Sustainable finance research projects
Longtermism in investment analysis:
To deliver on the 2030 agenda, financial decisions need to better align with sustainability priorities. This project explores critical barriers for investment analysis to adopt longer time horizons. Data is collected from buy-side and sell-side financial analysts as well as corporate investor relations officers.
Contact: Dr Hanna Setterberg and Dr Emma Sjöström
Integrating ESG in the capital market conversation:
Contact: Dr. Hanna Setterberg, Dr. Sanne Frandsen, Prof. Mette Morsing
ESG integration as ongoing implementation:
There is a strong concern, in the sustainable investment field, of doing ESG “for real”. This is typically understood as ESG playing a role when and where important decisions are made, and that different types of expertise and calculations are ‘integrated’. The study explores how that concern becomes manifested in the day-to-day work of ESG analysts and portfolio managers, and theorizes what enables and hinders it. Building on interviews and observations in investor organizations, primarily within asset managers, it studies practices of making ESG happen within investment analysis, decision-making and portfolio company dialogue.
Contact: Emilia Cederberg
Sustainable crowdfunding
Sustainable entrepreneurs and small start-ups face a myriad of challenges in terms of pursuing their sustainably-oriented ventures not least the locked-in nature of the system which they inhabit and intend to change; as they often go against existing user and industrial practices, regulation, infrastructure and symbolic meanings. These lock-ins consequently also translate into constrained funding opportunities for these "niche innovators", especially in the early "seed funding" stage as they often perceived as a less attractive investment compared to traditional entrepreneurial ventures. The emergence of crowdfunding could, however, signal a shift in financing opportunities for these small sustainable innovators brought on by a shift in prospective financiers of innovation from professional investors to now ordinary citizens (i.e. crowdfunders). Especially since the early literature on crowdfunding has found that rather than focusing on economic gains and feasibilities, the crowdfunders put much more emphasis on the core values and legitimacy of a project. Leading some scholars to suggest that crowdfunders are more likely to invest in sustainable ventures others, however, question this contention instead noting that there is no positive connection between for example environmental orientation and crowdfunding success. The research conducted at respectively CBS and Misum therefore aims at examining what, if any, potential role the "crowd" could have in driving, financing and enabling sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation.
Current Papers:
Gallemore, C., Nielsen, K. R., & Jespersen, K. (2019). The uneven geography of crowdfunding success: Spatial capital on Indiegogo. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19843925
Nielsen, K. R. (2017). Crowdfunding for Sustainability: A Study on the Potential of Reward-based Crowdfunding in Supporting Sustainable Entrepreneurship. Copenhagen Business School [Phd] - PhD Series, No. 35.2017.
Nielsen, K. R. (2018). Crowdfunding through a partial organization lens - The co-dependent organization. European Management Journal, 36(6), 695–707. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2018.01.006
Testa, S., Nielsen, K. R., Bogers, M., & Cincotti, S. (2019). The role of crowdfunding in moving towards a sustainable society. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 141, 66–73. Retrieved from https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.12.011
Contact: Kristian Roed Nielsen
Finance and Innovation
Researching the emergence of low carbon industries. Contact: Max Jerneck
Microfinance and financial inclusion
Microfinance has become a powerful force in improving the conditions of small and micro enterprises and other vulnerable group across the world. Misum researchers have explored microfinance and its impact on vulnerability, assets, income, training and women empowerment. Current research includes microfinance and gender.
Contact: Ranjula Bali Swain
Sustainability reporting and materiality.
Materiality assessment constitutes a set of claims and information on ‘what matters’ in corporate sustainable performance. Instead of a unified understanding of what information on corporate performance is material, there are, in fact varying, perhaps conflicting, views that ultimately lead to different constructions of corporate sustainability. We look at materiality more of an opinion rather than a neutral value-free measurement by questioning the taken-for-granted technical-rational understanding of sustainability as something objectively measurable, and the varying sustainability topics as commensurable. This research contributes to the socio-political role of materiality assessment in sustainability reporting literature and discuss the potential of materiality assessment to advance more inclusive accounting and reporting practices, in particular critical dialogic accounting.
Newest publication:
https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/AAAJ-11-2016-2788
Contact: Jenni Puroila
Sustainable Investments
Contact: Svetlana Gross
Theory of Sustainable Finance
There is currently a growing consensus that the financial system falls short of fulfilling its social purpose. This not only poses a practical challenge for the world’s leaders, but also a theoretical challenge for researchers: to rethink the role of finance in society. According to the dominant theory, rooted in neoclassical economics, financial agents should always adopt the practices which maximize the value of the firm. This project seeks to develop an alternative theory of the social role of finance, which can bolster more responsible and sustainable financial behavior. The project is a collaboration with the Financial Ethics Research Group at University of Gothenburg.
Contact: Joakim Sandberg