The crisis and after: and the climate in all this?

Unprecedented, immediate and global are adjectives (not exhaustive) that could qualify the Covid-19 crisis. And to deal with it, many countries have introduced restrictive measures, sometimes draconian, while maintaining economic sectors under the infusion of public money in order to avoid their agony. While the responses to the pandemic have not been perfect — the necessary perspective will allow us to draw the appropriate conclusions — and have been the subject of much trial and error, they at least have the merit of having been put in place quickly. It is, in fact, easier to act when the threat is immediate and palpable with the risks of several hundred thousand deaths and the saturation of health systems.

For its part, global warming, one of the real challenges of the 21st century, if not the greatest, seems to be a victim of its long temporality. In fact, five years after the conclusion of the Paris Agreement, international climate negotiations are at a standstill, if not at a standstill, despite the climate emergency, which includes more natural disasters and warmer temperatures (November 2020 was the hottest month in history). While waiting for possible political negotiations on global warming between the world's big players, national and local initiatives are taking over. These are taking shape through green recovery plans, ambitious municipal policies or the development of innovative start-ups.

At the Louis Bachelier Institute, our ambition, at our level, is to contribute to the development of an economy and finance favorable to sustainable development through excellent academic research. In addition to its mention in our statutes, this objective is effectively reflected in the mobilization of numerous researchers in various research programs such as Green and Sustainable Finance, the Finance and Sustainable Development Chair or the Sustainable Finance and Responsible Investment Chair; the organization of academic conferences such as the 5th edition of Green Finance Research Advances, in partnership with the Banque de France, which was recently held; and the publication of reports such as The Alignment Cookbook, which looks at methods for aligning investment portfolios with the Paris Agreement and this new issue of Cahiers Louis Bachelier.

In this edition, you will thus find an interview with the founder of the Climate Economics Chair, Christian de Perthuis, on the occasion of the publication of his latest book; an article on the role of central banks in the management of global warming, following a study by Dominique Plihon from the Energy & Prosperity Chair; an article on wholesale electricity markets, based on an econometric analysis by David Benatia from the Market Finance Laboratory; an article on wholesale electricity markets, based on an econometric analysis by David Benatia of the Market Finance Laboratory Energy; and finally, an interview with Jean-Pierre
Ponssard, scientific director of the Energy & Prosperity Chair, who gives his point of view on hydrogen and sustainable mobility.

Happy reading!

Jean-Michel Beacco,

General Delegate of the Louis Bachelier Institute

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