Banking on Climate Change How Finance Actors and Regulatory Regimes are Responding

It is now known that our climate change trajectory is far beyond initial predictions of a worst case scenario. The imperative to move to a low-carbon global economy calls for the most significant market and economic transition in modern history. This will require massive financial input so it is essential to understand the ever-increasing role of private finance actors – banks, insurers, and institutional investors – in helping to meet this global challenge.

Banking on Climate Change provides a comprehensive and cross-jurisdictional analysis of legislative and policy responses to climate change and the financial crisis in key market economies; activities of multilateral development banks and specialized climate funds; the influences of corporate law and corporate governance norms on directors’ decision-making; risk/return theory for a range of private finance actors; how business case logic and corporate social responsibility influence financial behaviors; and Chinese ‘state capital’ for global green investment. Moreover, at the heart of this book is the first in-depth qualitative study in the emerging field of corporate climate finance. Personal interviews in the United States, Europe and Australia with senior bank personnel and other corporate parties as well as non-government organizations reveal rich data that open a window on bank decision-making and provide lessons for other private finance actors, legal practitioners and policy-makers.

Features:

• First in-depth qualitative study of corporate climate finance

• Investigates the interrelations between finance actors and environmental regulation

• Clearly explains the risks and opportunities of climate change for private finance actors

• Cross-jurisdictional analyses of government regulation on climate change and also financial market reforms.

Benefits:

• Assists private finance actors in their lending, investing, and advising activities

• Shows how private finance actors can influence the behavior of other corporate actors

• Policymakers can act on empirically informed regulatory recommendations

• A ready reference for legislative responses to climate change and also the global financial crisis.