The finance sector has a critical role in supporting our transition to a sustainable future. However, it's widely recognised that today's system does not reward long term thinking. Often, it can actually work against efforts to build a sustainable economy.
Through our convening, research, education, and innovation we help financial institutions, and businesses, and governments build a more sustainable financial system. Our work is underpinned by insights from CISL’s Centre for Sustainable Finance’s sector groups, made up of leaders from over 50 financial institutions across five continents.
Collaboration for Transformation
Working with over 50 global financial institutions across banking, insurance and investment, the Centre for Sustainable Finance is in a unique position to co-create opportunities to challenge current assumptions and lead change. We work with our members to translate high-quality research into practical solutions to advance both market and regulatory practices.
Our key collaborations:
Banking Environment Initiative
Some of the world’s largest banks working
to lead their industry in directing capital towards environmentally and socially sustainable economic development.
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Investment Leaders Group
Leading investment managers and asset owners with over $9 trillion under management working to help shift the investment chain towards responsible,
long-term value creation.
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ClimateWise
Comprised of leading insurers, reinsurers, brokers and industry service providers who share a commitment to reducing the impact of climate change on society, as well as the insurance industry.
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Sustainable Finance Insights
Horizon scanning research
Our thought leadership translates high-quality research into
practical solutions and frameworks for the finance sector.
Insights from sustainable finance experts
Our experts share their thoughts on building a sustainable financial system.
Education programmes
Our education programmes are designed to help the finance sector support the transition to a sustainable future.
Focus areas
- Integrating nature into financial decision-making: Working with key actors across the finance sector on identifying, assessing and manging nature-related risks (banks, investors, and insurance), addressing financial materiality and catalysing capital (re)allocation that protects and restores nature.
- Climate risk and resilience: Embedding resilience to environmental risk in routine financing decisions, including identifying and incorporating impacts of climate risk and disclosing these to be able to proactively understand and respond to these impacts.
- Enabling a just and equitable transition: Ensuring the transition to a net zero, nature positive economy is inclusive and equitable, including investing in quality jobs, small-medium enterprises, and across supply chains.
- International financial architecture: Developing an enabling environment to unlock private finance for nature and climate, identifying targeted actions and groups for mobilising public- and private-sector resources, with a special emphasis on Emerging Market and Developing Economies (EMDEs), where the need for such mobilisation is most acute.
- Shaping global frameworks: The Centre for Sustainable Finance is an official knowledge partner and early adopter of the Taskforce for Nature-Related Financial Disclosures, has contributed to the NGFS Conceptual Framework for Nature-Related Financial Risks to guide policies and action by central banks and financial supervisors and is a partner of the Africa Natural Capital Alliance.
Executive Education
Our education programmes are designed to bring rigour, clarity and confidence for leaders to respond to the sustainable finance challenges within organisations:
Sustainable Finance Foundations: Banking, Investment, and Insurance
This self-paced online course is designed for those working across banking, investment, and insurance looking to develop workplace skills to root their practices in long term, positive impact.
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Sustainable Finance 8-week online course
For professionals within the finance sector,
as well as others interested in harnessing sustainable finance initiatives to bring
about positive change, seeking to unleash transformative change by leading with sustainability-aligned decision-making.
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Custom programmes
Our customised programmes help organisations within the finance sector and beyond translate complex sustainability trends into strategic business decisions, enabling them to lead with purpose and create new forms of value.
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Fostering Innovation for Sustainable Finance
Through our Canopy and Accelerator team, we support groundbreaking innovation that has the potential to accelerate change across sustainable finance systems, from the application of AI to measure climate and nature risk for economic assets, to platforms that enable greener investments. Through convening our network of impact investors, we help high potential startups get the investment they need to scale.
Find out more about how we work with startups
Our experts
Dr Nina Seega, Director, Centre for Sustainable Finance
Sid Miller, Programme Director
Elizabeth Clark, Programme Manager, Investment Leaders Group
Sara Taaffe, Senior Project Manager
Thomas Vergunst, Programme Director, Finance Sector Education
Robert Barker, Programme Director, Sustainable Finance
Contact our press team
Resources and reports
Walking the talk: Understanding consumer demand for sustainable investing
14 October 2019
22 October 2019 – This study, commissioned by the Investment Leaders Group (ILG), provides insight into how decision-making behavior is influenced by the availability of information on the environmental and social impact of funds alongside standard financial data.
27 September 2019
30 September 2019 – This working paper is the first in a series of working papers emerging from the CISL’s contribution to the FutureDAMS project, with a specific focus on the questions around sustainable finance for sustainable hydropower projects in developing countries.
Trado: New technologies to fund fairer, more transparent supply chains
19 August 2019
17 September 2019 – There is a growing understanding of the transformative potential of harnessing digital innovation and financial technologies to improve the sustainability of global supply chains. This report details the learnings and methodology of the collaborative project Trado, convened by the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL).
19 August 2019
17 September 2019 – A successful experiment by the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), bringing together Sainsbury's, BNP Paribas, Unilever, Barclays, Standard Chartered and Rabobank, has shown how a new model of blockchain and other data sharing technologies can enhance the sustainability of global supply chains without increasing production costs.
CISL’s Centre for Sustainable Finance welcomes the UK’s Green Finance Strategy
1 July 2019
2 July 2019 – Today the UK government has launched its Green Finance Strategy, setting out its green finance objectives and ambitions.
18 June 2019
21 June 2019 – A new study from the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership has, for the first time, analysed how mutual microinsurance, a community-owned model of insurance, contributes to the recovery outcomes of low income households following a natural disaster.
Centre for Sustainable Finance chairs discussion on the challenges facing hydropower in Africa
28 May 2019
28 May 2019 – Last month, the Centre for Sustainable Finance chaired a panel discussion on attracting private finance into sustainable infrastructure, with the focus on hydropower, at the “Africa 2019” Water Storage and Hydropower Development for Africa conference in Windhoek, Namibia.
Centre for Sustainable Finance hosts the FRANTIC consortium's first workshop
22 May 2019
27 May 2019 – Earlier this month, the Centre for Sustainable Finance hosted a workshop on quantifying climate-related transition risks to the UK financial system. The workshop was organised by the consortium behind the project FRANTIC – Financial Risk and the Impact of Climate Change.
2 November 2018
November 2018 – Following on from its work as a knowledge partner to the G20’s Green Finance Study Group, CISL's Centre for Sustainable Finance has published reports on embedding environmental scenario analysis into financial decision-making in Mexico and South Africa.
A landmark report supported by CISL assesses the financial impact of disruptive energy transition
9 October 2018
11 October 2018 – On Monday, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) launched an energy transition risk stress test for the financial system of the Netherlands. The study, supported by the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership's Centre for Sustainable Finance, provides a first attempt at assessing potential financial stability impact of a disruptive energy transition.
