Chair: Claire Debucquois, European University Institute (EUI)
Description
The working group on climate obstruction in the financial sector plans to focus on “the role of finance actors such as banks, investment firms or insurance companies in [obstructing] climate action, including greenwashing, establishing misleading ESG goals and climate action plans, and failure to hold institutions accountable for their actions” (CCSN Grants Call 2024).
The working group aims to bring together researchers hailing from diverse places and disciplines to study how the financial sector engages in climate obstruction. We will address several questions, among which: What role has the financial sector played in bringing about the ecological crisis? How is the sector now hedging against climate-related risks? What are the relationships between financial institutions and other actors, such as standard-setting organizations, law firms, think tanks, and consultancies? How does the financial sector resist climate policies meant to curb its environmental damage, or even co-opt the climate discourse to keep expanding its operations?
Enquiring into the role of the financial sector in climate obstruction is crucial, timely, and generally understudied. Furthermore, given its abstract and often complex character, it tends to escape the advocacy efforts of social movements and climate activists, which underlines the critical responsibility of scholars in the communication of knowledge. The working group intends to take on this task: all scholars with an interest in this topic are most welcome to join.