The Sustainable Finance Classroom discusses the relationship between responsible investment and the defence sector

The meeting was moderated by David Tercero Lucas, Deputy Director of the Observatory, who highlighted the importance of opening spaces for dialogue on issues that are shaping not only the future but also the present of sustainable finance. Carlota García Encina, Senior Researcher in the United States and Transatlantic Relations at the Elcano Royal Institute and lecturer in International Relations at Comillas, and Cristina Álvarez Méndez, Director of Socially Responsible Investment at CaixaBank AM, were the speakers at the conference.

García Encina offered a broad view of the concept of defence, which goes beyond the military dimension. "Today we talk about defence in terms of technology, innovation, cybersecurity and infrastructure and data protection. It is a comprehensive concept that involves companies, universities and strategic sectors," she explained.

For his part, Álvarez Méndez went into more detail on how responsible investment strategies have evolved towards more sophisticated models, which seek to integrate environmental, social and good governance criteria without excluding sectors completely. "Absolute exclusion does not always generate the desired changes. Being responsible also means influencing, engaging in dialogue and accompanying companies towards more sustainable practices," he said.

The session concluded with the awarding of the Prize for the Best End of Degree Project in Sustainable Finance for the 2024/2025 academic year. Genoveva Alférez, student of the Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and Management and Bachelor's Degree in Business Analysis/Business Analytics (E-2 Analytics), was awarded for her work "Impact of sustainable news on the stock market price: an event analysis on Endesa".

Without a doubt, the conference made it clear that sustainability and social responsibility are not static concepts, but evolve with the challenges of today's world. Debates like this help to look at investment from new perspectives and to train professionals capable of making decisions with judgement and conscience.