I research:
i) whether the environment is significant for financial markets.
ii) how the environment is measured.
I have a First Class joint degree in Economics and Geography (Glasgow) where I won the economics dissertation prize. I spent a year abroad in Helsinki. I have a Masters and PhD from the Department of Geography and Environment at the London School of Economics (LSE). I have been a Postdoc in Finance in the Department of Finance at the University of Zurich since 2023.
I have worked for Carbon Cap Management, an environmental hedge fund, and the Transition Pathway Initiative, a net-zero research initiative, both in London.
A long-run interest is asset pricing, disclosure, and the environment.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
The Carbon Risk Premium, Journal of Alternative Investments, 2020, with Michael Azlen, Alex Child
Carbon allowances are a new asset class that have attractive properties for investors.
Working Papers
The risk premium for exposure to physical climate risk appears to be negative.
Robeco Sustainable Investing Best Paper Award, Global Research Alliance for Sustainable Finance & Investment Runner-up PhD Best Paper Award
Previously circulated as "Pricing Physical Climate Risk in the Cross-Section of Returns"
Predicting exposure is hard. Learning from history is informative.
Impacts of Climate Litigation on Firm Value, Under Review, 2024, with Misato Sato, Frank Venmans, Joana Setzer, Catherine Higham
Investors react to climate litigation against firms. Novel legal arguments have particularly strong reactions.
Global Research Alliance for Sustainable Finance & Investment Best Paper Award
Teaching
I am an Associate Fellow of the (UK) Higher Education Academy (AFHEA). I have taught undergraduates and postgraduates; core, optional, and summer school courses:
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Sustainable Business & Finance, Quantitative Methods, Sustainable Development, Environmental Economics [LSE]
Thesis Supervisor
Finance [University of Zurich and MSCI Sustainability Institute collaboration]
Other Work
ChatReport: Democratizing Sustainability Disclosure Analysis through LLM-based tools, Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing, 2023, p.21-51, with Leippold et al.
It is possible to assess climate-related disclosure (TCFD) automatically from reports.
Exploring Nature: Datasets and Models for Analyzing Nature-Related Disclosure, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, 2024, with Schimanski et al.
A fine-tuned model for water, forestry, and biodiversity detects nature communication and outperforms keyword approaches.
Last updated: June 2024