


Sustainable Finance Summit
GEFI was delighted to deliver the “Sustainable Finance Summit: Entering a New Era?”, in partnership with Accuracy, a global leader in financial consulting and advisory services.
The conference, took place on 24 October 2024, in Paris, and reflected on the future of sustainable finance.
Indeed, in a context of anti-ESG backlash, but also of the normalization of integrating ESG issues into good practices of traditional finance, should we speak of the end of sustainable finance as it has been written in the last decade? Is a new chapter of its history opening, and if so, with what challenges at a time when climate and social challenges require more than ever colossal financing?
This event brought together industry experts, thought leaders, and finance professionals to ensure lively and dynamic debates. The program featured panel discussions, keynote presentations, and interactive sessions that provided valuable insights into navigating the transition towards a low-carbon world.
GEFI and Accuracy
Following the success of the Path to COP28, the first-and largest finance-focused campaign for the UN Climate Summit held in December 2023, The Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI) and Accuracy have formed a strategic alliance to champion sustainable finance and ethical investment practices.
GEFI, renowned for its leadership in promoting ethical finance, and Accuracy, with its expertise in financial and strategic advisory, are united in their commitment to driving positive change through sustainable finance.
From their shared goals in developing sustainable finance, GEFI and Accuracy delivered a Sustainable Finance Summit that tackled the demand dynamics for ESG, regulatory pressures, and developing practical strategies for financing the transition.
Agenda
Registration and Networking 08:30 - 09:00
Session 1: Unlocking ESG's Value: Can Environmental, Social, and Governance Factors Drive Sustainable Success
This session analysed the factors driving the surge in ESG interest, including client / employee demand, regulatory pressure, corporate sustainability goals, financial value creation and risk management. Industry experts and market analysts considered how ESG strategies can drive financial innovation and operational excellence, positioning companies for long-term success in a rapidly changing business environment.
- 9:05-9:10 -Keynote - ESG Today: Analysing Market Dynamics
- 9:10-9:15 - Presentation - Leveraging ESG Data to Drive Sustainable Investment Decisions
- 9:15-10:00 - Creating Value Through ESG: Myth or Reality?

Julia Carre

Sophie Chassat

Omar Shaikh

Julie Malzac

Lord David Pitt-Watson

Anne-Sophie Castelnau

Timothée Mace Dubois

Sinthuja Yogarajah

Marketing & Business Development Director, Accuracy
Julia Carre
With 20 years of experience across Europe and the Middle East, Julia is a senior professional in marketing, communications, and business development. Appointed Director of Marketing & Business Development at Accuracy since 2022, she is also a member of the company’s Global ESG Committee. With her background, she brings her vision and expertise to support Accuracy’s efforts to engage employees, clients, and partners in building a more sustainable and inclusive world.

Partner, Accuracy
Sophie Chassat
Sophie Chassat is a senior VP at Accuracy. Sophie has 15 years’ professional experience in strategic consulting and sits on several boards (LVMH Group, Le Coq Sportif), making her a seasoned expert in issues linked to purpose, impact and ESG challenges.
She has carried out numerous projects in this field, from the definition of corporate purpose to the strategic and operational translation of these visions. Her expertise enables her to master the technical issues linked to the most recent ESG regulations and to support the resulting evolution of strategies and business models.
Sophie speaks French and English.

Managing Director, GEFI
Omar Shaikh
Omar is the Managing Director of the Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI) and Board Member of the UK Islamic Finance Council (UKIFC)
A Chartered Accountant by profession, he specialises in ethical/responsible finance, Islamic finance, and private equity. He has extensive experience in financial services and has advised multiple governments and regulators on ecosystem building as a leading advocate for sustainable and Islamic finance. His background includes working with EY London, where he qualified as a CA and was the former Head of Islamic finance.
Through his GEFI work, Omar has established a number of initiatives, including the Path to COP, the SDG Financial Products platform with UNDP, which promotes innovative financing structures for the SDGs, the Global Islamic Finance and UN SDGs Taskforce launched with the UK Government and IsDB, and the award-winning interfaith Edinburgh Finance Declaration—the world’s first shared values approach to finance between Islamic finance and the Church. He also served on the Board of the University of Oxford Faith-Aligned Impact Finance Project
Omar received a BAcc and a PhD from the University of Glasgow along with an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University conferred for his work in developing ethical finance. Beyond finance, he is actively involved with Colourful Heritage which works with Glasgow Museums to preserve and celebrate South Asian heritage in Scotland, The King’s Trust Scotland and Olivewood Primary School.

Director, Accuracy
Julie Malzac
Julie Malzac is a director at Accuracy and has over ten years of professional experience. Prior to joining the firm in 2013, she worked as an equity research analyst at Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking in London.
Julie has developed a strong expertise in driving sustainability-related engagements on behalf of large companies and investment funds. She supports companies’ top executives in taking critical strategic decisions based on financial and extra-financial criteria.
She gained specific knowledge on sustainable financing through a one-year experience as an Investment officer at Proparco (Groupe AFD) supporting low income and conflict-affected countries.
Julie also has extensive experience in providing transaction advisory services, such as financial due diligences, business plan assessment or ad-hoc vendor assistance.
Julie speaks French and English.

Visiting Fellow at Cambridge Judge Business School
Lord David Pitt-Watson
David is a leading thinker & practitioner in responsible investment, and serves as a Member of GEFI’s Global Steering Group. Born & brought up in Scotland, he was co-founder, and CEO of Hermes Focus Funds & Equity Ownership Service. These became the largest responsible investment group of any fund manager in the world. Throughout his career he has been deeply involved in policy, particularly in the field of corporate governance and financial market regulation. He has led numerous initiatives to improve the performance of the financial system.

Global Head of Sustainability ING
Anne-Sophie Castelnau
Anne-Sophie Castelnau was appointed as ING’s Global Head of Sustainability on 1 April 2021, with the mission to further develop the overall sustainability direction of ING, reporting to ING CEO. Since her appointment Sustainability has been designated as one of the two strategic priorities of ING, with Climate identified as the most pressing challenge. Anne-Sophie has brought a long experience in Wholesale Banking and a strong personal interest in sustainability to this role. After joining ING WB in France in 2005, she held a number of senior business roles, growing the franchise locally and globally, positioning ING as the first non-French bank of large French corporates and leveraging from the specificities of the ING WB network (Benelux & CEE). Since becoming Head of ING Wholesale Banking in France in 2017, she actively contributed to make ING a champion in sustainable finance in the French market, differentiating from competition through it. Since July 2020, Anne-Sophie is also Non Executive Board member for ING Belgium.

Head of Institutional affairs Corporate Citizenship Strategy & Sustainability, Schneider Electric
Timothée Mace Dubois
With an educational background in European Law and Politics, Timothée MACE DUBOIS has 10 years of expertise in the energy and environment sectors. His career embarked in public affairs with Airbus Group and further developed in standardization at AFNOR, consistently focusing on the nexus of energy, industry, and the environment.
Transitioning from his role in managing energy-saving certificates at ENI Gas & Power, he is now the Global Head of Institutional Affairs at Schneider Electric, the industrial technology leader bringing world-leading expertise in electrification, automation and digitization to smart industries, resilient infrastructure, future-proof data centers, intelligent buildings, and intuitive homes. In this capacity, Timothée orchestrates the company’s global public affairs strategy, represents its interests across various coalitions, and raise its engagement in pivotal climate and sustainability summits, including COPs and Climate Week.
In addition to his professional pursuits, Timothée has founded the French Circular Fashion Federation in April 2022. As a board member and senior advisor on advocacy, he continues to drive impact within the circular economy sphere. He has been elected a board member of the EC2027 association and the National Institute for Circular Economy (INEC).

Associate Director, ESG Integration, Federated Hermes
Sinthuja Yogarajah
Session 2: Shaping the Future: Are Evolving Sustainable Finance Rules a Game Changer or Deal Breaker?
The second session then delved into the complexities of the latest regulatory developments in ESG, covering recent policy changes, compliance requirements, and their implications for businesses and investors. Legal experts and regulatory authorities provided an overview of the evolving regulatory landscape and its consequences.
- 10:00-10.45 - The Role of New Regulations, Between Constraints and Accelerators
Break 10:45 - 11:15
- 11:15-11:30 - From Regulation to Litigation: Navigating the Evolving ESG Compliance Landscape
- 11:30-12:15 - ESG Litigation in Focus: From Greenwashing to Greenhushing

Sophie Chassat

Sébastien Thévoux-Chabuel

Carol Sirou

Daniel Bouzas

Guillaume Rosaz

Omar Shaikh

Sophie Scemla

Partner, Accuracy
Sophie Chassat
Sophie Chassat is a senior VP at Accuracy. Sophie has 15 years’ professional experience in strategic consulting and sits on several boards (LVMH Group, Le Coq Sportif), making her a seasoned expert in issues linked to purpose, impact and ESG challenges.
She has carried out numerous projects in this field, from the definition of corporate purpose to the strategic and operational translation of these visions. Her expertise enables her to master the technical issues linked to the most recent ESG regulations and to support the resulting evolution of strategies and business models.
Sophie speaks French and English.

Head of Responsible Investment, ESG Analyst / Portfolio Manager, Comgest
Sébastien Thévoux-Chabuel
Sébastien Thévoux-Chabuel joined Comgest in 2013 and is Head of Responsible Investment as well as a member of the Comgest Group’s Investment and Sustainability Committees.
As a long-standing ESG Analyst and Portfolio Manager specialising in Developed Markets, particularly Europe and the U.S., Sébastien meets and engages with company management alongside the firm’s investment Analysts and prepares in-depth ESG reports. Prior to joining Comgest, he worked at Oddo Securities as a Technology Analyst before transitioning to the role of Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) Analyst which he held for five years. Sébastien previously worked as a Portfolio Manager at BFT Gestion (Crédit Agricole) and began his career as a buy-side Analyst at Deutsche Bank in 1998.
He graduated from the ESCP business school in Paris in 1997 before completing a post-graduate degree in Financial Engineering at the Sorbonne University.

President, EthiFinance
Carol Sirou
Carol Sirou is CEO of Ethifinance and independent director, drawing on 30 years of experience in general management positions in Europe and the United States.
She spent a large part of her career in financial services at Standard & Poor’s Ratings: she managed the rating agency’s activities in Paris between 2008 and 2014, then joined S&P headquarters in New York to implement a regulatory program, before taking responsibility for the group’s global compliance, S&P Global Inc., in 2016. In 2018, she founded a consulting firm in risk management and ESG that she managed until 2022.
Passionate about the challenges of sustainable finance, she was in June 2022 appointed CEO of EthiFinance, an independent European rating and ESG advisory player, with the ambition of accelerating the execution of the strategic and development plan of the agency in Europe.
She is also an independent director. In June 2022, she joined the Board of Directors of Crédit Agricole SA. Since May 2023, she is an independent board member and the Chairwoman of the Risk Committee of the group. She brings her knowledge of financial, governance and compliance topics as well as an international perspective, acquired during the seven years spent in New York between 2014 and 2021.
A graduate of Sciences Po Paris, she holds a Master’s degree in corporate finance from Paris Dauphine University as well as a management program from the University of Virginia Darden Business School.

Regional Coordinator for Europe, UNEP FI
Daniel Bouzas
Daniel Bouzas is the Regional Coordinator for Europe of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), a partnership between UNEP and the global financial sector.
He leads on the European actions, working on all relevant initiatives of UNEP FI in the region, including engaging membership leadership in the region as well as key engagement with regulators on critical EU regulatory developments. Before joining UNEP FI Daniel was Policy Adviser on Sustainable Finance at the European Banking Federation (EBF) and has prior experience on EU policy-making, financial services, sustainability and international affairs.

Partner, Accuracy
Guillaume Rosaz
Guillaume Rosaz is a partner at Accuracy. Guillaume provides expert advice on large capital projects worldwide. Since 2009, he has supported owners, contractors, subcontractors and manufacturers on multiple international megaprojects in America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Guillaume is an industrial engineer with a background in project control. He is an experienced construction management professional, having worked for an oil and gas contractor before joining Accuracy in 2016.
Guillaume works in a variety of sectors, including infrastructure, energy, chemicals, transport and various manufacturing industries.
Guillaume speaks French, English and Spanish.

Managing Director, GEFI
Omar Shaikh
Omar is the Managing Director of the Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI) and Board Member of the UK Islamic Finance Council (UKIFC)
A Chartered Accountant by profession, he specialises in ethical/responsible finance, Islamic finance, and private equity. He has extensive experience in financial services and has advised multiple governments and regulators on ecosystem building as a leading advocate for sustainable and Islamic finance. His background includes working with EY London, where he qualified as a CA and was the former Head of Islamic finance.
Through his GEFI work, Omar has established a number of initiatives, including the Path to COP, the SDG Financial Products platform with UNDP, which promotes innovative financing structures for the SDGs, the Global Islamic Finance and UN SDGs Taskforce launched with the UK Government and IsDB, and the award-winning interfaith Edinburgh Finance Declaration—the world’s first shared values approach to finance between Islamic finance and the Church. He also served on the Board of the University of Oxford Faith-Aligned Impact Finance Project
Omar received a BAcc and a PhD from the University of Glasgow along with an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University conferred for his work in developing ethical finance. Beyond finance, he is actively involved with Colourful Heritage which works with Glasgow Museums to preserve and celebrate South Asian heritage in Scotland, The King’s Trust Scotland and Olivewood Primary School.

Partner, Gide Loyrette Nouel
Sophie Scemla
Admitted to both the Paris and the New York Bars, partner Sophie Scemla focuses on white collar crime defence, with a particular emphasis on preventing and managing risk, and implementing compliance programmes. She has managed extensive international fraud cases, international money laundering, tax fraud and criminal proceedings. Sophie has been involved in several high-profile criminal matters such as the Eurotunnel and Madoff cases, in international money-laundering and corruption cases (some in connection with the “Oil for Food” case), in the negotiation of agreements with foreign authorities, as well as in complex tax fraud cases such as the Wendel case. Regularly involved in conducting corporate investigations in France, Africa and Asia, Sophie recently coordinated international investigations involving the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, China, Angola and Brazil, and has implemented compliance programmes and risk-mapping for a number of French and international groups.
Prior to joining Gide, Sophie was a partner within Orrick Rambaud Martel (2009-2012), Heenan Blaikie (2012-2015) and Eversheds Sutherland (since 2015). She began her career as an associate within Rambaud Martel (1997-1998) then Danet & Associés (2000-2005), before being appointed counsel by Ayache Salama (2007-2009) and Orrick Rambaud Martel (2007-2009).
Sophie Scemla is Co-Chair of the IBA Anti-corruption Committee and a member of the special committee on corporate investigations for the French Bar association (Comité National des Barreaux). She holds a Master’s degree in international business law (1995) and a postgraduate degree in private law (1996) from Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne University, a postgraduate degree in industrial property (1997) from Paris II Panthéon-Assas University, and an LL.M. in comparative jurisprudence from the University of New York (1999).
Ranked by Chambers Europe, Legal 500, Best Lawyers and Who’s Who Legal, Sophie Scemla has also been distinguished as one of “100 remarkable women in investigations” by the Global Investigations Review.
Session 3: Sectoral Insights: Exploring ESG Strategies and Their Impact on Business Value
This session featured a sectoral deep-dive to learn about business cases on how an ESG strategy was approached, what was the impact of regulations and if it was an accelerator on the company value.
- 12:15-12:45 - Building the Future: Industry spotlight - Real estate and Energy

Delphine Sztermer

Nathaniel Hay

Jean-Pascal Pham-Ba

Partner, Accuracy
Delphine Sztermer
Delphine Sztermer is a partner at Accuracy. She has over fifteen years of professional experience and has been with the firm since 2007. She previously acquired extensive experience in the audit of life and non-life insurance companies reviewing financial and actuarial elements within Mazars, an audit firm, before joining AON, an international insurance broker, for two years.
Delphine performs engagements in the insurance sector, in due diligence, valuation, and decision-making situations. With an education in engineering, Delphine also specialises in engagements with an industrial background, in sectors such as infrastructure, construction, and energy and utilities, where she provides due diligence, valuation, and litigation support services.
Delphine speaks French (mother language) and English (fluent).

ESG Manager – Real Estate
Nathaniel Hay
Nathaniel is an ESG Manager (Real Estate) at abrdn, covering Europe and APAC. He is responsible for integrating ESG in all elements of the investment process, with specialist expertise in ESG due diligence.
Nathaniel’s professional experience prior to abrdn involved working for organisations including Amazon and WSP, primarily working on M&A and real estate transactions from an ESG risk and opportunity perspective, along with sustainability strategy, reporting and compliance support across operational real estate portfolios.
Qualifications: Nathaniel graduated with a BSc in Geological Science and holds an MSc in Sustainability and Consultancy from the University of Leeds
Years of experience: 9.5
Years with abrdn: 3

Managing Partner, Ostrom
Jean-Pascal Pham-Ba
Jean-Pascal is the Managing Partner at Ostrom, and a Senior Advisor for Energy and Infrastructure at Accuracy, an international financial advisory firm. Jean-Pascal advises public institutions, companies and investors on the strategy, structuring, financing and deployment of sustainable infrastructure, focusing on clean energy and digital.
Previously, Jean-Pascal co-founded Solairedirect, a pioneer in providing competitive solar energy, and the Terrawatt Initiative, an organisation seeking to create the political, regulatory, and financial conditions for renewable energy infrastructure in emerging markets. He also contributed to several public and private initiatives in renewable energy, PPPs and healthcare.
Jean-Pascal began his career at Paribas and then as a lawyer at Gide.
Admitted to the Paris bar, Jean-Pascal holds two master’s degrees in business law and finance from the Panthéon-Sorbonne University. He also studied sustainability management at Cambridge University and holds an executive master’s in innovation management from École Polytechnique.
Lunch 12:45 - 14:00
Session 4: Financing the Future: Strategies for Sustainable Growth
The final session explored the integral role of ESG factors in shaping sustainable business practices and investment strategies. It discussed the compelling business case for adopting ESG principles, debating whether they serve merely as a compliance tick-box exercise or if they represent a genuine imperative for corporate responsibility. Furthermore, the discourse highlighted innovations and trends within the ESG landscape, emphasising actionable strategies for integrating sustainability into financial decision-making.
- 14:00-14:15 - Keynote - The Business Case for ESG
- 14:15-15:00 - From Acronym to Action: Tick-Box Exercise or Business Imperative?
- 15:00-15:45 - Charting the Path Forward: Innovations and Trends in ESG and Sustainable Finance
- 15:45-16:00 - Closing remarks

Julie Malzac

Dame Susan Rice

Eoghan McGrath

David Chollet

Pascale Forde Maurice

Benjamin Porte

Jean-Yves Wilmotte

Director, Accuracy
Julie Malzac
Julie Malzac is a director at Accuracy and has over ten years of professional experience. Prior to joining the firm in 2013, she worked as an equity research analyst at Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking in London.
Julie has developed a strong expertise in driving sustainability-related engagements on behalf of large companies and investment funds. She supports companies’ top executives in taking critical strategic decisions based on financial and extra-financial criteria.
She gained specific knowledge on sustainable financing through a one-year experience as an Investment officer at Proparco (Groupe AFD) supporting low income and conflict-affected countries.
Julie also has extensive experience in providing transaction advisory services, such as financial due diligences, business plan assessment or ad-hoc vendor assistance.
Julie speaks French and English.

Chair, GEFI Global Steering Group
Dame Susan Rice
With a career that spans medical research, leadership roles in higher education and then banking, Dame Susan chairs the Global Steering Group of GEFI (Global Ethical Finance Initiative). She also chairs the boards of Scottish Water, Business Stream, North American Income Trust.
The first woman to head a UK or European clearing bank as Chief Executive of Lloyds TSB Scotland plc, she was also a director of the Bank of England, Senior Independent Director of both J Sainsbury’s plc and SSE plc and lay member of Court at Edinburgh University. She was founding chair of Scotland’s Fiscal Commission, the country’s official, independent economic and fiscal forecaster and recently became a non-executive director on the board of the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility.
Focused on the creation of long-term value in business and enterprise, she works with the UK’s Place-based Climate Action Network and previously led a business-focused collaboration on carbon reduction and a sustainable Scottish economy. A leading voice on ethics in finance, she chaired the Financial Services Culture Board and supported the Chartered Banker Institute by leading her industry to support the creation of professional standards for bankers. Susan also helped develop numerous social finance and impact investing entities in the US and the UK.
Alongside several honorary degrees and professional fellowships, Dame Susan is a Freeman of the City of London.

Investment Analyst, Stewardship, Sustainability and Impact
Eoghan McGrath
Former violinist and enthused runner, Eoghan is an Investment Analyst within the Stewardship, Sustainability and Impact team. Since joining the business in 2021 through the Investment 20/20 programme, Eoghan’s role continued to develop where he became more involved in Stewardship & Sustainability, working closely with David Sheasby and John Gilmore. He officially joined their team as an analyst in October 2021.
With a BSc in Actuarial Science and CFA Institute’s certificate in ESG investing, Eoghan grew up on a small farm in Ireland before moving to Scotland where he is now based.

Partner, Accuracy
David Chollet
David Chollet has 17 years experience in financial management, risk management, securitization and asset valuation. David Chollet started his career at BNP Paribas in the planning department in charge of financial engineering.
After 5 years within the BNP Paribas group, he entered Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank to manage Risk quantitative team.
He subsequently entered the Securitisation Front Office team and participated in numerous Pan-European operations of ABS, CLO, CDO and Covered Bond. In particular, he structured different structured credit transactions issued on the market including infrastructure transaction, PPP and asset financing.

Head of European Corporate - Sustainable Banking at Crédit Agricole CIB
Pascale Forde Maurice

Sustainable Finance, Stakeholder Engagement and Program Operations Consultant at the UN Global Compact
Benjamin Porte
Benjamin Porte is a Sustainable Finance, Stakeholder Engagement and Program Operations Consultant at the UN Global Compact. He leads the CFO Coalition for the SDGs, the UN’s first initiative for CFOs, and oversees the design and implementation of sustainable finance programs across the 60+ Country Networks of the UN Global Compact.
His previous experience includes leading external engagement, developing ESG benchmarks, and crafting market strategies across various sectors. He has also contributed to international development projects and worked on Smart City financing strategies with the European Investment Bank. Benjamin holds a dual Master’s degree in Economics and Public Policy from Sciences Po and Hertie School of Governance.

Principal l Biodiversity Practice Leader, Carbone 4
Jean-Yves Wilmotte
Jean-Yves has an extensive background in sustainable finance projects. He worked on various projects involving carbon accounting methodologies and the development of carbon footprint tools across the finance, energy, building, and transportation sectors.
Besides his role at Carbone 4, he is a member of the Climate and Sustainable Finance Commission at the AMF.
Jean-Yves graduated from Centrale Nantes in the specialization Energy & Environment.
Close and Networking
About Accuracy
An international firm created in Paris in 2004, Accuracy supports corporate leaders when they are faced with high-stakes situations.
Strategy, transactions, disputes, crises: Accuracy connects strategic thinking with the analysis of facts and figures, creating bespoke teams able to combine the expertise necessary to inform the decisions of our clients.
Today, Accuracy is present in five regions – Europe, North America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa – and we recruit from the best international profiles.

