2021 CARE Conference

There is no denying the global climate is changing. The past 8 years have been the hottest on record, and 2019 ended the warmest decade on record. Climate change is affecting every continent on earth, disrupting the economy and affecting lives. The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change through appropriate financial flows and new technology frameworks; additionally, the UN Secretary-General has proposed six climate-positive actions for governments to take as they begin to individually and collectively begin to build back the economy post-pandemic. Companies will need to adopt long-term systemic shifts to address the changes necessary to comply with the Paris Agreement. The 2023 conference discussed some of the changes that will be necessary to create the accounting framework for sustainability and responsible investing necessary moving forward.

Beginning in 2021, the CARE Conference became virtual to make our content available to the largest number of global constituents.. With over 70 industry and academic speakers, this conference was on the topic Accounting for Sustainability and Responsible Investing. The 2022 conference had a similar focus, highlighting select academic research papers that are based on discussions held at the 2021 conference. The conferences bring together accountants, finance-professionals, law-professionals, law-makers, standard-setters, economists, investors and scientists as well as academics from the sciences, accounting, finance, law and economics as a vehicle for change.

To view any of the video recordings from the 2021 CARE Conference, please click here.

CARE Conference 2021 (Day 1) Opening Remarks by Peter Easton

CARE Conference 2021 (Day 2) – Opening Remarks by Martijn Cremers

Prior to joining Notre Dame in 2012, Cremers was a faculty member at the Yale School of Management from 2002 to 2012. His research and teaching areas are investment management, corporate finance, corporate governance, corporate law, business ethics and Catholic social thought.

Cremers’ research currently has over 12,000 Google citations. His best-cited paper, “How Active is Your Fund Manager? A New Measure That Predicts Performance,” published in 2009 in the Review of Financial Studies, introduced Active Share, an innovative tool for determining the extent of active mutual fund management by measuring the percentage of stock holdings in a manager’s portfolio that differs from the benchmark index. Active Share has become widely used in the financial industry and was incorporated in Morningstar Direct and FactSet.

His recent awards and distinctions include receiving an honorary degree in 2019 from Holy Cross College at Notre Dame, where he served as the 2019 commencement speaker.

Cremers has long-standing consulting relationships with various investment managers, including Touchstone Investments. He serves as an independent director at Ariel Investments, an investment company located in Chicago, since 2018.

A native of the Netherlands, Cremers earned his master’s degree from the Free University Amsterdam and his Ph.D. from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Cremers and his wife Liesbeth reside in South Bend, Indiana, and have six children.