Recognition Ceremony for the ESG Awards, celebrating victorious studies focused on the climate emergency and supply chain issues
The European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies (Effas) has announced the winners of the Gasperini ESG Awards 2024, an initiative created in memory of Andrea Gasperini, the head of the ESG sustainability area of the Italian Association for Financial Analysis (Aiaf).
The first prize was awarded to a groundbreaking paper titled "The impact of climate change on corporate production: Identifying supply chain effects", authored by Claúdia Custódio from Imperial College London, Miguel Ferreira from Nova SBE, Emilia Garcia-Appendini from Norges Bank and University of Zurich, and Adrian Lam from University of Pittsburgh.
In second place, a joint work by José Tavares and Sharmin Sazedj from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, titled "The gender gap at the top: How network size and composition affect CEO compensation", was recognised for its in-depth analysis of gender disparities in executive compensation.
The awards, which have a 2-minute reading length, aim to promote research, guide reflection, and encourage investment professionals to contribute to the sector. Pietro Poletto, president of Aiaf, stated that the path to align sustainability reporting with the same quality levels as financial reporting is underway.
Poletto also emphasised the need for associations like Aiaf to facilitate dialogue and express the competitive potential of ESG in Italy. He further stated that a joint effort from all market capital actors, supervisory authorities, financial intermediaries, and institutional investors is needed to achieve this goal.
Aiaf, according to Poletto, can play a role as a catalyst for change in the efforts to align sustainability reporting with financial reporting. The awards, he said, honour young financial analysts and experts in economic-financial and quantitative disciplines.
Participants were asked to create papers on ESG, sustainability, and circular economy themes. The winners were selected based on their original work in the field of sustainability. The awards were presented with the motivation that the first prize was for an innovative approach to understanding the economic impacts of climate change on supply chains, and the second prize was for an in-depth analysis of how professional networks influence gender disparities in executive compensation.
Andrea Gasperini, for whom the awards are named, passed away prematurely. His legacy lives on through these awards, which aim to inspire and recognise the next generation of financial analysts and experts dedicated to sustainable and responsible investing. Aiaf is ready to do its part to activate the necessary dialogue to express the full competitive potential of the three ESG letters, even in Italy.
- Other recipients of the Gasperini ESG Awards 2024, like Juan López from University of Barcelona and Mariana Santos from University of São Paulo, were acknowledged for their papers on the intersection of environmental-science and finance, focusing on investing strategies for sustainable businesses.
- In third place, a collaborative work by Thomas Dupont and Charlotte Debroux from Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, titled "Integrating climate-change risks into financial-market valuation: The role of corporate environmental-science disclosures", was commended for its valuable insights on how businesses can assess and manage climate-change risks.
- With the aim of promoting sustainable growth and responsible investing, Aiaf encourages business professionals to consider ESG factors when making important financial decisions, ultimately fostering a more balanced and durable economic ecosystem.
