International Observatory on Sustainable Finance
For over ten years, the Observatoire International de la Finance Durable (OIFD - International Observatory on Sustainable Finance) has been bringing together experts, financial institutions, and researchers to advance sustainable finance, inform public debate, and develop innovative tools to support a responsible economy.
The OIFD was launched in 2012 to monitor and promote sustainable finance practices. This SKEMA-affiliated body aims to contribute to public debate, promote academic research and education, and create and implement metrics that enable practices consistent with sustainability.
Dhafer Saidane, Director of the observatory, Professor of Finance, and Director of SKEMA’s MSc Corporate Financial Management & MSc Sustainable Finance & Fintech programmes.
Mission & objectives
Established in 2012 within SKEMA Business School, the OIFD is a think tank dedicated to sustainable finance. Its missions are structured around four key areas:
- Analysing and encouraging responsible practices within financial institutions, by organising exchanges and meetings with major stakeholders such as Bpifrance, the French Banking Federation, Paris Europlace, as well as international partners such as the Natural Resources Management Department of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
- Fostering public debate on sustainable finance by engaging experts and publishing summaries and articles, notably through its partnership with Revue Banque.
- Supporting academic research in the field of sustainable finance.
- Designing and testing specific indicators to monitor and evaluate practices aligned with the principles of sustainable finance.
A partnership with the SKEMA Publika think tank
This partnership aims to influence decision-makers and enrich the public debate on sustainable finance issues.
It is structured around three areas:
- Technology (coordinated by Mihaly Petreczky)
- Sustainable finance and CSR (led by Sana Ben Abdallah)
- Ethics and regulation (led by Diane de Saint-Affrique)
Within this framework, two papers have been published:
SAÏDANE, D. and BEN ABDALLAH, S. (2021). “Democracy Operates through Businesses too. The (imperfect) case of banks”.
DE SAINT-AFFRIQUE, D. and SAÏDANE, D. (2021). “More Sustainable Finance: Self-Regulation for Businesses with Smart Law”.
