Project description
Analysing the role of the banking sector in addressing climate change
Every single person and country is being affected by climate change. Even companies are starting to consider the potential effects on their business. The banking sector is not immune, but the role it plays in dealing with climate change remains unclear. The ERC-funded ClimateBanking project will offer a new understanding of the role of the banking sector in terms of how it can address climate change. Taking a holistic approach and analysing several channels, it will also review the role of state-owned banks as well as the interaction between public markets and banks.
Objective
Climate change is one of the key societal challenges of our generation, affecting every country, every firm, and every person on this planet for decades to come. More than half of carbon emissions arise from bank-dependent sectors of the economy; and a large part of renewable energy production is financed by banks. The banking sector plays a crucial role for lending to firms and households, for the issuance of securities, for project financing, and for mergers and acquisitions. Yet, the role of banks in addressing climate change is not yet well understood.
The goal of this project is to provide a fundamental understanding of the role of the banking sector in addressing climate change. The project will take a holistic view and analyze several channels through which the banking sector plays a central role in addressing climate change: the role of laws and regulations, the role of governance mechanisms in the banking sector, the role of state-owned banks, as well as the interaction between public markets and banks.
I pursue this research agenda in two parts. The first part focuses on the role of the banking industry for firms, while the second part focuses on the role of the banking industry for households. Both parts will analyze key agency and financial constraints that can impede the provision of financing for long-term investments that are at the heart of climate finance.
This project will shape our understanding of the role of the banking sector in addressing climate change. It will empirically analyze key channels, advance the methodological toolkit that can serve as the basis for future research in this area, and create unparalleled new data sets tailored to analyzing the role of the banking sector in addressing climate change. The results of this project can help academics, regulators, policymakers, and society to understand and address one of the key challenges of our times.
Fields of science
- social sciencessociologygovernance
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energy
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyplanetary sciencesplanets
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- social scienceslaw
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
ERC - Support for frontier research (ERC)Host institution
60323 Frankfurt Am Main
Germany