SOAS Centre for Sustainable Finance Convenes Second SOAS Summer School on Sustainable Finance ...
9 January 2020
The SOAS Centre for Sustainable Finance will convene the second SOAS Summer School on Sustainable Finance and Climate Change from 20 July – 7 August 2020. Taught jointly by Dr Harald Heubaum (Deputy Director of the SOAS Centre for Sustainable Finance), Felicia Jackson (Chief Executive of SUFINDA C.I.C.), Sean Kidney (Co-founder and CEO of the Climate Bonds Initiative), Dr Jakob Thomä (Managing Director at 2° Investing Initiative) and Dr Ulrich Volz (Director of the SOAS Centre for Sustainable Finance), this summer course introduces students to the role of finance in the transition to a sustainable, low-carbon economy.
Mitigating and adapting to climate change while simultaneously realising the Sustainable Development Goals requires the deployment of large amounts of capital – capital which isn’t currently provided in sufficient amounts. Moreover, climate change poses significant risk to economies and financial systems alike. At the same time, there are substantial opportunities in financing the green transformation and in aligning investments and finance with environmental, social and governance criteria.
The course will cover a broad range of topics that enable students to understand and apply key concepts in climate and sustainable finance, including the role of climate and other environmental risks in creating potential financial risks in banking and capital markets, and the role of financial actors in driving a global transition and aligning capital markets with climate and sustainability goals.
The 2019 edition of the summer school was attended by university students and professionals from the financial and public sector. It comprised visiting lectures by senior experts and excursions to the City of London, including visits to the Bank of England and Aviva Investors. At the Bank of England, students learned about the Prudential Regulation Authority’s approach to addressing climate risk in the financial system and the Bank’s work as a founding member of the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System. At Aviva Investors, students got an insight into the efforts of a large asset management company to integrate climate and sustainability risk in its operations and implement the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. The summer school concluded with an exchange with various London-based NGOs – including the Carbon Tracker Initiative, the European Climate Foundation, CarbonBrief, the Climate Bonds Initiative, ShareAction, and the 2° Investing Initiative – on the main challenges in aligning the financial system with sustainability.
More information on the 2020 summer school and details on the online application process can be found on the course page .
For further information, please contact: hh15@soas.ac.uk