Search by tag: #sustainability
Feb 16, 2026
Coal vs. Nuclear: where sustainability meets geopolitics
As crazy as this sounds in a world where climate risk is translating into concrete events more and more often, taking its toll both in lives and in impact on production sites, the US is moving to support more coal-fired power, and even made mandatory for the Defense Department to buy coal-generated electricity. At the very same time, China building more nuclear reactors than any other country in the world. Two approaches, reflective of completely different strategic time horizons.
Feb 04, 2026
Sustainability, a new humanism? (round 7)
The XVIIIth centruy gave rise to the inspiring ideal of human perfectibility and of continuous progress of mankind: technical progress at the service of moral progress. However, the nineteenth and twentieth centuries challenged this ideal, and the world wars revealed how a technically advanced civilization could use its technology without moral control. Starting from 1950 intellectural streams quesitoned whether our efforts to master and transform our environment may threaten the very survival of humanity. Are we stuck in an impossible choice between progress and conservation?
Jan 29, 2026
How Artificial Intelligence contributes to Sustainable Finance
For decades now, artificial intelligence (AI) has been part of our daily lives without attracting much public attention. The recent rise of “Generative AI” capabilities has, however, sparked a sudden and considerable interest for AI from the general public. This publication by Swiss Sustainable Finance explores and explains how Artificial Intelligence can be used to further develop, improve and enhance sustainable finance practices. A must read !
Nov 24, 2025
Artificial intelligence to measure and transform sustainable finance
The Neolithic hunter, who had to endlessly polish the stone of his small axe every evening in order to hunt his saber-toothed tiger steak the next day, probably wished for an automatic grinding machine more than once. We have made this dream come true. Since the Industrial Revolution, our society has gradually replaced muscle power with machine power. For several years now, we have been confronted with machines that even surpass us in terms of our intellectual abilities.
Jul 17, 2025
Not just data: Climate Risk brought to life
What does a storm surge really look like? We often talk about climate risks in abstract metrics: degrees of warming , sea level rise in centimeters, t ons of CO₂ emissions, etc. But we, humans, do not feel data. Numbers stay abstract until they hit us where it matters — our homes, our jobs, our lives. One of the best visualizations I’ve seen of this is from The Weather Channel, which was viral a few years ago, and is still powerful.
Jun 27, 2025
Climate risk is becoming unisurable risk - and that is a systemic threat
I recently came across an excellent FT article: "How the next financial crisis starts". Very clear narrative why climate risk is becoming an immediate concern for insurers – and in turn for the whole financial services industry, as well as individuals.
May 16, 2025
Is Venice sinking? Evidencing sea level rise with Canaletto's paintings
The acqua alte rising over the level of the Piazza San Marco, and inhabitants walking over improvised and fragile wooden gateways, may be now a familiar sight in Venice, but it still catches the eye and the imagination when you see it. This marvel of human art, this testimony to the immortality of the human spirit suddently appears so fragile. A few years back I came across a study that blew me away, by Dario Camuffo, researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Science and Climate in Padua.
Apr 09, 2025
The "Great Acceleration" is the very reason why sustainability matters
Since the mid-20thcentury, our societies have witnessed demographic and socio-economic changes of a magnitude and at a pace that are unprecedent in human history. In a single human lifetime, we've seen steep surges across 24 indicators: from global GDP and energy use to CO₂ concentration, ocean acidification, and biodiversity loss. These trends are measurable, and they tell a story of scale, speed, and imbalance. Businesses as well as private persons have to adopt sustainable development practices to give our societies a change to perpetuate.
Mar 21, 2025
Through the Porthole: The Reality of Rising Sea Levels
If you've ever wondered what the future might look like as the oceans rise, we can now see it thanks to useful visualisations and interactive tools from NASA. Read for more details...
Mar 15, 2025
For an ecological ethics: moral of action or ethics of abstention?
The second half of the 20th century saw a growing awareness of ecological danger, the idea of a destructive imbalance that had established itself between nature and man. We are rediscovering the fragility of the natural interdependencies of "ecosystems", and at the same time our powerlessness to predict or control the impact of human action on these interdependencies. The dream of Modernity to "ender ourselves masters and possessors of nature" seems to be slowly disappearing. This article explores to potential foundations for an ecological ethics of our time.
Jan 24, 2025
A Greenwashing Index
I recently came across this very interesting research paper by two researchers from the ESSEC business school, called "A Greenwashing index". This paper constructs an intriguing greenwashing index using natural language processing techniques on nearly one million Wall Street Journal articles from 1986 to 2022. Their two-step approach first identified climate risk-related articles and then pinpointed those mentioning greenwashing.
De mémoire de rose, on n'a jamais vu mourir un jardinier.
Sep 17, 2024
Vendanges et cerisiers
Ah, le changement climatique ! Il y peu de sujets aussi controversés et déchaînant autant les passions. Si presque tout le monde s’accorde à observer certains phénomènes, la part exacte que joue l’activité humaine est sujette à débat. C’est pourquoi je trouve proprement merveilleux d’avoir parfois quelques exemples parlants à partager. Des exemples tout simples, des observations empiriques presque triviales. Parlons aujourd'hui des vignes de Beaune et des cerisiers du Japon.
Faut-il opposer brutalement à une idéologie accusée d'avoir soumis la nature à l'homme une idéologie qui soumet l'homme à la nature et subordonne l'éthique à l'ontologie?
Sep 11, 2024
The Pineapple syndrom: welcome to the Age of Impatience
Within a lifetime, we have seen a dramatic shift in how goods and experiences are available to us. Things that were scarce and precious became ubiquitous, and access became quite easy. Without a doubt, this shift from scarcity to abundance improved the quality of life in many respects, yet it also rewrote basic human behaviors and expectations. We have little patience for whatever does not amuse us instantly. How to keep the power of concentration, of perseverance, of working hard for long stretches of time toward a goal, defining characteristics of humankind?
Climate is a financial risk. You need to take it into consideration in order to fulfill your fiduciary duty to your investors.
Jun 15, 2024
Ecologie: comment concilier urgence et désir d'agir?
Le nouvel exemplaire de la revue de Up4Hu, "Pour un monde plus humain" est sorti! Nous sommes en 2024: tout le monde est écolo… Tout le monde? Non! Un petit nombre d’irrésistibles climato-sceptiques résiste encore et toujours à l’alerte globale. Il faut dire que le message ne donne pas envie d’être entendu, parfois culpabilisant, si vertigineux qu’il conduit souvent au sentiment d’impuissance et à l’immobilisme. Alors, comment donner à chacun l’envie d’agir pour la planète ? Comment envisager une écologie de l’émerveillement, humaine, non punitive?
Mar 17, 2024
The ecological challenge: reconciling progress and care for posterity
"Grandpa! Have you any idea of the CO2 footprint of your huge rib steak here ? You should eat less meat!" Laura says reproachfully and with a slightly smug air. Despite all the love he has for his granddaughter, Edouard immediately takes on the colour of the generous rib steak in front of him. Soon the tone rises: "postmodern!", "anthropocentric!", "anti-speciesist!", "cartesian!". If ecological engagement sometimes unleashes passions, it is because it does not call into question only a few consumption habits, but rather some of our fundamental representations of the world and humanity.
