Keynote speakers, section chairs

Prof. Nick Robins

Keynote: Sustainable Crisis Response Measures for Central Banks and Supervisors – Toolbox by the Grantham Research Institute, SOAS

Nick Robins is Professor in Practice for Sustainable Finance at the Grantham Research Institute, London, UK. From 2014 to 2018, he was co-director of UN Environment’s Inquiry into a Sustainable Finance System. As part of this, he led country activities in Brazil, the EU, India, Italy and the UK, as well as thematic work focused on investors, insurance and green banking. Before joining UNEP, Prof. Robins was Head of the Climate Change Centre of Excellence at HSBC. Prior to HSBC, he has also worked at the International Institute for Environment and Development, the European Commission and the Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Dr. Ulrich Volz

Keynote: Climate Change and Sovereign Risk

Ulrich Volz is Director of the SOAS Centre for Sustainable Finance and Reader in Economics at SOAS, University of London. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the German Development Institute and Honorary Professor of Economics at the University of Leipzig. Ulrich is a lead author of a 2018 UN report on Climate Change and the Cost of Capital in Developing Countries. Earlier, he was Banque de France Chair at EHESS in Paris and taught at Peking University, Kobe University, Hertie School of Governance, Freie Universität Berlin, Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing, and the Institute of Developing Economies (IDE-JETRO) in Tokyo. He was part of the UN Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System and has acted as an advisor to several governments, central banks, international organisations and development agencies on matters of sustainable finance and development. He holds a PhD from Freie Universität Berlin and was a Fox International Fellow and Max Kade Scholar at Yale University.