EDHEC Climate Institute at the Inaugural Day – 3 November
On Monday, 3 November, the EDHEC Climate Institute took part in the inaugural conference of Paris InfraWeek 2025.
Throughout the day, the programme addressed a wide range of strategic themes: infrastructures as sovereign and strategic assets, the evolution of infrastructure financing and the role of debt funds, energy transition and strategic autonomy, digital sovereignty and digital infrastructure, M&A trends in infrastructure, satellite and water infrastructure, financing strategic infrastructure in emerging economies, new mobility solutions, global connectivity and strategic corridors, as well as the alignment of defence financing with national and European strategic objectives.
As part of this programme, Rémy Estran-Fraioli, CEO of Scientific Climate Ratings (an initiative born out of research from the EDHEC Climate Institute), spoke in the parallel session “The Evolution of Infrastructure Financing and the Role of Debt Funds”, alongside:
- Laurent Chabot, Managing Director, Co-Head Infrastructure Finance, Société Générale
- Michel Kahan, President, Syntec-Ingénierie & SETEC
- Paul Loisel, Partner, Energy & Infrastructure, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
- Philippe Varin, Chair, International Chamber of Commerce
The session was moderated by Charlotte Lavit d’Hautefort, Head of Infrastructure Debt at Arkéa Asset Management and President of the AFG Infrastructure Club.
During the discussion, Rémy Estran-Fraioli highlighted how Scientific Climate Ratings applies ClimaTech, the evidence-based framework developed by the EDHEC Climate Institute, to assess the financial materiality of climate risks and support resilient infrastructure investments within evolving infrastructure financing models and the growing role of debt funds.
Official Launch of ClimaTech – Side-Event Webinar on 5 November
The official launch of ClimaTech took place on Wednesday, 5 November 2025, as part of Paris InfraWeek, through a dedicated side-event webinar organised by the EDHEC Climate Institute in its capacity as Knowledge Partner.
The 1-hour webinar, titled “What Really Works for Infrastructure Resilience and Decarbonisation? – Inside ClimaTech’s Global Framework of Climate Solutions”, introduced the ClimaTech project and showcased how it can be used by asset owners, investors, governments, and international organisations to push the frontiers of sustainable infrastructure development and investment.
View the Replay
Moderated by Kimberly Gladman, Senior Specialist, Climate Technical Guidance, Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the session featured:
- Nishtha Manocha, Ph.D., Project Lead, ClimaTech, EDHEC Climate Institute
- Conor Hubert, Sustainability Research Engineer, EDHEC Climate Institute
Together, they presented the rationale, structure and applications of ClimaTech to a global audience.
Why ClimaTech, and Why Now?
The webinar highlighted the urgency and scale of climate-related risks facing infrastructure:
- Up to 54% of global infrastructure value is at risk from climate-induced weather events without adaptation.
- Already, around US$10 billion in assets face devaluation risk due to non-alignment with sustainability criteria, and a further US$245 billion is exposed to regulatory uncertainty.
- Yet fewer than one-third of major infrastructure companies disclose credible transition or resilience strategies.
Infrastructure investors and operators are under increasing pressure to identify credible, science-based pathways for decarbonisation and climate resilience. However, most available information remains scattered across technical reports, academic literature and regulatory documents, leaving decision-makers without a single, comparable framework for action.
ClimaTech: Bridging the Evidence Gap
The ClimaTech project was presented as a response to this evidence gap. Backed by two years of research and eight peer-reviewed papers, ClimaTech provides the first and world’s largest systematic, evidence-based repository of strategies to reduce both transition and physical climate risks to infrastructure assets.
Explore ClimaTech
The webinar covered six main areas:
- Introducing ClimaTech: Bridging the Evidence Gap
Why the market urgently needed a systematic, comparable and science-based framework to identify strategies that effectively reduce climate-related transition and physical risks for infrastructure assets.
- Inside ClimaTech: What It Is and How It Works
Overview of the research design, database architecture, strategy evaluation methods, and interdisciplinary insights integrating engineering, finance and sustainability perspectives.
- The Reach and Diversity of ClimaTech
How ClimaTech supports users across academia, government and investment sectors, including illustrative case examples such as data centres.
- Aligning ClimaTech with Regulation and Investment Priorities
Mapping findings to the EU Taxonomy and exploring implications for sustainable finance and regulatory alignment.
- Real-World Applications: What ClimaTech Reveals in Practice
A portfolio case study illustrating climate risk assessments and targeted mitigation strategies for infrastructure assets.
- Research Outputs and the Road Ahead
Presentation of current outputs, the prototype dashboard, and future developments of the ClimaTech platform.
By consolidating complex, cross-disciplinary research into a single, accessible platform that combines engineering, financial, and regulatory perspectives, ClimaTech aims to become a reference tool for infrastructure decision-makers worldwide.
