Primary markets increasingly direct funding – both equity and debt - to companies that invest in sustainable technologies and embrace sustainable management practices. Secondary market trading based on sustainability factors causes stock prices to reflect such factors rather than purely financial concerns. In addition to capital allocation, investors can also improve sustainability through voting and engagement. To fulfil these functions, investors and lenders need information on companies’ sustainability performance and impact. Key is to take a sufficiently long horizon because sustainability is about the future.

The theoretical and policy challenge is to integrate financial, social and environmental factors into decision-making and reporting. The Sustainable Finance RPN pursues a broad agenda covering topics in investment analysis (price formation, portfolio-selection, engagement and voting), corporate finance (investment decisions, employee and board compensation and corporate governance), banking (lending decisions, credit risk analysis and loan covenants), corporate reporting (emerging sustainable reporting standards, impact measurement and assurance) and financial regulation (taxonomy, fiduciary duty and capital adequacy framework). Reflecting the growing concerns around climate change and reacting to the huge financial sector interest in ESG issues and impact measurement, the aim of this RPN is to foster research in the area of sustainable finance and to make it mainstream.

Leadership of the RPN is supported by a Steering Committee:- Patrick Bolton (Imperial College London and Columbia University), Alex Edmans (London Business School) and Stefan Reichelstein (University of Mannheim and Stanford University)

Events

The Sustainable Finance RPN will host several events, including an annual meeting.

Steering Committee

Patrick Bolton

Barbara and David Zalaznick Professor Emeritus of Business and Professor Emeritus of Economics Finance Columbia University; Visiting Professor of Finance Imperial College London

Stefan Reichelstein

Senior Fellow Precourt Institute for Energy; Senior Fellow Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research; The William R. Timken Professor of Accounting, Emeritus Stanford University; Senior Fellow Woods Institute for the Environment

Members

Jean Boissinot

Deputy Director, Financial Stability Banque De France; Head of Secretariat Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS)

RPN Member, Climate Change / RPN Member, Sustainable Finance

Ben Caldecott

Lombard Odier Associate Professor Director

RPN Member, Sustainable Finance

Ralph De Haas

Director of Research European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD); Part-time Professor of Finance Ku Leuven

RPN Member, Sustainable Finance / Fellow, Banking and Corporate Finance

Caroline Flammer

Professor of International and Public Affairs and of Climate Columbia University

Alissa Kleinnijenhuis

Visiting Assistant Professor of Finance at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business Cornell University; Imperial College Business School Finance Department Imperial College London

Roman Kräussl

Professor of Finance Bayes Business School (formerly Cass); Visiting Fellow Hoover Institution, Stanford University

RPN Member, Sustainable Finance

Christian Leuz

Charles F. Pohl Distinguished Service Professor of Accounting and Finance, University of Chicago's Booth School of Business University Of Chicago

Sophie Moinas

Professor of Finance, IAE Toulouse School of Management Toulouse 1 Capitole University

Kjell Nyborg

Senior Chair Swiss Finance Institute; Chaired Professor of Finance, Department of Banking and Finance University Of Zurich

Martin Oehmke

Professor of Finance London School Of Economics And Political Science

Lasse Heje Pedersen

Professor of Finance Copenhagen Business School; Distinguished Visiting Research Professor at the Stern School of Business New York University

Lucrezia Reichlin

Fellow British Academy; Fellow Econometric Society; Trustee IFRS International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation; Professor of Economics London Business School

Fellow, Monetary Economics and Fluctuations / RPN Member, Sustainable Finance / RPN Member, European Economic Policy / Distinguished Fellow

Debora Revoltella

Director, Economics Department European Investment Bank

RPN Member, Sustainable Finance

Nick Robins

Professor in Practice - Sustainable Finance London School Of Economics And Political Science

RPN Member, Sustainable Finance

Frederic Samama

Head of Responsible Investment Amundi; Head of Strategic Development, Sustainable1 S&P Global

RPN Member, Sustainable Finance

Zacharias Sautner

Senior Chair Swiss Finance Institute; Professor of Sustainable Finance at the Department of Banking and Finance University Of Zurich

RPN Member, Sustainable Finance / RPN Member, European Financial Architecture

Isabel Schnabel

Member of the Executive Board European Central Bank; Professor of Financial Economics (on leave) University Of Bonn

Henri Servaes

Richard Brealey Professor of Corporate Governance and Professor of Finance London Business School

Martin Spolc

Head of Secretariat European Fiscal Board

RPN Member, Sustainable Finance

Ulrich Volz

Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for Sustainable Finance Soas University Of London

RPN Member, Sustainable Finance

Beatrice Weder di Mauro

President Centre for Economic Policy Research; Professor of International Economics Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID); Visiting Professor Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society INSEAD

CEPR President / RPN Member, Sustainable Finance / RPN Member, European Economic Policy / RPN Member, International Lending and Sovereign Debt / RPN Member, Geoeconomics

Josef Zechner

Professor of Finance Wu Vienna University Of Economics And Business

RPN Events

Upcoming events

Symposium Banner 1
13 December
Conference

CEPR Paris Symposium

CEPR Paris Symposium 2023

7 Dec 2023 - 13 Dec 2023 in Paris, France

Past events

Project news

Symposium Banner 1
13 December
Conference

CEPR Paris Symposium

CEPR Paris Symposium 2023

7 Dec 2023 - 13 Dec 2023 in Paris, France

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Video

Sustainable Finance RPN - Decarbonizing Large Portfolios

The Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) Research Policy Network (RPN) on Sustainable Finance organized a Webinar on Decarbonizing Large Portfolios on Monday, 12 June 2023, 05:00-06:30 PM (CEST) with Patrick Bolton (Columbia Business School, CEPR & RPN Steering Committee Member) and Dirk Schoenmaker (Erasmus University Rotterdam, CEPR & RPN Leader).

Thumbnail
Video

Sustainable Finance RPN - Decarbonizing Large Portfolios

The Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) Research Policy Network (RPN) on Sustainable Finance organized a Webinar on Decarbonizing Large Portfolios on Monday, 12 June 2023, 05:00-06:30 PM (CEST) with Patrick Bolton (Columbia Business School, CEPR & RPN Steering Committee Member) and Dirk Schoenmaker (Erasmus University Rotterdam, CEPR & RPN Leader).

Scaling up sustainable finance
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Scaling Up Sustainable Finance and Investment in the Global South