EDHEC, academic partner of the ChangeNOW Summit 2026
For the second consecutive year, EDHEC Business School acted as academic partner of the ChangeNOW Summit, an international event focusing on solutions for the planet. Taking part in the event held from 30 March to 1 April in Paris’s Grand Palais, were Scientific Climate Ratings – an EDHEC Venture –, the EDHEC Climate Institute and the EDHEC NewGen Talent Centre.
During the morning session of 31 March, Rémy Estran-Fraioli, CEO of Scientific Climate Ratings, took part in a round table - Adaptation & The Cost of Inaction - alongside Oxana Megglé, Senior Investment Officer & Sustainable and Nature Finance Lead at the World Bank Group, and Sandrine Bouttier-Stref, Global Head of CSR & General Delegate for Foundation S (Sanofi).
Quantifying the real cost of climate inaction
Rémy Estran-Fraioli began the discussion by presenting Scientific Climate Ratings’ scope of action and particularly its work on quantifying the financial impact of climate risks. He notably talked about the cost of inaction on the climate change front, by drawing on Scientific Climate Ratings’ analysis of links between climate catastrophes and financial risks. Along with the decision-makers from various backgrounds taking part in the round table, he also discussed one of the challenges facing society, namely that of reconciling the short and long terms. In conclusion, he urged everyone – investors, companies or property owners - to measure the personal cost of their inaction and to see climate change for what it is, namely a fully-fledged and quantifiable risk that is liable to be anticipated. He explained to the audience that: “we now have tools that can not only quantify the cost of inaction, but can also gauge the benefits of action. By factoring climate risks and adaptation solutions into financial decisions, capital can be reallocated. And when capital moves, it can drive large-scale changes”.
Reinforcing the resilience of coastal areas
During the afternoon session, the EDHEC Climate Institute organised a workshop under the heading Coastal Resilience: From Science to Solutions & Financing, centred on a key question: how to convert knowledge of climate risks into actions and financing that serve to adapt coastal areas?
Taking part in the discussions were Camille Angué and Anthony Schrapffer (Director and Scientific Director, respectively, of the EDHEC Climate Institute (ECI)), Sarah Kieling (Blue Finance Lead at Waves of Change Coalition, an association that has just signed a partnership with the ECI), Pierre Emmanuel Noël (Head of Unit at the European Investment Bank) and Marie Philippe (Director of the Office of the Minister for Francophone Affairs and International Partnerships). Together, they contributed their practical insight into the challenges facing coastal areas, ranging from scientific understanding of the risks involved, to various financial and political levers and practical solutions enabling large-scale action.
Drawing on work conducted by the EDHEC Climate Institute, Camille Angué explained that coastal areas are particularly exposed to major climate risks — rising sea levels, flooding, storms or erosion — that threaten people, assets and infrastructure. Although coastal vulnerability is nothing new, the intensification of extreme phenomena, together with their unpredictability and skewed distribution, serve to magnify their impact. The question is no longer whether coastal areas will be affected, but where, how and at what cost. Referring to work by the C40 network, a global network of large cities engaged in fighting climate change and promoting urban resilience, she also underlined that between $2 trillion and $3.5 trillion of assets are already exposed to the risk of flooding in large coastal cities.
For his part, Anthony Schrapffer emphasised that the economic costs of climate impacts on coastal areas are largely linked to the heavily exposed and insufficiently adapted nature of coastal infrastructure. “Without indicators, these risks are impossible to manage”, he added. Given this situation, climate ratings play a decisive role in rendering the risk visible, quantifiable and exploitable in financial decision-making. Ratings can be used to assess the cost of inaction, to measure the benefits of taking early action and to allocate capital to solutions that make assets more resilient.
Exploring the spectrum of responsibility in the professional world: focus on today’s new generations
On 1 April, Manuelle Malot, Director of the EDHEC NewGen Talent Centre, took part in the conference titled Aligning aspirations and skills: the new compass of impact careers, alongside Julie de Mony-Pajol, Senior Impact Manager at EcoVadis, and Christophe Drozo, Supervisory Board member of ICGS (the sustainable accounting and management training institute). During the discussion, Manuelle Malot highlighted the close link that now exists between today’s new generations and environmental and societal responsibility, underlining that young people now refuse to separate their personal convictions from their careers. She then stressed the key qualities needed to gain a foothold in a professional world in the midst of transformation, such as critical thinking, agility and courage. In addition, success is no longer measured solely in terms of climbing the corporate ladder. Instead, linear career pathways dictated by status are giving way to more engaged trajectories, where individuals do not just look for a job, but seek a project with meaning.
She then underlined that sustainable development issues are no longer just associated with positions in the social and charitable economy or the humanitarian sector, but that they now concern all jobs where the objective is to “make companies accountable for their impact”. She also highlighted that environmental and social issues have been integrated into a broad variety of functions including procurement, accounting, logistics or events-organising. Her view is that the challenge for employers is no longer to get youngsters to enter pre-established careers, but to align their engagement as citizens with businesses’ transformation-related needs.
Video capture : Adaptation & The Cost of Inaction (Youtube link)
