Exeter Sustainable Finance Conference 2026
The Exeter Sustainable Finance (ESF) Centre at the University of Exeter is delighted to host the 3rd annual conference on sustainable finance on the 18 - 19th June 2026, in person in the historic city of Exeter, UK. The objective is to present state-of-the-art empirical and theoretical research on sustainable finance and to inform investment practices. The conference will feature a small number of papers on the programme and include industry panels to allow for ample opportunities of interactions creating a stimulating environment.
Conference Date
18 – 19th June 2026
Location
Streatham Court, University of Exeter Business School, Rennes Drive, Exeter, EX4 4PU
Keynote addresses
Saïd Business School University of Oxford
Renée’s work focuses on information flows on boards, bank governance, group decision-making, the governance of central banks and gender diversity on and off boards. Renée's research highlights organizational design problems to which seemingly inefficient governance mechanisms are the solution; her research also highlights the role selection plays in understanding corporate leaders.
Harvard Business School
Peter Tufano is a Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business School and Senior Advisor to the Harvard Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability. From 2011 to 2021, he served as the Peter Moores Dean at Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. From 1989 to 2011, he was a Professor at HBS, where he oversaw the school’s tenure and promotion processes, campus planning, and university relations and was the founding co-chair of the Harvard i-lab.
Programme
| Time | Event | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18:30 | Welcome Dinner | TBC | By invitation only (Presenters and Speakers) |
| Time | Session | Details | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09:00 – 09:20 | Coffee and Registration | Lecture Theatre C | |
| 09:20 – 09:25 | Conference Opening | By Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova, Vice-President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Impact), University of Exeter | Lecture Theatre C |
| 09:25 – 09:30 | Welcome | By Chendi Zhang, Director of Exeter Sustainable Finance Centre | Lecture Theatre C |
| 09:30 – 10:15 | Keynote | Professor Peter Tufano (Harvard Business School) | Lecture Theatre C |
| 10:15 – 10:30 | Coffee Break | ||
| 10:30 – 12:00 | Emissions |
Public Policy and Private-Sector Prosocial Motives: The Case of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Jiaqi Zheng (Peking University) |
Lecture Theatre B |
|
Climate Strikes and Corporate Emissions Caterina Santi (HEC Liège) and Wouter Torsin (HEC Liège and KU Leuven) |
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Regulatory Anticipation and Strategic Green Innovation: Evidence from a National Emissions Trading System Chuyuan Liu (Zhejiang University), Siyang Tian (University of Sussex), Valeriya Vitkova (City St George's, University of London), Xingchen Zhu (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) |
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| 10:30 – 12:00 | Climate Risk |
The Materiality of Climate Risks: Navigating the Challenge of Uncertainty and Low Confidence in Climate Information Jason Lowe (University of Leeds & Met Office), Caspar Siegert (Bank of England), Theresa Lober (Bank of England & Met Office), Lewis Holden (Bank of England), and Tim Rawlings (Bank of England) |
Lecture Theatre C |
|
Sea Level Rise Risk and the Cost of Equity Capital Chris Florakis (University of Liverpool), Yujia Wang (University of Liverpool), Yang Zhao (University of Liverpool) |
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Trapped by Climate Stress: Vulnerability Dynamics and Sovereign Credit Risk Eva Lütkebohmert (University of Freiburg) and Hongyi Shen (University of Freiburg) |
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| 12:00 – 13:30 | Lunch (with group photo) | ||
| 13:30 – 15:00 | Valuation |
Green Q: Measuring And Valuing Green and Brown Capital Ilan Cooper (University of Haifa), Daniel Kim (University of Waterloo), Kevin Schneider (University of Oxford) |
Lecture Theatre B |
|
Betting on Green: A Green Security Market Line Zeynep Gurur Akbas (University of St. Gallen) and Enrico De Giorgi (University of St. Gallen) |
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The Price of Beauty: Biodiversity Effects on Residential Housing Markets Michael Koetter (Halle Institute for Economic Research, IWH), Birte Winter (Halle Institute for Economic Research, IWH), Fabian Woebbeking (Halle Institute for Economic Research, IWH) |
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| 13:30 – 15:00 | Green Transition |
Deep and Shallow Decarbonization in Supply Chains Anne Beck (World Bank) and Alvaro Pedraza (World Bank) |
Lecture Theatre C |
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Private Equity and Creative Destruction: Evidence from the U.S. Power Sector Mayank Kumar (Boston University) |
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Burnout to Buildout: Coal Exit and the Geography of Transition Costs Hao Zhao (Durham University) |
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| 15:00 – 15:15 | Coffee Break | La Touche Café, Building One | |
| 15:15 – 16:15 | Panel: Future of Sustainable Finance and Banking |
Moderator: Chendi Zhang |
Lecture Theatre C |
|
Fiona Hyde, Head of Sustainability and Responsible Banking, Santander UK |
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Theresa Lober, Head of Strategic Climate Projects, Bank of England and Met Office |
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Ben Yeoh, Senior Portfolio Manager, Royal Bank of Canada Global Asset Management |
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| 16:15 – 16:20 | End of Day Remarks | Conference Organisers | |
| 18:00 | Conference Dinner | (For participants registered for conference dinner) |
| Time | Session | Details | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09:00 – 09:15 | Welcome Coffee | ||
| 09:15 – 10:15 | Disclosure |
Climate Disclosure: Theory and Evidence |
Lecture Theatre B |
|
Work From Home and The Narrative Reporting Quality |
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| 09:15 – 10:15 | Financial Markets |
How Climate-Aware Are Financial Markets? |
Lecture Theatre C |
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The Green Bond Premium: Evidence from Disclosure and Synthetic Counterfactuals |
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| 10:15 – 10:30 | Coffee Break | ||
| 10:30 – 11:15 | Keynote | Professor Renée B Adams (Saïd Business School, University of Oxford) | |
| 11:15 – 11:30 | Coffee Break | ||
| 11:30 – 12:30 | Sustainability Talks |
Demystifying Cheap Sustainability Talks: Theory and Evidence |
Lecture Theatre B |
|
Climate Risk Pricing and Policy Credibility: Evidence from Firm-Level Earnings Call Discourse |
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| 11:30 – 12:30 | Corporate Investment |
Financial Frictions and Pollution Abatement Over the Life Cycle of Firms |
Lecture Theatre C |
|
What Drives the Greenium, and Does It Align with Green Innovations? |
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| 12:30 – 12:35 | Closing Remarks | Conference Organizers | |
| 12:35 – 14:00 | Lunch | ||
| 14:00 – 17:00 | Optional Social Event | TBC |
Presentation Format:
Presenting authors are in bold
Academic Sessions: 20 min presentation + Q&A 10 min each paper
Organizing Committee:
Chenyan Lyu, and Monika Tarsalewska, Chendi Zhang (Conference Chair)
Programme Committee:
Yao Chen, Linquan Chen, Jason Cen, Lora Dimitrova, Vicky Kiosse, Chenyan Lyu, Jean-Francois Mercure, Ping Sun, Grzegorz Trojanowski, Jiali Yan, Wei Xin, Chendi Zhang, Shu Zhang
Registration
To register for the conference please visit our conference registration page.
For dinner booking: After selecting your conference registration type, you will be directed to the Shopping Basket page. If you plan to join the Conference Dinner, please first click the text link ‘Exeter Sustainable Finance Conference 2026’. This will take you directly back to the conference main page. Once you are back on the first page for registration, please find option d) Conference Dinner and click the ‘Book Event’ button next to it. Please verify the items, then click the ‘Proceed to Checkout’ button in the bottom right corner to complete your payment.
Paper submission guidelines
- We invite submissions of unpublished research papers on any topic related to sustainable finance and particularly encourage submissions of interdisciplinary research that draws together approaches and perspectives from different disciplines.
- Please submit the paper in PDF format to sustainable-finance@exeter.ac.uk by the end of 23rd February 2026. There is no submission fee. The papers will be reviewed by the programme committee consisting of faculty members of the ESF Centre.
Key dates
- Submission deadline: 23rd February 2026
- Notification of acceptance: 25th March 2026
- Conference dates: 18 – 19th June 2026
Travel
The Sustainable Finance Conference will be held at the University of Exeter’s Streatham Campus - a vibrant and green setting just a short distance from the city centre. Exeter Airport has direct KLM flights to Amsterdam connecting to other major cities.
From London Airports you can travel to Exeter from London Paddington (with Great Western Railway trains). The University of Exeter Streatham campus is within walking distance of both Exeter St David’s and Exeter Central train stations.
From Bristol Airport you can travel to Exeter by train from Bristol Temple Meads (with CrossCountry trains).
You can download the app Trainline to buy tickets on your phone.
There are also some flights to Exeter Airport.
Around the city: Apple Taxis is a local taxi operator and there is also UNI bus to/from city and University.
Learn more about Streatham Campus, directions, and facilities
Accommodation
- – City Centre / St Davids
- Mercure - /
Registration
To register for the conference please visit our conference registration page.
For dinner booking: After selecting your conference registration type, you will be directed to the Shopping Basket page. If you plan to join the Conference Dinner, please first click the text link ‘Exeter Sustainable Finance Conference 2026’. This will take you directly back to the conference main page. Once you are back on the first page for registration, please find option d) Conference Dinner and click the ‘Book Event’ button next to it. Please verify the items, then click the ‘Proceed to Checkout’ button in the bottom right corner to complete your payment.
Contact
For questions and further information, please email the organising committee (Conference Chair), , and at sustainable-finance@exeter.ac.uk.