Workshop theme
The contribution of financial markets and institutions is crucial to achieve sustainability at local and global levels. Since the launch of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, the global community has a common new framework for addressing the most urgent global problems. Together with the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement and the Addis Ababa Agreement on Financing Sustainable Development in the same year, the SDGs have created a new impetus for a debate on channeling funding to sustainable projects and businesses.
While much attention has been on the financial risks of climate change, also as a driver for the EU’s Sustainable Finance Initiative, we define sustainability as securing the social foundation for humanity now and in the future while staying within planetary boundaries – and it is within this framework that we engage with the topic of finance for sustainability.
This workshop focuses on the issue of how the financial system can put sustainability at the heart of its institutions, policies, processes and products. The objective is to critically examine the financial system, the finance phenomena, financial institutions and intermediaries in a comprehensive approach, which understands that achieving the global goal of sustainability requires local, regional and international action.
Practical details about the workshop
The workshop will be held on Tuesday 4 June to Friday 7 June 2019 at the Cavo Perlevos guesthouse on the Greek island of Kea, with self-contained studios with a bedroom, kitchen area and bathroom. Kea is reached by ferry from the port of Lavrio (near Athens) and there will be an informal welcome dinner on Monday 3 June in Lavrio for those staying overnight to catch the Tuesday morning ferry to Kea. A social programme will also be held on Saturday 8 June followed by a dinner in Athens that evening for those returning on Sunday 9 June.
The workshop programme is structured to allow for plenty of individual and collegiate social time with the optional social day on the Saturday. Further details about travel and accommodation will be given to the selected participants.
Organising committee for the 2019 workshop
Professor María Jesus Muñoz-Torres University Jaume I, Castellon
Professor Beate Sjåfjell, University of Oslo, Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley