Frédéric Samama

Frederic Samama is Head of Strategic Development at Sustainable1.

Mr. Samama started his career at JP Morgan in Paris. He then oversaw Corporate Equity Derivatives at Crédit Agricole Corporate Investment Banking in Paris and in New York. There, he developed and implemented the first international leveraged employee share purchase program, a system now widely used by French companies.

He then joined leading European asset manager, Amundi. There, he reorganized and developed the institutional clients coverage. He built Amundi’s green finance franchise by pioneering the first mainstream equity low-carbon indexes. He also launched the largest green bond fund of its time to finance green infrastructures in Emerging Markets.

Mr. Samama also co-launched the first coalition of institutional investors committed to decarbonizing their portfolios, which was selected to represent the entire finance industry during the COP21 Action Day.
Mr. Samama founded the Sovereign Wealth Fund Research Initiative in 2009, a pioneer academic center dedicated to SWFs and sustainability. He co-edited a book on long-term investing with Nobel Prize Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Professor Patrick Bolton and has published numerous papers on green finance (e.g., “The Green Swan, central banking and financial stability in the age of climate change”, “Hedging Climate Risk”). He is currently a visiting professor at Sciences Po, Paris.

Mr. Samama is regularly invited to comment publicly on ESG and climate change including before the US Senate.

His philanthropic activities include support for organizations such as the NGO Positive Planet, which he presided in the US between 2009 and 2013.

Mr. Samama is a member of the Scientific Committee of the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR). He has been appointed to the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance managed by Lord Stern. He is a member of the One Planet Lab and has advised the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

PhD in Economics (Paris Dauphine University-PSL), MA in Philosophy (Pantheon-Sorbonne University), Stanford Executive Program.