Green Finance: What can regulatory frameworks accomplish?

Sabine Sparwasser has been the Ambassador at the German Embassy in Ottawa since August 2017. Previously, she was the German government's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. During her career, she has already been Consul General in Toronto, among other positions. She studied German, French and English Literature and Linguistics in Mainz, followed by postgraduate studies in political science with a focus on international relations at SciencesPo in Paris. Prior to her career at the German Foreign Office, she television and held a chair at the University of Paris-Vincennes.

Lucia Alessi is Team Leader at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. Her team develops research in support of EU policymaking mainly in the field of sustainable finance. From 2007 to 2015 she worked at the European Central Bank, where she served in various DGs, including Research, Economics, and Macroprudential Policy and Financial Stability. Her more recent research focuses on climate risk in equity markets and the development of climate stress tests for financial institutions. On systemic risk more generally, she has worked on early warning systems for financial crises, including sovereign crises. Earlier in her career, she worked on econometric models for big data, with a focus on dynamic factor models. She has published papers in journals such as Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, Journal of Financial Stability, International Statistical Review, European Journal of Political Economy, Empirical Economics, and others. She was awarded the CEPR/ESI ‘Best Central Bank Research Paper’ prize in 2009.Lucia holds a Ph.D. in Economics and Management from Sant’Anna School for Advanced Studies and a Degree in Economics from Bocconi University.

Annica Cochu works at adelphi as Senior Advisor in the Finance Programme. Her focus is on devising sustainable finance policy and on fostering finance for adaptation, urban development and cleaner production. She engages with financial institutions, policy makers and civil society organisations to elaborate recommendations for the design of a financial system that supports low-carbon, climate-smart and environmentally-friendly development.

Nikolai Badenhoop is a legal scholar whose research covers European Union law, financial regulation, competition, contract and tort law, corporate governance, consumer protection, professional secrecy and Brexit. He currently focuses on sustainable finance.

As a European Lawyer, he holds law degrees from Humboldt University Berlin (German state examination), Sapienza University of Rome (Laurea Magistrale in Giurisprudenza) and King’s College London (LL.M.). Nikolai obtained his Ph.D. from Humboldt University Berlin and published a book exploring EU banking regulation and its impact on national private law. He speaks English, German, French, Italian and Spanish fluently.

Nikolai gained practical experience working several years for international law firms in London and Berlin, the German Federal Ministry of Finance and a leading European start-up bank.  He is a fully qualified lawyer (Volljurist) and holds the necessary qualification to become a judge in Germany. Nikolai’s teaching experience includes courses at bachelor, master and PhD levels at Sapienza University of Rome and the EUI’s Department of Law. Currently, he teaches at the Florence School of Banking and Finance on ‘Green bonds and the sustainable bond market‘.

During his Max Weber Fellowship at the EUI, Nikolai focuses on sustainable finance in the EU legal framework. His research reaches from the definition of environmental, social and governance sustainability goals to their implementation within financial markets, banking regulation and corporate law. Starting from the European Green Deal, he analyses how existing regulatory tools impact sustainability goals and how the tools can be enhanced to increase sustainability. As a legal expert, Nikolai delivered an independent and objective study on the proposed EU Green Bond Standard at the request of the European Parliament’s ECON committee to support its legislative work.

Nikolai’s research has attracted news coverage, including interviews and reports on the green bond study by Bloomberg and the FT Group. His recent paper on greening supply chains and their financing under EU law was cited by the Financial Times.

Sebastian Mack is a Policy Fellow for European Financial Markets at the Jacques Delors Centre. His research focuses on European banking supervision and resolution, Capital Markets Union and financial crime. Previously, he worked as academic assistant and policy advisor to a German Member of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and as audit senior for prudential regulation at an internationally leading accounting firm. Sebastian studied business administration, economics and European law at the University of Würzburg and the INSEEC Grande École Paris. He wrote his diploma thesis under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Peter Bofinger on the reform of the European Economic and Monetary Union and finished his studies as one of the top three graduates of his year.

As Director of the Natural Resources Centre, Marla Orenstein champions the responsible development of the West’s natural resources for the benefit of all. Much of her work focuses on Canada’s energy future and how Canadian business can prosper as the world transitions to cleaner forms of energy.

In previous roles, Marla worked closely with industry and communities on the impacts of energy and resource development projects including electricity, mining, solar, wind, hydro, and oil and gas. Marla is a subject matter expert in impact assessment, and brings a comprehensive understanding of current standards and best practices of regulatory agencies, multilateral finance institutions, international agencies and industry organizations to the CWF. She is both past President and President-Elect of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) and a Fellow of the Energy Futures Lab.