HOSTED BY
This two-day conference was jointly co-sponsored by the Macro Finance Research (MFR) Program at the University of Chicago and the Brevan Howard Centre for Financial Analysis (BHC). This workshop aimed to explore uncertainty, including climate nonlinearity and tipping points. Moreover, we hoped to explore how to incentivize both private and public sectors to develop and deploy financial tools and mechanisms while accounting for the uncertainties. We hosted targeted sessions, followed by discussions on the following topics:
- What are the uncertainties, and why might they matter?
- What are the prospects for nature-based solutions?
- How do we best restructure incentives?
- What are the prospects for low carbon technologies in the future, and how uncertain are their successes?
Watch Interviews from the Conference
Navigating Climate Change Uncertainty and Policy Challenges in 2024 with Lars Peter Hansen, David Keith, José Scheinkman, and Franklin Allen | |
Can Corporations Properly Balance Their Book? The Carbon Accounting Conundrum with Robert Kaplan and Stefan Reichelstein | Restructuring Incentives to Grow Investment in Renewable Energy with Patrick Bolton and Robert Litterman |
Not All Renewable Energy is Created Equal: Bringing Potential to Scale with Steven Cowley, Mark O’Malley, and Mirabelle Muûls | The Role of Climate Science and Nature Based Solutions in Combatting Climate Change with Victor Brovkin |
Agenda
Registration / Tea & Coffee
Ian Walmsley – Provost, Imperial College London - Welcome and Introduction
Imperial College Business School-BHC/Macro Finance Research Program – Welcome
Q&A
Session 1: What are major sources of geoscientific uncertainties and why are they relevant?
Session Chair: Valerio Lucarini (University of Reading)
1. Victor Brovkin (Max Planck) – What are limits of adaptation of ecological systems and potential nonlinear responses to climate change? – 20 min
2. Michael Ghil (ENS Paris/UCLA/Imperial) – What are the main sources of uncertainty and potential nonlinear responses of the climate system to anthropogenic forcing? – 20 min
Open Discussion and Q&A
Lunch
Session 2: How can major sources of uncertainties be accounted for during prudent climate change policy design?
Session Chair: Harjoat Bhamra (Imperial)
1. Franziska Piontek (PIK) – How can economic impact and integrated assessment models account for the full scope of complex climate risks? – 20 min
2. Lars Peter Hansen (University of Chicago) – How can a decision-theoretical framework allow economists to tackle the challenge of uncertainties? – 20 min
Open Discussion and Q&A
Coffee & Tea Break
Session 3: How can different policy approaches contribute to decarbonizing the economy and how uncertain are their consequences?
Session Chair: Colin Prentice (Imperial)
1. Nathalie Seddon (Oxford) – Harnessing the potential of nature-based solutions to address climate change – 20 min
2. Jose Scheinkman (Columbia) – How can policy be best designed to curb deforestation? – 20 min
3. David Keith (UChicago) – How promising are carbon removal and solar geoengineering as ways to address climate change? – 20 min
Open Discussion and Q&A
Conference Reception
Conference Dinner
Registration / Tea & Coffee
Session 4: What are the prospects of different renewable energy technologies to be deployed at scale and how certain are we about their viability?
Session Chair: Roisin Quinn (UK National Grid)
1. Mark O’Malley (Imperial) – How uncertain is the rebuilding of the global power systems enabling us to install renewable energy at scale? – 20 min
2. Steven Cowley (Princeton) – What is the state of fusion energy, and what are the prospects of it becoming a viable renewable energy source? – 20 min
3. Mirabelle Muuls (Imperial) – What are the market and non-market bottlenecks that should be addressed for different carbon removal and low-carbon technologies? – 20 min
Open Discussion and Q&A
Coffee & Tea Break
Session 5: What are the current pitfalls of carbon accounting standards and how could these be addressed?
Session Chair: Michel Madelain (IFRS Foundation)
1. Robert Kaplan (Harvard) – How could scope 3 (indirect) emissions reporting be replaced with E-liabilities? – 20 min
2. Stefan Reichelstein (Stanford/Mannheim) – Can financial accounting serve as a template for effective corporate carbon accounting? – 20 min
Open Discussion and Q&A
Lunch
Session 6: What are the best ways to restructure incentives to have an important impact on the investment in renewable energy generation?
Session Chair: Sam Asher (Imperial)
1. Franklin Allen (Imperial) – Why and how could contingent debt be designed to address the inability to set a global carbon tax? – 20 min
2. Robert Litterman (Kepos Capital) – How could private finance mechanisms contribute to realign incentives? – 20 min
3. Patrick Bolton (Imperial) – How could carbon markets and pricing be actioned? What are their limitations? – 20 min
Open Discussion and Q&A
Day 2 – Event Closing
Session Chair: Marcin Kacperczyk (Imperial)
Marc Sadler (World Bank) – How could multi-lateral financial institutions and investors account for the different uncertainties that were presented, and how could they contribute to integrating new approaches to decarbonize the world’s economy at scale and equitably? – 30 min
Open Discussion and Q&A
Closing Remarks by MFR and BHC Leaders
1. Lars Peter Hansen (University of Chicago)
2. Franklin Allen (Imperial)