Panel Q&A 2pm – 3.15pm
The role of finance and financial reporting in the transition Room 1.05
Finance is often seen as a leader in the shift towards sustainability and an engine for sustainable growth. In recent years, there has been a surge in new regulations with the aim to create more transparency in financial markets around sustainability-related risks and impacts. However, this progress faces some significant challenges including political resistance to the ESG agenda ahead of key elections in Europe and the UK, concerns over greenwashing, scaling back of EU’s ambition on transition plan regulation and the legal wars fought over the SEC’s climate disclosure rules. These developments raise significant questions about the role of finance and financial reporting in the transition: Are financial institutions in a position to drive the transition and if so, how? Does increased reporting of sustainability risks and impacts accelerate the transition or slow it down? How do investors and lenders confront the trade-offs between long-term sustainability goals and short-term returns and, in this context, how do they manage the ongoing political and economic uncertainty about the transition?
Dr Katharina Dittrich Associate Professor Organisation and Work Group
Katharina Dittrich is Associate Professor of Organisation Studies in the Organisation and Human Resource Management (OHRM) Group at Warwick Business School. She received her PhD in Organisation Theory from the University of Zurich, Switzerland and has been a visiting research fellow at the Said Business School in Oxford, UK, and the University of California at Irvine, USA. Her research interests include climate change, organisational change, organisational routines/ routine dynamics and strategy. In March 2020 Katharina was awarded the four-year Future Leaders Fellowship from the UK Research and Innovation council. Her project is entitled “Financially redesigning the Anthropocene: Investigating tools, data, and practices for climate risks and targets.” Together with five other researchers, Katharina investigates the various finance-focused programmes that are currently pursued to manage the climate crisis by purposefully diverting and directing capital allocation towards more sustainable economies and societies.
warwickmba.com
11
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog