The Evolving Academic Field of Climate Finance

Abstract

The urgency and the magnitude of climate change will affect every aspect of our economies, societies, and planet. The academic finance research has begun to study the financial implications of global warming, although this body of literature is small, has distinct geographic tilts, draws young researchers, and much remains outside of the traditional finance domain. We explore, quantitatively and qualitatively, the emerging field of climate finance. We discuss its relevance for finance research and teaching and provide implications for financial economist and practitioners - in particular the need to incorporate this massive externality in valuation and risk analyses.

Keywords: Climate Finance, Climate change. ESG, Green finance, CO2 emissions, Sustainable Finance, Climate Risk, Physical Risk, Transition Risk, Sustainable finance, Financial education

JEL Classification: G10, G20, G30, Q50, D62