"To the extent that it matters for investors, climate risk is already priced in." Great fun debating this motion with Jakob Thomä of Theia Finance Labs on Bloomberg's ESG Currents podcast. Listen to the debate and read my remarks here: substack.com/@bencaldecot...

Britain needs a climate reset, not a climate culture war. Repealing the Climate Change Act would be a mistake. So would treating the 2008 framework as immutable. Keep the destination. Modernise the machinery. bencaldecott.substack.com/p/britain-ne...

UK intelligence agencies say nature destruction is a national security threat. We need to rapidly scale environmental deterrence: raising detection probability and violation costs of nature destruction until the expected penalty exceeds the gain. bencaldecott.substack.com/p/towards-en...

Registration is now open for the @ox.ac.uk Sustainable Finance Summit 2026. 29th June, Rhodes House, Oxford. Geopolitics, the agentic economy, silicon boundaries, transition finance, nature, heat risk, and more. Register: sustainablefinance.ox.ac.uk/summit-2025/... @smithschool.ox.ac.uk

The new #SiliconBoundaries report is accompanied by a podcast where we talk through the core arguments: why societies have thresholds for absorbing AI, how those differ from planetary boundaries, and what happens if we act to stay within them. Listen: open.spotify.com/show/0Z2kU9t...

New report: #SiliconBoundaries. Societies have preconditions for stability. AI and compute can erode them. Unlike planetary boundaries, these thresholds move, which is both the opportunity and the risk. See: bencaldecott.substack.com/p/silicon-bo...

Coming soon: This Thursday, the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group in partnership with Theia Finance Labs, will release the first report from our new joint programme: Silicon Boundaries. Find out more here: substack.com/@bencaldecot...

At The Villars Institute Summit I argued we have a nature proposition problem. We've built extraordinary frameworks but not enough investable, place-based propositions at a scale institutional capital can back. Time to shift from complexity to delivery. Remarks here: substack.com/@bencaldecot...

New article: The agentic economy will need finance: credit, settlement, risk management, prudential rules. The policy debate is almost entirely focused on compute and talent. Nobody is asking who finances the agents. The UK has a window to build this. It is closing. open.substack.com/pub/bencalde...

Delighted to host Emmanuel Faber, Chair of the @ifrsfoundation.ifrs.org ISSB, @ox.ac.uk for a public lecture on “Future Proofing Capital Markets with Sustainability Disclosures”, as part of him winning the Oxford Prize for Greening Finance. See: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKqC...

Oxford Sustainable Finance Group & Theia Finance Labs are working together on an exciting new initiative. 'Silicon Boundaries' are thresholds where the benefits of AI and related technologies are outweighed by their contributions to societal instability: mailchi.mp/cgfi/invitat...

It was wonderful to host Ruth Davis, the UK’s first nature envoy, at the University of Oxford on Friday where she gave a wonderfully thoughtful and expansive speech on nature that was simultaneously challenging and inspiring, as well as deeply personal. A treat! Recording and transcript to follow.

The world needs a strong Japan, and Japan’s Green Transformation programme (“GX”) can be a cornerstone of that strength: www.nikkei.com/article/DGKK...

Geological storage needs to be stewarded wisely, more wisely than this research implies. A fraction of that estimated will be accessible at a price society is willing to pay. Carbon removal budgeting is needed to optimise the use of this scarce resource. on.ft.com/4nigq4Z

Delighted to be hosting Ruth Davis, the first UK Special Representative for Nature, for a lecture @UniofOxford on 3 Oct 2025. Opportunity to hear directly from Ruth on the UK's priorities for nature ahead of COP30 and following UNGA week. Register here: www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/event/lectur...

Yet more inflation statistics show that the UK is more vulnerable to the drivers of inflation than peer economies. This report, from a project I chaired, had some excellent supply side proposals to fix the problem: ukonward.com/reports/targ...

Delighted to be confirmed as an @ipcc.bsky.social Coordinating Lead Author for the Finance Chapter of AR7 WGIII. Looking forward to working as part of the IPCC and with members of the wider climate finance community who will contribute over the next few years www.ipcc.ch/assessment-r... @ox.ac.uk

A recalibration of sustainable finance is underway. We hosted our third Oxford Sustainable Finance Summit on the theme of reinvention and renewal. If you missed #OSFS25, you can check out some highlights here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_AY...

We mapped all 117,116 of England’s farms – here’s why that matters for transition finance and net zero www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/news/we-mapp...

Extreme weather drives food price surges across the globe on.ft.com/4lDrSYl

Excited to welcome participants to our 3rd Oxford Sustainable Finance Summit this week. Theme is Reinvention & Renewal. Progress is not linear or assured. Our task is to confront realities head-on and identify practical pathways that make progress. sustainablefinance.ox.ac.uk/summit/

Extreme weather is the UK's new normal, says Met Office www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Global Banks Increase Fossil-Fuel Funding - WSJ www.wsj.com/articles/glo...

European and UK pension funds drive transatlantic split on sustainable investing on.ft.com/4k5C4bu

BoE tells banks and insurers to fix climate risk ‘gaps’ on.ft.com/3EQn9Cv

Climate impacts will worsen - it is a question of whether they are terrible, really bad or just bad. It is a no brainer to scale up investment in adaptation. This will save money and spur economic activity. Climate resilience is a competitive advantage. www.theccc.org.uk/2025/04/30/t...

New satellite will see through clouds to 'weigh' Earth's forests www.bbc.com/news/article...

"State Street loses £28bn of assets to Amundi and Invesco over ESG goals. US asset manager previously managed all of The People’s Pension’s £33bn in assets" www.ft.com/content/541c...

The next Oxford Sustainable Finance Summit is taking place on Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th July 2025. Registration is now open! Find out more here: sustainablefinance.ox.ac.uk/summit/

“…while China added a record 356GW of wind and solar electricity-generating capacity in 2024, it also began building coal power plants with 94.5GW of capacity…” on.ft.com/4jUZyQQ

Risk of breach of 1.5C of global warming here sooner than expected, studies find on.ft.com/4hUmspL

Jeff Bezos’s $10bn Earth Fund cuts ties with climate group... Potentially just the start of a major shake up in climate philanthropy as public and private donors backfill USAID and other cuts, and some US tech philanthropists pivot www.ft.com/content/c3bf...

This is terrible news. Mikkel was a real sustainability leader and innovator, who played a key role in developing high integrity carbon markets, among many other things. He will be greatly missed, including by colleagues at CIX and ⁦‪DBS Bank. www.businesstimes.com.sg/esg/climate-...

The original requirements for GFANZ membership have been dismantled step by step, as have the mechanisms to ensure accountability for net zero commitments by financial institutions. Being part of Race to Zero and a verified alliance were there to help deliver accountability. on.ft.com/40EpatK

Federal Reserve Board announces withdrawal from the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS): www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/p...

“Financial Stability Board said the financial damage of climate shocks such as floods, droughts, fires or storms could cause a broader pullback in lending and downturn in investor confidence…was [also] making insurance less available and more expensive…” on.ft.com/3PBp9jE

“Banks Claim They’re Still in the Climate Fight. Are They?” www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

'A plurilateral approach': 3 experts detail how to revive global cooperation: www.weforum.org/stories/2025...

I've also found 'Target Practice' (h/t @bencaldecott.bsky.social, @nedhammond92.bsky.social & Laurence Fredricks) really good on this issue, providing a useful diagnosis of the many issues which are slowing the transition down and increasing its costs www.ukonward.com/reports/targ...

Achieving our Sustainability Transition with the Transition Planning Taskforce (TPT) Disclosure Framework www.sir.advancedleadership.harvard.edu/articles/ach...

Why the world needs a carbon removal budget, not just a carbon budget https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/11/why-the-world-needs-a-carbon-removal-budget-not-just-a-carbon-budget/ via @wef

Energy transition well underway despite interest rate setbacks https://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/news/energy-transition-well-underway-despite-interest-rate-setbacks

Mining eats into more of the world’s forests. Nearly 1.4mn ha of tree cover was lost between 2001 and 2020 in areas where mining and related activities have taken place https://on.ft.com/3Yuy4aH

The ⁦@ADB_HQ⁩ estimates that between $102bn and $431bn is needed in annual financing to adapt to climate change across the Asia-Pacific region from 2023 to 2030, compared with just $34bn in commitments it recorded in 2022. https://on.ft.com/3YHUk2m

After 2.5 years of pioneering efforts to establish the gold standard for private sector transition plans, the ⁦⁦@TPTaskforce⁩ officially concludes its work today. It has been tremendous fun co-heading the TPT Secretariat with ⁦@KateLLevick⁩...

UK’s first nature envoy is @ruthdavis27. A tremendous appointment! https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/20/uk-appoints-first-nature-envoy-ruth-davis-to-tackle-species-decline

The #TransitionFinanceMarketReview#TransitionFinancetoday launches its final report. The Review was co-sponsored by HMT and DESNZ and hosted by @cityoflondon. Companies and governments will require effective #TransitionFinance to meet #ParisAgreement goals.

Indonesia’s coal producers diversify as money for mining dries up https://on.ft.com/3XSrDOE

Can transition finance get us to a greener future? https://on.ft.com/3XSqZAp

How climate risk will complicate central bankers’ jobs https://on.ft.com/4dxYMVz