Financing climate futures: Six positions on climate finance
Dr Gareth Bryant, University of Sydney, presents research from his forthcoming book on climate finance.
West Building
Financing climate futures: Six ‘positions’ on climate finance
International climate politics is dominated by ‘gap talk’, where the central problem of climate change is the gap between current flows of climate finance and the estimated financial costs of climate mitigation and adaptation. In this seminar, based on a forthcoming book co-authored with Sophie Webber, I will seek to move beyond the climate financing gap approach and develop an account of the political economy climate finance as an indicator and mediator of climate futures. Tracing developments such as the creation of renewable energy as an asset class, the rise of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, and calls for the greening of monetary policy, we explore how finance is being positioned as the solution to climate change, and how climate politics is taking place in and through financial markets. We analyse the political economy of climate finance across six ‘positions’: climate capital; climate risk; precision markets; speculative markets; big green states; and climate finance justice. Each ‘position’ is simultaneously financial, geographical, and political, and acts to configure different possible climate futures.
For further details about Gareth’s research – including his previous work on carbon markets – see his web page.
Pricing
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