of species, require better assessment of the environmental impact caused by insured and financed activities and investment portfolios;
• social issues, such as demographic growth and rising social inequality, raise questions about the contribution of products, services and activities to reducing social risks;
• governance issues, such as cyber, health or political risks, are part of the constrained and strategic choices at the heart of building trust in social systems and between individuals;
  technological issues, with the advent of algorithms and artificial intelligence, are changing practices, particularly in terms of evaluation and measurement.

At the same time, the financial sector, like all other sectors, is undergoing a communications revolution, marked by the growing demands of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) regulations, in response to demands from civil society and stakeholders for greater transparency. Regulations requiring the publication of information required by the Corporate

Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and its associated standards (European Sustainability Reporting Standards – ESRS), or the standards of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). In addition, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) requires asset managers to publish information on the sustainability of the financial products they offer, and to rank their funds according to sustainability criteria.

Faced with these environmental, social, demographic, technological, and notably communication-related challenges, the financial sector is compelled to embark on a shift towards sustainable development. To support this process, the MAPMONDES IdR is tasked with : 

1. 1. identify and analyse in detail the frameworks for publishing sustainable information and sustainability indicators,
   2. producing elements for qualifying the sustainable and responsible profile of investments and financial products and services, at an individual and sectoral level,
   3. disseminating the work to a wide audience of stakeholders, in the form of publications and workshops.