Article By Galina Hale and Nirvikar Singh, Co-Directors of CAFIN
Note from the Co-Directors
Galina Hale and Nirvikar Singh
The 2021-2022 academic year was the beginning of a return to normalcy. While we continued with our virtual speaker series, and our flagship event of the year had to be turned into a virtual one at the last minute, we were also able to hold an in-person event and participate in local in-person conferences. We also welcomed a number of new research affiliates to our family, including a recent PhD program graduate, Mai Hakamada, who is starting her work at the IMF in the coming fall. For the next year we are planning two in-person meetings and we will keep you posted as they shape up. The first of these, a third installment of our series of conferences on Fintech, will be held at UCSC’s Silicon Valley campus on Friday, February 24th, 2023. The second event will be a conference on climate and ESG finance.
We also launched a new publication series – CAFIN Bulletins: one-page non-technical discussion of important issues in the scope of CAFIN studies that we hope will be useful to our affiliates as well as a general audience.
For the full version of this newsletter (PDF), click here.
Fintech Conference on Innovation, Inclusion, and Risks
CAFIN, partnering with The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the Lam Larsen Fintech Initiative at the San Francisco State University, jointly hosted a two-part conference on Fintech: Innovation, Inclusion, and Risks. Part 1 was held over the weekend of March 4th, while Part 2 was held on May 13th. A full summary of both days can be found on the full newsletter.
Select recording and slides can be found here.
2021-22 Speaker Series
This year, we continued our online speaker series and hosted three lectures related to sustainable finance. The speakers and topics were as follows:
Setting Climate Accounts: Navigating the Road to Net Zero
Speaker: Alicia Seiger
Lecturer, Stanford Law School; Managing Director, Precourt Institute Sustainable Finance Initiative; Managing Director, Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance
Moderator: Galina Hale
Professor of Economics and Co-Director of CAFIN, UC Santa Cruz
Net Zero Carbon Portfolio Alignment
Speaker: Frederic Samama
Chief Responsible Investment Officer, CPR AM, Amundi Group
Link to Net Zero Carbon Portfolio Alignment
Moderator: Daniel Friedman
Distinguished Professor Emeritus; Founder and Director of the LEEPS Lab, UC Santa Cruz
Investors are Waking Up to Climate Risk
Speaker: Dr. Amy Myers Jaffe
Research Professor and Managing Director of the Climate Policy Lab at The Fletcher School at Tufts University
Downloads for Investors are Waking Up to Climate Risk are here.
Moderator: Jagdeep Bachher
Chief Investment Officer, University of California Office of the President
Spring 2022 CAFIN Lecture
On May 6th, 2022, CAFIN hosted Dr. Federico Ravenna, Chief Policy Adviser to the Monetary Policy Department and the Central Bank Committee for the Danmarks Nationalbank, for the Quarterly Lecture Series for Spring 2022, in conversation with Dr Galina Hale, Professor of Economics at UC Santa Cruz. Dr Ravenna discussed several dimensions of green bonds, in the broader context of finance-driven green transition. The video of the conversation is available on UCSC’s media site, here.
CAFIN Bulletins
Finally, we started a new publication – CAFIN Bulletin series: non-technical one-page publications on important topics of the day. The first few issues were based on the speaker series, but we then branched out to additional topics. We are hoping to expand the coverage and the authorship of the bulletins in the coming year.
Investors are Waking Up to Climate Risk
Issue 1. 11/17/2021
On October 1, 2021, we hosted Dr. Amy Myers Jaffe, Research Professor and Managing Director of the Climate Policy Lab The Fletcher School at Tufts University in conversation with Jagdeep Bachher, Chief Investment Officer, University of California Office of the President. Here we provide highlights of this conversation. The video of the conversation is available on our website.
See more at the bulletin page here.
International Aspects of Digital Currencies and Fintech
Issue 2. 12/7/2021
In October 2021, the IFM program of the Central Bank Research Association (CEBRA), where our co-director Galina Hale serves as program director, held a joint conference with the European Central Bank (ECB) on “International aspects of digital currencies and fintech.” The conference focused on the implications of the growing role of digital currencies and fintech for the international monetary and financial system. It brought together high-quality researchers and policymakers to discuss the implications of digital currencies, global stablecoins and the digitalisation of finance for the international monetary system, exchange rates, capital flows, global financial assets and spillovers. Fabio Panetta, Member of the ECB Executive Board delivered opening remarks. Eswar Prasad (Cornell University) and Tara Rice (Bank for International Settlements) served as keynote speakers. More details are on the conference website. What did we learn?
See more at the bulletin page here.
Net Zero Carbon Portfolio Alignment
Issue 3. 01/03/2022
On October 15, 2021, CAFIN and UC Investment Speaker Series hosted Frederic Samama, Chief Responsible Investment Officer at CPR AM, Amundi Group, in conversation with Dr. Daniel Friedman, Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus at UC Santa Cruz. Here, we provide a summary of the conversation. The video of the conversation and the presentation slides are available on our website: Link to Net Zero Carbon Portfolio Alignment. Dr. Samama’s presentation was based on his research paper co-authored with Patrick Bolton and Marcin T. Kacperczyk.
See more at the bulletin page here.
Settling Climate Accounts: Navigating the Road to Net-Zero
Issue 4. 01/03/2022
On November 5, 2021, the CAFIN and UC Investment Speaker Series hosted Dr Alicia Seiger, Lecturer at Stanford Law School, Managing Director at Precourt Institute Sustainable Finance Initiative, and Managing Director at Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, in conversation with Dr Galina Hale, Professor of Economics at UC Santa Cruz. Here, we provide a summary of the discussion. The video of the conversation and the slides of the presentation are available in the Speaker Series archive.
See more at the bulletin page here.
SEC Proposed Rules to Enhance and Standardize Climate-Related Disclosures
Issue 5. 05/04/2022
On March 21, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new rules that would require publicly traded companies to disclose their climate-related financial risks. The press release and the links to the related publications are available from the SEC page. In this issue of the CAFIN bulletin, we briefly discuss the reason for this proposal, the costs and benefits of proposed disclosures, and what implementation of these rules will mean for the investors.
See more at the bulletin page here.
Acknowledgments
CAFIN wishes to acknowledge the generous support of Professor Katharyne Mitchell, Dean of the Division of Social Sciences at UCSC, and the assistance of her staff, including Pamela Dewey, Joni White, and Stella Yi, as well as the assistance of Kristin Palma and Diana Hogue of University Relations.
CAFIN is grateful to The UC Santa Cruz Foundation Board of Trustees and CAFIN Advisory Board Chair Stephen Bruce for their generous support, as well as Joop Rubens, Managing Director of Development, Library and Social Sciences at UCSC, for his enthusiasm and help in advancing CAFIN’s mission.
