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Why Sustainable Finance? Why Now?

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Abstract

After the failure of the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in 2009 a small group of finance experts decided to find ways to use the power of finance to tackle the climate emergency. Through developing ideas like ‘stranded assets’ and ‘carbon bubble’ they managed to convince financiers and bankers of the risks of not addressing the climate and environmental crises. This was the birth of the sustainable finance agenda. But it coincided with citizen efforts to channel finance away from destructive activities, especially through divestment from fossil fuels and avoiding banks that were investing in destructive activities.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    ‘Stranded Assets and the Environment’, special issue of Journal of Sustainable Finance and Investment, 7/1 (2017).

  2. 2.

    Tracker, C. and Grantham Research Institute (2013), Unburnable Carbon 2013: Wasted Capital and Stranded Assets (London: Carbon Tracker).

  3. 3.

    International Energy Agency (2015), World Energy Outlook Special Briefing for COP21 (Paris: IEA).

  4. 4.

    HLEG (2018), Final Report 2018 by the High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (Brussels: European Commission).

  5. 5.

    Plantinga, A. and Scholtens, B. (2021), ‘The Financial Impact of Fossil Fuel Divestment’, Climate Policy, 21:1, 107–119.

  6. 6.

    Gupta, J., Rempel, A. and Verrest, H. (2020), ‘Access and Allocation: The Role of Large Shareholders and Investors in Leaving Fossil Fuels Underground’, International Environmental Agreements, 20, 303–322.

  7. 7.

    Carbon Tracker (2021), A Tale of Two Share Issues: How Fossil Fuel Equity Offerings Are Losing Investors Billions (London: Carbon Tracker).

  8. 8.

    Muncie, E. (2020), ‘Investing in Climate Solutions? An Exploration of the Discursive Power and Materiality of Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaigns in Scotland’, Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-020-00653-2.

  9. 9.

    McKibben, B. (2012) ‘Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math’, Rolling Stone, 19 July. Available at: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-188550/ (Accessed 28 August 2021).

  10. 10.

    Seyfang, G. and Gilbert-Squires, A. (2019), ‘Move Your Money? Sustainability Transitions in Regimes and Practices in the UK Retail Banking Sector’ Ecological Economics, 156, 224–235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.09.014.

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Correspondence to Molly Scott Cato .

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Scott Cato, M. (2022). Why Sustainable Finance? Why Now?. In: Sustainable Finance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91578-0_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91578-0_1

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