Wheeler Institute climate initiative

'Towards net zero' event series

Lucrezia Reichlin, London Business School Professor of Economics and trustee of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation, hosted a set of webinars focused on how we the business community – as regulators, consumers, corporates and investors – can play a role in making “net zero” a reality.

Through a series of five conversations with high-profile corporate leaders, we explored how public and private institutional investors can restructure capital offerings and risk management processes to reflect climate forces.

The new-challenge of being carbon neutral by 2050

Mr Frédéric Samama Head of Strategic Development at Sustainability1, S&P, joined Professor Reichlin for a conversation about the realities and challenges for investors in the pursuit of being carbon-neutral by 2050. Despite governments and investors coming together, the lack of clear, transparent and scalable solutions, presents incredible challenges and opportunities for financial innovation.  

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Incorporating climate risks and opportunities: Insights from a leading credit agency

Professor Reichlin joined by Mr Richard Cantor, Chief Risk Officer for Moody’s Corporation (MCO) and Chief Credit Officer for Moody’s Investors Service (MIS). Using MIS as an example, the conversation focused on how credit rating agencies can approach incorporating climate risks and opportunities in its corporate ratings.

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The purpose of the initiative

Learn more about the ambition of the Wheeler Institute Climate Initiative and find out how you can contribute.

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Building global consensus on how to measure and manage impact

Using Climate Finance as an example, Ms Clara Barby, Senior Partner at Just Climate, and Professor Reichlin discussed the governance and evolving landscape of standards for measuring and managing impacts on sustainability.  Their discussion also focused on strategies for building a global consensus on how to measure and manage impact.

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The need and impact of high quality globally comparable reporting

The announcement of the International Sustainability Standards Board at COP means that we need not only to advance our thinking on the materiality and reliability of climate accounting, but there is also a need to educate a generation of auditors who can attest to the reliability of the data we produce. Professor Reichlin and Mr Emmanuel Faber, Chair of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), discuss the ISSB proposals for the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards; designed to provide a global baseline of disclosure requirements which will provide investors high quality, globally comparable information.

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The Impact Revolution – it is going to happen sooner than you think

Corporate investors have both the capacity and appetite to deploy massive amounts of capital to finance the green transition. Professor Reichlin joined Sir Ronald Cohen, Chairman of the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment to discuss the evolving role of regulation and on why it is crucial we adapt our business practices to be more transparent in our disclosures, as well as, introducing Impact weighted accounts for a net-zero carbon economy.

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Climate change and economic inequality

Climate change is the defining problem of our time, posing significant threats not only to our lives, livelihoods and the environment, but also to the global economy. Diego Kaenzig, PhD student in Economics at London Business School, studies the interrelations between climate change and economic inequality.


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Infrastructure focused on equality

A lot of focus needs to be on reskilling workers and retooling infrastructure to cope with climate change. Lakshmi Naaraayanan, Assistant Professor of Finance at London Business School argues that doing so with private sector financing support will ensure that the maximum benefit will be derived from government investment.

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The political economy of climate change negotiations

What factors affect countries’ commitment to mitigating climate change? Varun Sharma, PhD candidate in Finance at London Business School, aims to create a novel dataset of national positions and the bargaining power of countries during negotiations of climate change mitigation treaties.

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