Camille Angué (EDHEC): “Facing climate challenges, what sets us apart is our independence, our academic rigor, and our understanding of what investors expect”
In this interview, Camille Angué, Director of the EDHEC Climate Institute (ECI), discusses the institute’s latest developments and related initiatives ahead of the EDHEC Climate Research Conference 2026 (23 June, London), and outlines the institute’s plans for the coming months.
To mark London Climate Action Week 2026, we took the opportunity to speak with Camille Angué, Director of the EDHEC Climate Institute (ECI). On 23 June, the institute is organising a major scientific conference at the intersection of finance and climate research, which will bring together over 300 participants – investors, business leaders, researchers, policymakers, regulators, journalists and more…
For her, climate change demands, above all, a shift in perspective: it is no longer a distant and gradual risk, but a contemporary reality characterised by increased volatility, climate-related economic shocks and a rise in extreme weather events. The Director of ECI explains why and how EDHEC Business School is uniquely positioned to bring together, persuade and mobilise private and public sector stakeholders facing this new reality.
- View the full programme for the EDHEC Climate Research Conference 2026
- Find out more about the EDHEC Climate Institute
In your view, there's been a significant shift in the way we perceive climate risks in recent years
Camille Angué : Yes, indeed. The weather models that have underpinned our frameworks for decades are now being called into question. What is really changing is the notion of the materiality of climate risk: we are no longer simply asking whether the climate is changing, but where, how, and at what cost. We are moving from physical climate models to the assessment of financial risks and their incorporation into asset prices (1), a field of research known as climate asset pricing.
The way we interpret the situation has also undergone a profound transformation. Climate change is no longer seen as a distant risk, confined to the horizons of 2050 or 2100. These long-term scenarios have often struggled to convince people, precisely because they seemed abstract and removed from the timeframes relevant to decision-making. Recent research (2), on the contrary, highlights non-linearities, vulnerability thresholds (the famous tipping points) and the possibility of major physical shocks in the short term. Climate risk now appears to be an immediate macroeconomic risk (3). The new short-term scenarios from the NGFS illustrate this (4): in the ‘Disasters and Policy Stagnation’ scenario, which combines an increase in extreme events with inertia in climate policy, France could suffer a loss of GDP of more than 7% as early as 2026.
Why is this realisation coming now, and not before?
Camille Angué : Firstly, there is a growing awareness of the issue, despite an ideological backlash in certain circles and parts of the world. What has changed everything are the physical risks that have forced their way into the debate: the increasing frequency of so-called ‘exceptional’ events means that this exceptional nature is, unfortunately, becoming "normal" with each passing year - a normalisation that is nonetheless unsettling for everyone. It is no longer a projection; it is a visible reality.
Why not sooner? Because climate risk remains largely undervalued by the markets (5). Its impact on valuations remains limited compared to the risks documented by science, which increases the likelihood of sudden corrections as these risks materialise or are better taken into account. One of the EDHEC Climate Institute’s key objectives is precisely to bridge this gap between scientific knowledge and financial valuation.
The conference you are organising on 23 June in London is taking place at precisely this pivotal moment
Camille Angué : London Climate Action Week is a unique opportunity to link advances in climate research to their practical financial implications. It brings together public decision-makers, financial institutions, investors, insurers, regulators and key players from the infrastructure, property and energy sectors.
The acceleration of climate change is now forcing investors to rethink their analytical and decision-making tools. The financial sector does not react to rises in temperature or millimetres of rainfall; it reacts to impacts on valuations, the cost of capital, credit risk or Climate Value-at-Risk. At the EDHEC Climate Institute, our aim is therefore to translate climate information into the language of the financial markets (6), using metrics, ratings and models to assess potential value destruction and asset resilience. It is this common language that then enables capital allocation to be effectively guided.
But assessing risk is only the first step. The next challenge is to build a business case for adaptation. In other words, to rigorously demonstrate that adaptation is not an expense but an investment: it reduces future damage, protects assets and infrastructure, and creates value for society as a whole. These issues will be at the heart of our discussions in London.
What sets the EDHEC Climate Institute apart is its ability to cover the entire spectrum, from fundamental research to practical solutions. How do you achieve this?
Camille Angué : The EDHEC Climate Institute focuses on the key challenges facing decision-makers today: understanding how climate change is manifesting itself in the economy, measuring its financial impact, and identifying the most effective adaptation strategies. These issues form the pillars of our research.
The first pillar is our asset-based approach to physical risk (7). Investors and banks need to understand how climate-related hazards affect the assets they finance or hold. We are therefore developing damage functions that link a physical event – such as a flood, drought, storm or heatwave – to its economic and financial consequences for specific assets, particularly infrastructure, an asset class that is highly exposed to climate risks but still characterised by a significant lack of data and suitable metrics.
The second pillar concerns climate scenarios (8). The NGFS scenarios represented a significant step forward, but they are often still too aggregated for a detailed financial analysis of sectors, regions or portfolios. They are also based on relatively optimistic trajectories, with warming of around +2.9°C by the end of the century in the business-as-usual scenario. We have therefore developed our own set of scenarios that are more granular, probabilistic and more focused on the physical risks likely to materialise over time horizons relevant to investors.
The third pillar hinges on the ability to measure how climate shocks propagate through the real economy and to quantify their effects on output, value added or asset values at a granular geographical level. To this end, we have developed some highly ambitious tools, such as ClirMap, an advanced spatial econometric platform that is already being used by certain regulators. The challenge is twofold: to better anticipate the risks of value destruction and to identify pockets of resilience. Against a backdrop of the gradual repricing of climate risk, this ability to distinguish the most vulnerable assets from the most robust ones constitutes a major strategic advantage for capital allocation.
In practical terms, what is the current situation for investors, investment funds and asset managers?
Camille Angué : Investors have moved well beyond the awareness stage. The question is no longer whether climate risk exists, but how to measure it and incorporate it into investment decisions.
For the time being, the approach remains largely defensive. Asset owners – pension funds, insurers, sovereign wealth funds – are primarily asking asset managers to protect portfolios against the risk of value destruction. This approach is entirely consistent with their fiduciary duty.
But we are at a turning point. The most forward-thinking players are beginning to realise that climate is not just a risk to be managed; it is also a differentiating factor in capital allocation. The ability to identify the most resilient assets, sectors and regions could become a major source of competitive advantage. As climate risks are factored into valuations, the ability to distinguish the most vulnerable assets from the most resilient will become a key determinant of resilience, and of long-term performance.
In three years’ time, how do you see the EDHEC Climate Institute positioning itself within the European and global ecosystem?
Camille Angué : Our ambition is to continue pushing the boundaries of our understanding of the financial implications of climate change, whilst broadening the range of solutions we develop. Our independence is a major asset in this regard: it enables us to build lasting scientific credibility on a subject that has become central to the entire financial system.
For the EDHEC Climate Institute, the focus remains on high-impact applied research. This involves the wide dissemination of our work – academic publications, sector-specific reports, and engagement with decision-makers – as well as the provision of open-source tools. Since the start of the year, our spatial macroeconometric model CLIRMAP has been publicly available, as have several of our resources dedicated to climate risks.
When some of our research reaches sufficient scientific maturity and addresses a clearly identified market need, we scale it up through our ventures. Their ambition is just as strong: to establish new market standards based on academic research. Scientific Climate Ratings, an EDHEC Venture, is thus set to become the European benchmark for climate risk rating, whilst Scientific Portfolio, an EDHEC Venture, applies the most advanced tools in climate research to inform investment decisions. The objective remains the same: to ensure that research does not stop at publication, but actually improves financial decision-making.
We can sense in this ambition a resolutely optimistic approach, one that places research and its strategic application at the heart of the initiative
Camille Angué : Yes, but this optimism is by no means mere wishful thinking. It is based on rigorous scientific frameworks and partnerships designed to deliver tangible results.
For example, we work with the NGO Waves of Change (9) using a Project Clinics approach. The idea is simple: to bring local authorities, banks, investors and researchers together around the same table to develop the business case for specific adaptation projects. When approached on this scale, adaptation ceases to be an abstract concept and becomes a project that can be funded and measured.
The same logic underpins our collaboration with the European Investment Bank. The Adaptation Days held at EDHEC in 2025 highlighted the strategic role of multilateral banks in financing adaptation (10). Their public mandate and their ability to drive change enable them to bring together local authorities, local banks, investors and project developers around concrete solutions capable of scaling up.
We firmly believe that the most significant breakthroughs arise at the intersection of disciplines and institutions. The EDHEC Climate Institute strives to build on this unique position by bridging the gap between academic research, financial innovation and practical action.
References
(3) https://climateinstitute.edhec.edu/news/climate-risk-financial-markets-quantitative-framework
(6) https://www.thebanker.com/content/8540a433-c1b7-4f56-95ca-4f3d840f6f62
(8) https://climateinstitute.edhec.edu/publications/how-assign-probabilities-climate-scenarios
(9) https://www.edhec.edu/en/news/interview-waves-of-change-alumni-edhec-climate-institute
(10) https://climateinstitute.edhec.edu/events/ec-eib-adaptation-days-2025
