Bank of America has pledged £1.2m to the University of Oxford to support research that will integrate nature-based metrics into sustainable finance frameworks and work on carbon capture at the university's Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.
The school works on environmental challenges with governments and global financial institutions to drive systemic change. The research aims to strengthen sustainability in financial services by ensuring that business models are scalable and tackle climate change by finding viable ways to remove large quantities of CO2 from the air.
The funding will support three years of research for two new teams, which will generate information and ideas to help financial institutions and their clients to hit sustainability targets by 2030 and meet their net-zero goals.
“Partnerships between business, academia and governments are critical if we are to accelerate the transition to sustainable, secure and affordable energy and bring forward the path to net zero," said Bernard Mensah, president of international at Bank of America.
One research team will focus on integrating nature-related factors and the use of climate and environmental data in financial decision-making. It will also look at spatial finance, which combines geospatial data and analysis with financial theory and practice.
That team will be based at the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group at the Smith School and the UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment, and will be led by sustainability academic Ben Caldecott.
A second research team will be based at the Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub and will focus on economically, socially, and environmentally scalable ways to remove CO2 from the air. That research base is an Oxford-led consortium directed by Steve Smith.
The partnership is BofA’s first in Europe and the beginning of its work with the Smith School. The pledge will also support a director’s research fund that support sustainable research opportunities that would otherwise be unfunded.