29-04-2024 10:36

Eric Pedersen appointed adjunct professor at CBS

Nordea’s Head of Responsible Investment, Eric Pedersen, has been appointed adjunct professor at Copenhagen Business School, which will benefit from his insights and position as a frontrunner within sustainable banking.      

Last week Eric Pedersen gave his inaugural lecture entitled “Beyond the Headlines: The Resilience and Evolution of Sustainable Finance”. 

Eric Pedersen was handed over a diploma with his new title.

In the lecture he outlined how sustainability factors have over the past decades made their way into company strategies and investment decisions and he called the recent media headlines about the death of ESG “grossly exaggerated”. 

“What we’re witnessing now is a massive tectonic shift in the economy,” he stressed and pulled in data from Europe and the US to show the steady growth in sustainable funds and clean energy spending. 

“The underlying transition is happening, the only question is – will it be fast enough to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, biodiversity loss and all the other challenges we face?,” he concluded.

Eric Pedersen will be affiliated with the interdisciplinary Department of Management, Society and Communication. The department’s research revolves around the role and responsibilities of companies in the face of the major challenges facing society and it hosts the Centre for Sustainability, which comprises one of the largest concentrations of sustainability-related research in academia.

The lecture ended with a panel debate.

Head of Department Dorte Salskov-Iversen explained why Eric Pedersen was chosen: 

“An adjunct professor is an honorary title that a university may bestow on particularly excellent scholars or professionals who within their field and careers have made an outstanding contribution to their field or profession. Eric’s strong engagement and achievements within the domain of sustainable finance resonate well with our overarching focus on sustainable business, governance and responsible management.”    

The lecture ended with a panel discussion with Andreas Rasche, Professor, Center for Sustainability, Susanne Stormer, Partner, ESG & Sustainability Services Leader, PwC Denmark and Frances Iris Lu, Vice President, Head of Corporate Sustainability & ESG, Danfoss. Kristjan Jespersen, Associate Professor, CBS Impact for Innovation Lab was moderator.

Short biography

Having completed thesis work on the Manmohan Singh economic reform programme in India in the 1990's, Eric Pedersen joined the United Nations as a junior economist in the Mali office of UNDP. A few years later, he joined the finance industry and has worked in various positions, including as Head of Business Strategy for Nordea's Asset Management and Life Insurance business, Branch manager in Singapore and CEO of Nordea Invest. 

In 2019 Eric Pedersen became a member of Nordea Asset Management's Responsible Investments Committee and in 2020 he assumed responsibility for the Responsible Investment team, which has grown significantly in size and international recognition under his leadership. Eric Pedersen has served on the Danish Committee on Corporate Governance, he is the vice chair of DanSIF and a member of the ISSB Investors Advisory Group as well as a member of the Advisory Board of IMAP – the Boston University Impact Management and Allocation Program.