Explore our knowledge

Kristjan Jes­per­sen

Associate Professor

Subjects
Circular economy Biodiversity Sustainability Green transition ESG Social responsibility

Edu­cat­ing minds, em­power­ing change for a sus­tain­able fu­ture

Dr. Kristjan Jespersen is an Associate Professor at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) specializing in Sustainable Innovation and ESG. As Director of the Nordic ESG Lab, he leads pioneering research on ESG indicators and data reliability, shaping the future of responsible investing and corporate sustainability.  

He also coordinates CBS’s ESG Minor, equipping students in Finance, Economics, and Accounting with critical ESG investment skills. Internationally, Dr. Jespersen contributes to frameworks addressing EU-driven global deforestation and teaches ESG-focused courses at leading U.S. MBA programs, CBS Executive Education, and DTU.  

Since 2021, he has also served as ESG Advisor at Loh-Gronager Partners, guiding best practice implementation across firms and portfolios. Holding a PhD from CBS on ecosystem services and conservation finance, he remains a leading voice in advancing sustainable finance and governance globally. 

Recent research projects

Mak­ing Oceans Count II - Velux Found­a­tion

Green Di­git­al Fin­ance Al­li­ance and HUB Ocean, de­vel­ops blue in­dic­at­ors and met­rics that help in­vestors, reg­u­lat­ors, and ocean-eco­nomy act­ors as­sess mar­ine eco­sys­tem risks and de­pend­en­cies. The pro­ject fo­cuses on the Nor­d­ic re­gion, par­tic­u­larly Den­mark, and on sec­tors such as ship­ping and off­shore re­new­able en­ergy, while aim­ing for glob­al rel­ev­ance in ad­van­cing a sus­tain­able blue eco­nomy. Its goal is to bridge the gap between ocean-eco­sys­tem data and fin­an­cial de­cision-mak­ing by cre­at­ing sci­ence-based, ac­tion­able met­rics aligned with evolving sustain­ability reg­u­la­tions.
Go to the project website

The para­doxes of cli­mate-smart cof­fee (PAC­SMAC) - DAN­IDA FFU

The PAC­SMAC – Para­doxes of Cli­mate Smart Cof­fee pro­ject at Copen­ha­gen Busi­ness School ex­plores how cli­mate change and cli­mate-smart ad­apt­a­tion meas­ures are trans­form­ing cof­fee value chains in Ethiopia and Tan­zania. It ex­am­ines how these shifts af­fect value dis­tri­bu­tion, live­li­hoods, gov­ernance struc­tures, and land-use trans­itions in cof­fee-pro­du­cing re­gions. The pro­ject high­lights the para­dox that ini­ti­at­ives in­ten­ded to pro­mote cli­mate-smart pro­duc­tion can some­times re­in­force ex­ist­ing in­equal­it­ies or cre­ate trade-offs for small­hold­er farm­ers and loc­al eco­sys­tems.
Go to the project website

In­nov­a­tion Al­li­ance for Train­ing Pro­grammes for De­for­est­a­tion Free Sup­ply Chains in Europe - ERASMUS

The EMMA4EU pro­ject, run­ning from 2023 to 2026, brings to­geth­er uni­ver­sit­ies, vo­ca­tion­al train­ing in­sti­tu­tions, busi­nesses, and NGOs to de­vel­op new edu­ca­tion and train­ing pro­grams for de­for­est­a­tion-free sup­ply chains. It sup­ports the im­ple­ment­a­tion of the EU De­for­est­a­tion Reg­u­la­tion by cre­at­ing a new pro­fes­sion­al pro­file — the De­for­est­a­tion-Free Sup­ply Chain Man­ager — equipped with in­ter­dis­cip­lin­ary, di­git­al, and sustain­ability skills. The pro­ject fo­cuses on strength­en­ing com­pli­ance, tech­no­logy use, and cor­por­ate respons­ibility across key forest-risk com­mod­it­ies such as cattle, co­coa, cof­fee, palm oil, soy, rub­ber, and tim­ber.
Go to the project website

Outside activities

Circle House Lab – BLOXHUB, 2020– 2020

Busi­ness ana­lyt­ics

Gemic , 2021–2021

Key­note Speech

Loh-Gronager Partners, 2021 –ongoing

ESG Ad­vis­ory Ser­vices