Michel CARDONA
Senior associate Expert – Financial Sector, Risks and Climate ChangeMichel joined I4CE in 2018 to provide expertise in the financial sector and facilitate interactions between researchers, financial sector actors and public authorities.
Before joining I4CE, Michel worked at the Banque de France in various areas related to the financial sector (licensing of new actors, banking supervision, prudential regulation, financial stability, Iinternational and European relations). He has also worked for the Inspection Department of the former French Securities and Exchange Commission (COB) and the World Bank’s Financial Sector Development Department in Washington. Between 2008 and 2012, he was Secretary General of CCLRF (Advisory Committee on Financial Legislation and Regulation). For the past two years, he was in charge of the Corporate Social Responsibility strategy of the Banque de France, in particular where he launched the bank’s Responsible Investment strategy.
Michel is a graduate of the Institute of Political Studies in Paris and holds a Diploma of Advanced Studies (DEA) in Macroeconomics from the University Paris I – Pantheon Sorbonne.
Last contributions
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08/12/2023
Foreword of the week
Private finance: it’s time to rethink the European strategy
There is a broad consensus that private finance has an important role to play in financing the climate transition, given the scale of needs and the constraints on public finances. Beyond investments in climate alone, all financial activities must be reoriented to be compatible with the transition. This shift cannot take place on a voluntary basis at the scale and speed required. The inactivity of financial players, the weight of past financing, and the demands of shareholder profitability limit the effectiveness of voluntary international initiatives to which private financial players commit themselves. -
05/12/2023
Climate Report
For an articulated approach to economic policy and financial regulation to deal with climate challenges
The net-zero transition, i.e. the transformation towards a carbon-neutral and resilient economy, is a major and urgent challenge for reducing the effects of climate change. This transformation requires the transition and adaptation of all activities and all economic agents. It is first and foremost a matter for the real economy and must be based on an operational roadmap of actions to be taken. This must be defined by an ambitious economic policy (budgetary, fiscal, monetary, regulation of products and sectors, etc.). -
18/01/2023
Climate Brief
The limitations of voluntary climate commitments from private financial actors
Private finance will not fund the transition without a stronger commitment from public authorities. For several years, and particularly since COP 26, considerable time and attention has been dedicated to the subject of voluntary commitments from private financial actors. These commitments, made within the framework of international initiatives, should in principle enable private finance to be mobilized for the transition to a carbon neutral economy. -
08/06/2022
Climate Report
Scenario analysis of transition risk in finance – Towards strategic integration of deep uncertainty
The restructuring of the economy towards a low-carbon system will lead to develop activities that are aligned with the needs of a net zero economy, to restructure others in order to make them compatible with these needs and to stop harmful activities. The financial sector needs to anticipate these dynamics to address strategic risks and […]
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02/02/2021
Climate Report
Addressing challenges of physical climate risk analysis in financial institutions
While the financial consequences of climate impacts are already materializing, the regulators are implementing their agenda of actions to stimulate financial institutions into analyzing and managing their exposure to “physical climate risks”, and disclosing how they do so as recommended by the TCFD. How can financial actors make quick and efficient progress on analyzing and […] -
01/02/2021
Climate Report
Can financial regulation accelerate the low-carbon transition?
In recent years, financial regulators have encouraged financial actors to take account of “climate risks” in order to ensure both financial stability and the efficient functioning of markets, the two traditional objectives of regulation. This risk-based approach is an important first step, but will it be enough to deliver on climate objectives? -
01/02/2021
Climate Brief
Can financial regulation accelerate the low-carbon transition? Summary for policymakers
In recent years, financial regulators have encouraged financial actors to take account of “climate risks” in order to ensure both financial stability and the efficient functioning of markets, the two traditional objectives of regulation. This risk-based approach is an important first step, but will it be enough to deliver on climate objectives? -
22/10/2020
Blog post
Financial Regulation and Climate : Next steps to follow in the coming months
The public institutions that regulate and supervise private finance will talk a lot about climate change in the coming months. The European taxonomy that allows economic actors to identify activities that are favorable to ecological transition or the "climate stress tests" of the Banque de France and ACPR are just some of the issues they will have to deal with and that we invite you to follow. I4CE has synthesized for you the "climate calendar" of financial regulation in a graphics. -
04/06/2020
Op-ed
Financial regulation and “green recovery”
The pandemic caused by Covid 19 has triggered a major economic crisis. The emergency treatment of this crisis relied heavily on massive recourse to fiscal and monetary instruments already widely used during the 2008 crisis. But financial regulation was also mobilized to ease or alleviate prudential constraints in order to preserve bank financing for economic players, especially those most affected by the crisis. This illustrates the different facets of the use of financial regulation: primarily intended to ensure the efficient functioning of financial markets and financial stability, it can also be used with economic policy objectives. -
04/06/2020
Climate Report
What role for financial regulation to help the low-carbon transition?
States and more generally public authorities will not finance the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy on their own. Private financial actors have a key role to play and, over the past decades, they have taken numerous initiatives to promote "responsible investment" and "sustainable finance". However, the impact of these initiatives is far from commensurate with the climate challenge, , and financial regulation must play a role. This I4CE study analyses the different objectives that regulators can pursue to help the financial sector respond to the climate urgency, and provides an overview of the instruments at their disposal. It also highlights the challenges of implementing these instruments and identifies those that need to be used in the short term and those that need more time to be implemented. -
12/03/2020
Op-ed
Banks’ capital requirements for the climate: Let’s ask the right questions
For several years now, the idea of using capital requirements for environmental purposes has been gaining ground. But before this can happen, however, several questions about such requirements need to be resolved, particularly as regards the instrument to be used and the objective to be achieved. Michel Cardona from I4CE has released this OpEd available on Euractiv -
11/03/2020
Climate Report
Integrating Climate-related Risks into Banks’ Capital Requirements
Climate change dynamics are on a trajectory of intensification which may require the use of new and notable measures. The Paris Agreement recognized the urgency of directing financial flows toward low carbon activities and climate-resilient development. However, the latest special Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report 1 stated that to limit global warming to 1.5oC, the financial resources directed to green activities are by far insufficient and investments on carbon intensive projects are still far too high. At the same time, climate-related risks continue to potentially endanger the stability of the financial sector and they are only marginally addressed by Basel III capital requirements. -
28/11/2019
Climate Brief
Finance fit for Paris (3fP) – Results and scores for France
The global community needs to transform the world economy to become low-carbon and climate resilient. This is the commitment made by the international community in the Paris Climate Agreement. However, humanity needs to find a way to finance this goal. The European Commission estimates that a funding gap of at least EUR 180bn p.a. exist […] -
04/11/2019
Climate Report
Towards an alternative approach in finance to climate risks: taking uncertainties fully into account
It is no easy task to take climate risks – transition risks and physical risks – into account in financial management practices. As this note shows from the example of banking activities, the intrinsic characteristics of these risks – which are long-term and cannot be assigned a probability and for which there are no historical […] -
13/06/2019
Blog post
It’s time to connect the international initiatives on Climate Finance!
Since 2016, I4CE is the Secretariat of the Climate Action in Financial Institutions Initiative. Launched at COP21 in 2015, the Initiative brings together 44 public and private financial institutions to make climate change an essential component of their strategies & operations. Leveraging its expertise and network, I4CE assists the Initiative in fostering exchanges between the so-called “Supporting Institutions” on emerging practice and approaches to mainstream climate change. -
28/05/2019
Climate Brief
Is financial regulation in France in line with the Paris Agreement?
The financial system has an important role to play in financing the transition of the economy and the drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and must take into account in its activities the risks that climate change poses to it. The French government has begun to mobilize on the subject, as have the Paris financial […] -
21/11/2018
Climate Brief
Article 173: Overview of climate-related financial dislosure after two years of implementation
In 2015, article 173-VI of the French Energy Transition for Green Growth Act set a global precedent by requiring investors to be transparent on the climate impacts of their investments. After two years of investor climate reporting, covering their activities in 2016 and 2017, what lessons can be drawn from article 173-VI? This is […] -
18/07/2018
Blog post
Banque de France and I4CE become climate finance partners
The Banque de France and I4CE are forming a partnership with the objective of enhancing the consideration of climate risks and opportunities by the financial sector. This partnership aims to facilitate the exchange of expertise between the two institutions, and more generally the interactions between researchers, financial sector actors, and public authorities. It will also support the work of the Banque de France within the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) that it launched at the One Planet Summit in December 2017.