Who pays? Money, power and risk in sustainable finance

Publication date:
March 2025

This issue of environmental SCIENTIST turns to one of the most contentious and complex topics within the environmental sector: finance. The edition considers how we can harness finance to advance environmental improvement, support the transition to net zero, and ensure that our economy is resilient in the face of environmental problems. Crucially, this issue asks who pays for this transition, and how.

There has been widespread global implementation of new financial measures, initiatives and policies (e.g., carbon taxes, Environment and Social Governance (ESG), and green finance to name a few), but the complexities and pitfalls of our current global economic system present challenges for policymakers, researchers, and environmental professionals alike. Financial support for environmental programmes, research and innovation must also remain accessible, democratic, and innovative. This issue of environmental SCIENTIST therefore asks how we can best work towards a truly sustainable financial system, which can unlock new opportunities for environmental and social improvement.

Authors contributing to this issue are experts in the environmental dimensions of finance, from academics and communications experts to political commentators. Their articles consider the successes and failures of new financial frameworks and standards, examine the geopolitics of financing environmental improvement, explore the possibilities for new ways of communicating environmental finance, and investigate innovative solutions to financial challenges.
 

  1. Introduction – Risk, return and resilience: the changing climate of finance  – Professor Iain Clacher
  2. Transforming finance for a more resilient future – Matt Scott
  3. Barriers and risks to financing the energy transition – Dr Gireesh Shrimali
  4. Climate finance and geopolitics: COP29 and beyond – Professor Richard Beardsworth
  5. Spatial finance: (re)connecting the financial system with the real economy and the environment – Christophe Christiaen
  6. Change the language, change the conversation – Liz Callegari
  7. Beyond finance: applying the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures framework – Kripa Dwarakanath
  8. Climate Models in finance: the good, the bad and the ugly – Dr Anubhav Choudary & Professor Jason Lowe

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Bea Gilbert

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