Michele Bugliesi, Rector of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, and Fulceri Bruni Roccia, Head of the Knowledge Programme, EIB Institute, signed on Thursday 26 September in Venice an agreement for an EIBURS research grant on the theme of ‘Incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in credit analysis and ratings”.
The signature took place at the opening of the 18th International Conference on Credit Risk Evaluation Designed for Institutional Targeting in finance (CREDIT) on “Assessing and managing climate change risk: opportunities for financial institutions” organised yearly in Venice with Ca’ Foscari by Italian think-tank GRETA (Gruppi di Ricerca Economica Teorica e Aplicata).
The three year project (2020-2022) will be led by Ca’ Foscari’s Department of Economics, directed by Professor Monica Billio, and supported by the Research Center “Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe“ (SAFE), a cooperation of the Center for Financial Studies and Goethe University Frankfurt and the University of Milano Bicocca (Department of Economics, Management and Statistics)
Fulceri Bruni Roccia said: “I am very pleased to sign this EIBURS contract with Ca’ Foscari. Its topic is particularly relevant for the EIB, the EU Bank and the world’s largest multilateral provider of finance for climate action and environmental sustainability. This shows our support and our commitment to higher education and research activities all over the EU.”
“This is a very ambitious research project aiming to incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in credit analysis and ratings, including specifically the impact of climate change,” said Monica Billio, Director of Ca’ Foscari Department of Economics and coordinator of the project –. ” Thanks to its expertise in finance and environmental sustainability, Ca’ Foscari can offer a unique laboratory to develop a new valuation and management methodologies for financial and environmental risks,” she added.
EIBURS research grants are part of the Institute’s Knowledge Programme, through which the EIB Group fosters relationships with universities and research institutes. They provide grants of up to EUR 100 000 per year for three years to research centres working on topics and themes of interest to the Bank’s Group (EIB and EIF). EIBURS are awarded through a competitive procedure (ten universities from seven countries had submitted proposals) to university departments or research centres within the EU, the candidate countries or potential candidate countries.
Thirty-one EIBURS research projects led by 24 universities and research centres from 11 countries have been financed so far.
For more information please also see our research map.
