Call for Papers for a CEPR-IDOS-SOAS-UCT Workshop

The Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), the SOAS Centre for Sustainable Finance, and the University of Cape Town invite submissions of papers for a Workshop on "Fostering Sustainable Finance and Investment for Just and Resilient Transitions in the Global South" that will be hosted by SOAS, University of London on 27-28 November 2025.

There is an urgent need to scale up sustainable finance and investment that supports just and resilient transitions. Financial markets are not sufficiently aligned with the goal of socially just and ecologically sustainable economies. In their current form, they continue to finance environmentally harmful activities, exacerbate economic inequality, and perpetuate systemic instability. At the same time, the financial sector fails to mobilise the large-scale investments necessary for just and resilient transitions. While these deficits are of global importance, countries in the Global South are particularly affected and face large financing gaps that threaten to worsen existing vulnerabilities.

In recent years, governments and regulators have taken steps to align financial markets with sustainability goals. Initiatives such as enhanced disclosure requirements, the integration of climate-related risks in financial supervision, and the introduction of standards for sustainable financial instruments aim to redirect capital flows and mitigate systemic risks. However, the results to date have been mixed at best, and reform efforts are facing significant backlash in some jurisdictions, most notably the United States and the European Union.

Against this backdrop, the workshop will discuss new research findings on policies and approaches for reorienting financial markets towards just and resilient transitions. In addition to fostering exchange between researchers, the workshop also offers the opportunity to discuss research findings with practitioners from the financial sector and policymakers. Papers presented at the workshop should either focus on trends and developments in countries in the Global South or examine the impacts of global frameworks or policies in other jurisdictions on these countries. We welcome contributions that utilise a broad range of methods and draw on various academic disciplines, including finance, economics, political economy, development studies, and sociology.

In particular, we invite submission of papers addressing the following topics:

Sustainable finance disclosures and taxonomies

While transparency regarding the sustainability impacts of investments is not sufficient, it is a prerequisite for the desired redirection of capital flows. Workshop contributions in this area could, for instance, assess the impact of existing policies to increase transparency, such as disclosure requirements or sustainable finance taxonomies, or explore questions regarding the international interoperability of policies across jurisdictions.

Digital sustainable finance

Digital financial services hold significant potential for fostering financial inclusion and sustainable investments. Digital tools can, for instance, enable the automation of risk analysis, reduce transaction costs for small loans or be used to track the sustainability impact of investments. Workshop contributions in this area could, for example, focus on the potential of specific digital tools to mobilise capital and facilitate investment or address questions regarding the regulation of digital financial services.

Inclusive green finance

While financial inclusion and green finance have long been treated as separate issues, their interrelations are obvious. Poor households and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are especially affected by the impacts of the climate crisis and need better access to affordable finance for investments in mitigation and adaptation or access to insurance solutions. Workshop contribution in this field could, for instance, provide evidence of financial exclusion through climate risks and impacts, appraise policies that improve access of MSMEs or poor households to green finance or insurance services, or assess unintended consequences of sustainable finance policies on financial inclusion.

The role of public development banks in fostering sustainable investment

Public development banks at the national, regional and global level can assume a critical role in mobilising savings and financing just and resilient transitions. As public entities with a development mandate, they can prioritise projects with high sustainable development impact and societal returns over profit. Workshop contributions in this area could, for instance, examine ways of strengthening the governance and financing models of public development banks, the role of national development banks in accelerating domestic financial resource mobilisation, and the development of a stronger and more interconnected global public development bank ecosystem to improve access to climate finance and reduce borrowing costs to enable just and resilient transitions.

Investment for climate resilience

Given increasing physical climate risks and impacts, investments in adaptation and resilience are becoming ever more important. However, inflows into adaptation finance are alarmingly low, and the public good character of many resilience investments reduces the willingness of private financiers to invest, despite the high societal returns. Workshop contributions in this area could, for instance, examine current barriers to investments in climate resilience or focus on policy measures to promote such investments.

Equity in sustainable investment planning

A just transition requires not only scaling up sustainable investment but also ensuring that its benefits and costs are equitably distributed. Investments can have uneven impacts across income groups, genders, regions, and sectors, and without deliberate planning, they risk exacerbating inequalities. Workshop contributions in this area could, for instance, explore approaches for integrating distributional impact assessments into cost–benefit analysis, social return on investment, and other decision-making tools, assess case studies where investment planning has successfully incorporated equity considerations, or analyse policy and institutional frameworks that can embed distributive justice in investment decisions.

The call for papers is available as a PDF file.