Our thought leadership provides practical, evidence‑based insights to help decision‑makers across business, finance and policy lead change, shape markets and scale solutions.
Resilience-Adjusted Credit Risk: Operationalising climate adaptation in financial decision-making
26 May 2026 - A report by CISL’s Banking Environment Initiative (BEI) outlines an approach to embed physical risk, insurance, and resilience into financial decision-making.
Aligning business models with a nature positive economy: from theory to practice
14 April 2026 – The world faces a global nature crisis, which is impacting the real economy and its key actors including businesses, governments and financial institutions. The global economy must take account of nature which underpins its resilience and long-term stability. This requires a transition to a nature positive economy and to new business models aligned with this goal.
Enhancing international private climate finance to green development in Africa: Why private finance is not flowing to prima facie opportunities
9 April 2026 - This paper examines why international private climate finance is not flowing at scale to green development opportunities in Africa that appear commercially viable, and what will be required to change that.
From Innovation to Impact: Scaling Climate Solutions to Transform Markets
23 March 2026 - This report sets out how the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) supports innovation with the potential to reshape markets, and the impact of this work over the past five years. scaling-climate-solutions-cover.jpg Download the report About Across...
18 March 2026 - ClimateWise has published a new briefing outlining how insurability is one of the earliest signals of whether assets, sectors, and entire economies can survive the accelerating impacts of physical climate risk.
Breaking Down Silos: Navigating the Intersection of Environmental and Social risks for Investors
11 March 2026 - Environmental and social risks are compounding across economies and portfolios, yet most risk frameworks assess them in isolation. This report provides a practical, systems-based approach to help investors understand how these interconnected risks amplify financial exposure – particularly in high-impact sectors like agrifood – and outlines actionable levers to build resilience, reduce volatility and support long-term development.
Restoring Human Progress: Winning citizens’ support for actions on climate and nature
5 February 2026 – As citizens across G7 countries are losing belief in the future, leaders face increasing difficulty in taking bold action on climate change and nature loss. A new report, produced by CISL and Zero Ideas , explores how to rebuild public support by restoring human progress as a...
The ClimateWise Principles Independent Review 2025
3 February 2026 - The ClimateWise Principles Independent Review for 2025 reveals momentum building on transition plans and a culture of continued improvement, despite a complex external environment. the-climatewise-principles-2025-cover.jpg Download the ClimateWise Principles Independent Review...
28 January 2026 - This report sets out examples of how CISL has worked over the past year with leaders and innovators across business, finance and government to shape the markets of the future. cisl-annual-review-2025-cover.png Download the report. About 2025 was the year sustainability stopped...
Assessing South Africa’s G20 Presidency at a time of geo-political turbulence
27 January 2026 – This paper reviews South Africa’s 2025 G20 Presidency and assesses how it advanced a Global South–led development agenda amid global geopolitical fragmentation and constrained cooperation. continuity_progress_for_africa_cover.jpg Download the paper This report from the University...
