Unpacking the Greening of Finance Mechanisms
About the Webinar
The Paris Agreement on climate change (Article 2.1(c)) calls for aligning global finance with low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development. This commitment highlights the critical need for investors to integrate climate related risks into their financial decision making, all while balancing the pursuit of risk adjusted returns.
This seminar explores the political economy of the emerging climate risk-assessment regime that has evolved since the Paris Agreement. We will examine how initiatives like the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) leverage both public and private authority to provide investors and lenders with climate data and analytical tools. National regulators are driving this transformation, compelling banks and insurers to enhance their capacity for climate risk assessment, which in turn creates significant business opportunities for developers of climate risk models and consultancy services.
The rapid growth of the climate analytics industry has seen firms controlling proprietary climate data and tools gain considerable influence without the public scrutiny their power may demand. Additionally, the data used to assess climate risks often intersects with the economic interests of powerful financial players like asset managers and hedge funds. This seminar will also discuss the risks of incorporating climate risk into the global financial system's existing structures, warning that it could exacerbate exploitation of indebted and climate-vulnerable populations.
Speaker
Dr John Morris, University of Nottingham
John Morris is a financial geographer specialising in central banking, financial risk management, green finance, and climate change. He holds a PhD in Human Geography from Durham University and is currently a faculty member at the School of Geography, Nottingham. John’s research examines how financial risk is constructed and shaped by public and private institutions, with a particular focus on its geographical implications within the global financial system.
His work has been published in leading journals, and his book Securing Finance, Mobilizing Risk: Money Cultures at the Bank of England explores the spatial dimensions of financial risk management. John has also contributed to resources on inflation dynamics and stress testing at the Bank of England. He brings a critical perspective on green finance mechanisms, drawing from his expertise in financial geography and climate change.