The conference hosts researchers from around the world who present their thought-provoking papers, with major contributions to complementary disciplines such as sustainable finance, management, strategy, law, and development economics. The selected academic papers have been peer-reviewed by a scientific committee. Topics on the agenda include: 

• The managerial and financial implications of corporate social and environmental sustainability
• Shareholder engagement on ESG issues
• Investors’ preferences for sustainability, and the valuation of ESG issues 
• The implementation and returns of impact investments
• Corporate sustainability, stakeholders, and the legal environment
• Charitable giving and microfinance

Keynote Speakers:

Alex Edmans
Professor of Finance
London Business School

Tima Bansal
Professor of Strategy
Ivey Business School

Conference Organisation
Rob Bauer, Jeroen Derwall, Paul Smeets

Conference Programme Committee
Clemens Kool, Bart Verspagen (Maastricht University), Nadja Günster (University of Münster), Philip Krüger (University of Geneva), Sébastien Pouget (Toulouse School of Economics), Gordon Clark (University of Oxford), Ivan Diaz-Rainey (University of Otago), Charles Donovan (Imperial College), Samuel Hartzmark (University of Chicago), Chendi Zhang (University of Warwick, Caroline Flammer (Boston University), David Robinson (Duke University), Ben Caldecott (University of Oxford) and Thomas Thijssens (Open Univeristy of the Netherlands).

Awards

The following awards (€ 2.500 each) will be granted:

• BNP Paribas Asset Management Best Conference Paper Award
• PGGM Sustainable Asset Pricing and Impact Paper Award
• GRASFI Best PhD Paper Award

Only accepted papers are eligible for these awards.

Conference Schedule

Have a look at the programme overview.

Expenses

A conference fee of €250 applies to all presenters, discussants, and conference participants. 

There will be a limited number of conference fee waivers available for PhD students who have been accepted to the PhD Workshop on September 5. We would encourage members of GRASFI Member Universities to apply for funding within their own institutions.

Hotel booking, venues and route description

The conference venue is located in the centre of Maastricht, please check the programme overview.
For your convenience a selection of hotels in Maastricht is available for booking. Have a look at the location of the venues and route description.

About the Global Research Alliance for Sustainable Finance and Investment

The Global Research Alliance for Sustainable Finance and Investment was founded in 2017 to promote multi-disciplinary academic research on sustainable finance and investment. The Alliance consists of global research universities, each with expertise in this emerging field.

The Alliance aims to: organise the major annual academic conference on sustainable finance and investment internationally; develop academic collaboration between researchers working on sustainable finance and investment; and nurture the growth and development of graduate students and junior academics working on sustainable finance and investment.

There is significant and growing interest among practitioners, policymakers, and civil society in the topic of sustainable finance and investment. There is a now an opportunity to ratchet up the quality and quantity of academic research in this area.

High-quality, rigorous academic research can inform necessary developments in the theory and practice of sustainable finance and investment. Doing so will help align the financial system will global environmental sustainability, a necessary condition for implementation of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Alliance currently consists of the following global research universities: University of California, Berkeley; University of Cambridge; Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE); Columbia University; Frankfurt School of Finance and Management; University of Hamburg; Imperial College London; London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE); Maastricht University; University of Otago; University of Oxford; Stanford University; Stockholm School of Economics; University of Toronto; Tsinghua University; University College London; Yale University; University of Zurich.

The Alliance is run by an Organising Committee consisting of representatives from each Member University. The Organising Committee is currently co-chaired by Professor Rob Bauer (Maastricht University) and Dr Ben Caldecott (University of Oxford).