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Durham University Business School researchers are joining an international network to advance understanding of climate risks and their impact on economies and society.

The Centre for Strategy, Technology and Operations (CSTIO) will join the Climate Risk Commons. 

This is a collaborative initiative providing researchers with access to data and advanced tools to investigate climate change and its impacts.

Professor Rudolf Sinkovics, Director of CSTIO, said: “What attracts us to the Climate Risk Commons is its open and collaborative model. It enables researchers to contribute knowledge, interrogate assumptions and co-create evidence that can inform policy and practice.” 

Understanding climate risks to sovereign debt 

The Climate Risk Commons provides a shared platform where researchers can access datasets, test models and develop new approaches to assessing the damage caused by climate hazards. 

CSTIO will contribute its expertise in climate risks to sovereign debt sustainability.  

This research explores how climate change and extreme weather events could affect countries’ ability to manage their debts. 

Professor Stavros Zenios of our Business School is the lead investigator on the collaboration. 

His work focuses on the effects of climate change on sovereign debt sustainability. 

Access to the platform could help researchers combine existing debt sustainability analysis with high-quality climate data to investigate the impact of acute climate hazards.  

As part of its wider engagement with climate risk research, CSTIO also recently hosted a talk by Dr Ron Dembo, founder and CEO of climate analytics company riskthinking.AI. 

Titled 'Adapting our World to Climate Change: Towards a Climate Risk Commons’, the talk explored the growing need to adapt the built environment to climate change, including the financial and practical challenges of deciding what to adapt, when and how. 

Supporting interdisciplinary research 

Joining the network supports CSTIO’s commitment to tackling major societal challenges through research spanning strategy, technology, innovation and operations. 

It will also create opportunities for doctoral researchers to engage with advanced technologies and for the Centre to connect with international experts through teaching and research seminars. 

Professor Zenios said: “We join a network of frontier scholars on the grand challenge of climate risks, with access to a state-of-the-art platform to advance our research on climate risk and sustainability.” 

Find out more 

  • Discover more about the Centre for Strategy, Technological Innovation, and Operations (CSTIO). 
  • Learn more about the Climate Risk Commons. 
  • Durham University Business School is triple accredited and ranked in the world top 100 for the Financial Times European Business School Ranking 2025. It is ranked 9th globally in the Financial Times Online MBA Ranking 2026 and joint 85th in the World for Financial Times Global MBA Ranking 2026. Visit our Business School webpages for more information on our undergraduate, postgraduate, MBA, DBA, Executive Education and PhD programmes.