Climate Risks and the Financial Sector
One of the Initiative's main areas of activity is a focus on climate change and the role of the financial sector.
The climate crisis is expected to significantly affect the financial sector, globally and in Israel, due to both physical risks, arising from climate events, which cause physical damage to people, property and financial assets, and transition risks emerging from the transition to a low-carbon economy. While the transition is required as a response of the global economy to the climate crisis, changes in economic and environmental policies designed to reduce and adapt to the climate crisis may affect the financial sector.
The financial sector has a significant role to play in managing the risks of climate change as new knowledge and regulation emerges. Various changes are already happening in Israel today to reduce and manage the exposure of the financial sector. Financial regulators and leading financial services companies have demonstrated awareness and interest in sharing knowledge and developing new financial products. Government regulators have begun to produce guidelines for their regulated companies. Yet the work in Israel still trails behind the policies of leading institutional and private sector entities abroad. As a small market and service economy that is greatly affected by international trade, Israeli firms will need to introduce tools and mechanisms being advanced elsewhere in order to maintain the vitality of the local economy.
Key Activities
The position of the Climate Crisis Initiative as an academic, solutions-oriented initiative creates an opportunity to connect between researchers and students in different fields, within the university, and between the university cluster and institutions in the finance sector. In doing so, in the past year the Finance Cluster has been able to raise awareness, run professional training, support the development of novel financial tools and advance academic courses. The Climate Initiative also uses its neutral position to convene key actors, including regulators, representative bodies in the private sector, and leading researchers, to advance knowledge-based dialogue.
The Initiative is also proud to be an academic partner to the "Hashmal 100" initiative, an Israeli cross-sector initiative for corporate energy leadership based on the international “RE100” initiative that brings together companies committed to reaching 100% renewable energy.
