Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) vice-chair Mary Schapiro has scooped up a prize for her contribution to sustainable finance in Oxford this week.
In March, Insight Investment teamed up with the University of Oxford to launch an annual prize of up to £50,000 for research on greening finance.
The Insight Investment – University of Oxford Prize for Greening Finance has two categories – outstanding service and outstanding research – both open to individuals and research teams.
Schapiro was awarded the prize for outstanding service for her part in the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, as well as GFANZ’s efforts to provide the tools necessary to accelerate the transition to a net-zero global economy.
“I am grateful every day to join colleagues around the world working to help us reach a more sustainable, net-zero future,” she said.
The winner of the outstanding research category was Professor Caroline Flammer, professor of international and public affairs and of climate at Columbia University, for the impact of her journal articles on sustainable investment and ESG, including papers about the impact of corporate green bonds, CSR and financial performance, and shareholder responses to sustainability.
Flammer said: “I look forward to continuing advancing scholarship as well as education and dialogue on system-level investing to drive progress in tackling climate change, biodiversity loss, social inequality and meeting the other UN Sustainable Development Goals.”
Commenting on the research prize, Abdallah Nauphal, CEO of Insight Investment, said: “This prize is designed to recognise and reward world-class academics who provide the rigorous financial market analysis needed into the effects of environmental factors on investment solutions.
“Caroline’s work provides evidence for investment decisions and to support claims being made.”
Dr Ben Caldecott, chair of the prize panel and the founding director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group at the University of Oxford, said: “We have two outstanding winners for the inaugural prize who we celebrate for their roles in driving the adoption and use of green finance research across the global financial system. Huge congratulations to Mary Schapiro and Caroline Flammer.”
