First House of Finance GRASFI PhD Workshop at Goethe University Frankfurt
In addition to providing a platform for academic exchange, the two-day programme offered valuable opportunities for networking among PhD researchers and beyond. The workshop began with a keynote lecture on “Nature-related risks for the European economy and the financial system” by ECB climate scientist Andrej Ceglar, highlighting the importance of environmental risks for financial stability. A conference dinner at the UBS Opernturm, hosted by Pierre Chavenon, Chief Risk Officer at UBS, provided an opportunity to connect with practitioners from the Frankfurt financial centre.
On the following day, PhD candidates presented their research on a diverse range of topics at the intersection of finance and sustainability. The sessions, chaired by Rainer Klump, Florian Heeb, Manuel Linsenmeier, and Francesco Paolo Mongelli, featured papers:
- exploring how ESG social ratings align with employee experiences and how misalignment affects financial performance (Eleonora Carrettin),
- showing that reputational capital—measured through awards granted to CEOs—can lead to moral self-licensing or a decline in ethical conduct (Frederique Bouwman),
- analyzing climate-induced pressures on public finances and demonstrating that sovereign financing conditions are affected not only by direct exposure to climate risk but also by global spillover effects via value chains (Lukas Rischen),
- tracing the evolution of the “greenium” in recent years, showing not only its disappearance but even a reversal of the green bond premium compared to conventional bonds (Laura Wollny),
- investigating whether banks charge a moral premium to firms in controversial industries shaped by societal norms (Christoph Domnick),
- analyzing how carbon pricing affects household loan terms and borrowing behaviour (Philip Fliegel),
- examining how cap-and-trade policies drive shifts toward cleaner energy assets (Zonghe Guo), and
- discussing the assessment of corporate emissions targets against national and global climate pathways, highlighting misalignment and transition risks (Adrien Rose).
