Measuring the impact of SRI

Nicolas MOTTIS is a Professor at the École Polytechnique in the MIE Department and is also Academic Director of the Executive Master. His research, conducted since September 2016 within i3-CRG, focuses on the management of company performance and project management in high-tech contexts. He is the author of several books and numerous academic and professional publications in these fields.

What project are you currently working on?

Behind the generous formulas, corporate social responsibility today poses many technical problems. This project thus addresses a key question that is still unresolved in socially responsible investment: how to assess the real impact in terms of social, environmental and governance performance of financial assets managed by major players in the financial markets (banks, insurance companies, investment funds, etc.) within the framework of a so-called "responsible" policy. Following the various COPs or due to national regulations (Grenelle, Article 173 in France for example), many players in the financial sector are trying to better integrate these extra-financial performance criteria into their objectives, but it is still very difficult to assess the real impact of these practices. This becomes even more sensitive in the context of the "public SRI label" developed by the French government to reassure savers. As a member of the scientific committee of this label, I have long participated in the associated debates. The project is part of this perspective with the objective of proposing ways to improve the label. It consisted of setting up a working group which brings together around 25 key players from the Parisian financial centre involved in SRI.

What developments do you see for this project?

This working group will submit its conclusions in the fall of 2018. It operates according to the principles of “open innovation”: a broad forum around a few structured questions, analysis of what is being done elsewhere, a multi-stakeholder approach, a desire to quickly arrive at concrete recommendations, etc. It will also conduct surveys aimed at identifying best practices and better characterizing existing situations. On an empirical level, the project covers major issues for the economy and the environment and could contribute to helping the French responsible finance ecosystem, which is very advanced at the global level, to innovate even more. On a theoretical level, the question of impact is at the crossroads of different disciplines and it is a relatively new field of publication.

Interview by Marie Claude Cléon