Sustainability is about co-existence in a broadly agreed context. This requires insight in common interests of the stakeholders as well as the potential differences between them. The objective of the research area Sustainable finance is to develop incentive-setting models, avoiding model arbitrage & green washing, and promoting win-win behavior.
Our activities resulted in sustainability rating tools such as esg2go, complexity metrics as well as financial vehicles. These three sub-fields are related. The former ones compares and verifies the sustainability performance of SMEs at low cost. It is compatible with relevant rating & reporting standards as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals that regard business as part of the solution. The second one identifies the systematic drivers of resilience of “coalitions” in general. The last one identifies gaps in the financial market and designs win-win solution with purpose of removing these gaps.
Projects
- esg2go (responsible: Isa Cakir)
- ESIWeb (responsible: Bruno Sauter)
- RENOWAVE (responsible: Isa Cakir)
Head of sector
Associated research fields
Sustainable Building and Real Estate
Related publication highlights
Cakir, I., Cakir, B., Aerni, P. (2022) Methodological Framework of esg2go. CCRS Working Paper (2/2022). School of Management Fribourg (on demand).
Cakir, I., and Cakir, B.(2023) Credit Risk of Financial Vehicle for Energy Retrofits of Buildings. CCRS Working Paper (3/2023). School of Management Fribourg (on demand).
Cakir, B, Schluep, I. Aerni, P., Cakir, I. (2021) ‘Amalgamation of Export with Import Information: The Economic Complexity Index as a Coherent Driver of Sustainability’. Sustainability 13(4), 2049. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042049.
Aerni, P. ‘Standards für eine nachhaltige Unternehmensführung: Genese, Analyse und ein Lösungsansatz’. In Alex Gert-schen (ed) Räderwerke der Normalität. Wie Normen und Standards Vertrauen schaffen. NZZ Libro, pp 208-2016 (2023).( https://www.nzz-libro.ch/alex-gertschen-raederwerke-der-normalitaet-978-3-907396-28-5)
Aerni, P., Hidalgo C., Semitiel, M. and Schaefer M. (eds) Economic Complexity and Sustainability. Sustainability (2021) (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/Economic_Complexity_Sustainability)
Aerni, P. ‘Langfristige Direktinvestitionen als Chance für lokales Unternehmertum und Beitrag zu inklusivem Wachstum‘. In: Almanach Entwicklungspolitik 2020: In: Afrika zwischen Aufbruch und Armut. Caritas-Verlag, Luzern, pp 171-180 (2019) https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/175121/