Publications of the Chair

Do French firms follow a transparent or climate-friendly path?

2021
Authors :
Jeanne Amar, Samira Demaria, Sandra Rigot

Our analysis of the Climate Risks and Opportunities Index (CRORI) and the CDP climate score reveal a parallel improvement of these indices with different sectoral disparities over the 2015–2019 period. While our results are encouraging, they need to be put into perspective because these firms are still far from being carbon neutral.

Mineral Resources and the Salience of Ethnic Identities

2023
Authors :
Nicolas Berman, Mathieu Couttenier, Victoire Girard

Our findings suggest a new dimension of the natural resource curse: the fragmentation of identities, between ethnic groups and nations.

The design flaw in Sustainability-Linked Bonds

2023
Authors :
Julien Lefournier

We examine in this paper sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs) whose issuance now totals more than USD 200 bn. There is a structural design flaw in the SLB mechanism: setting a significant coupon step-up does not suit the issuer’s nor the investors’ interests, considering conditionality. This creates a no win situation for the issuer and investors alike and explains the “benign”...

Essay on Energy Access and Chinese Import Competition in Africa

2022
Authors :
Quentin Hounyonou

Les pays africains aspirent à un développement industriel pour diversifier leurs exportations, actuellement concentrées en ressources naturelles. Cependant, l'électrification et le renforcement de la compétitivité des entreprises nationales restent un défi lorsqu'elles font face à la concurrence des importations, notamment celle chinoise.

Crop prices and deforestation in the tropics

2023
Authors :
Nicolas Berman, Mathieu Couttenier, Antoine Leblois, Raphael Soubeyran

Understanding the mechanisms of deforestation is necessary in order to slow or arrest its progress. To accomplish this requires rigorously estimating the demand for deforestation. We contribute to this endeavor by estimating the effect of crop prices on the demand for conversion of land from forest to agriculture in the tropics during the 21st...

Coordination of sectoral climate policies and life-cycle emissions

2023
Authors :
Quentin Hoarau and Guy Meunier

The present paper addresses the issue of sectoral policy coordination, especially when Pigovian carbon pricing is unavailable. It analyzes the optimal allocation of mitigation effort among two vertically connected sectors, an upstream (e.g. electricity) and a downstream (e.g. transportation) one.

Extending the limits of the abatement cost

2021
Authors :
Guy Meunier, Jean-Pierre Ponssard

The paper examines the relevant cost benefit framework for state agencies investigating the potential of local projects to mitigate climate change. We propose a new metric that incorporates into the analytical framework the dynamic interactions between the project and its continuation.

Quantifying GHG emissions enabled by capital and labor: Economic and gender inequalities in France

2023
Authors :
Antonin Pottier, Gaëlle Le Treut

Many studies have investigated the carbon footprint of households. Here we open a new field by discussing the emissions that individuals enable by providing labor and capital to companies, using the framework of income-based (downstream) responsibility. Our results show that inequalities in emissions do not strongly interact with economic inequality. Yet they are gendered...

Over-allocation profits and competition issues in the steel industry

2023
Authors :
Maria-Eugenia Sanin, Sylvain Sourisseau

Sectors that are considered to be subject to international competition under the European Emission Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) still benefit from free allocation of European Allowances (EUAs). Herein we study one of those beneficiaries: the crude steel industry. Our findings suggest the EU-ETS has failed to provide incentives for decarbonization in this sector.

There’s no price signal !

2023
Authors :
Ivar Ekeland, Wolfram Schlenker, Peter Tankov, Brian Wright

We address the long-standing challenge of adding optimal exploration to the classic Hotelling model of a non-renewable resource. We prove that a frontier of critical levels of proven reserves exists, above which exploration ceases, and below which it proceeds at infinite speed.