Relever les défis de la transition climatique : l'enjeu des biais cognitifs dans les prises de décision des conseils d'administration

Climate change and transition issues impose themselves on firms as they have to mitigate their impacts on the natural environment and prepare for the eruption of risks and hazards that will undoubtedly impact their commercial and industrial activities. Taking this new climate regime into account primarily concerns top executives and directors. If the need to integrate these new parameters is shared by the greatest number, inertia and business as usual strategies compromise the achievement of the objectives of the Paris agreements. In this article, we show that one of these sources of this inertia comes from cognitive processes that hinder decision-making at the level of the board of directors. After presenting the roots of cognitive biases, we detail six main biases that hinder decisions in favor of ambitious actions and strategies. We also show how the implementation of an appropriate decision-making architecture can mitigate the expression of these cognitive biases in the boardrooms. We end the article by presenting the first feedback from the case study that we designed in a comic book format to illustrate the main biases that limit the ability of companies and their leaders to meet the climate change strategic challenges.