Events

Columbia University Sustainable Finance Seminars

SIRI leads the monthly (online and in-person) Columbia University Sustainable Finance Seminar. The working group sessions will focus on the identified pathways to consensus (including but not limited to system-level investing, fiduciary duty, and intergenerational equity) to drive forward the rewiring of the source code of capitalism and foster ecosystem-building. By doing so, SIRI provides an important institutional platform that brings together and fosters dialogue among a variety of key players from the public and private sectors, policy, and academia. 

Following each seminar, a report summarizing the key insights and discussion points will be drafted and shared with participants. These reports will also be posted on this webpage accessible to companies, investors, and educators around the world.

Please join us for these monthly discussions and participate in the Columbia University Sustainable Finance Seminars.

Co-Chairs: Caroline Flammer and Bob Massie

How can reporting frameworks best support the low-carbon transition? 

These seminars are an integral part of SIRI’s Pathways to Consensus program, which is generously supported by the Tipping Point Fund on Impact Investing and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Many discussions of sustainable finance focus on improving disclosure and expanding ESG and climate data. Yet experience across the financial system suggests that the central drivers for decarbonization may lie elsewhere: even when companies report extensively and commit to science-based targets, the economics of transition investments often fail to generate the returns required to attract large-scale capital.

This raises an important question: how do the measurement frameworks, reporting systems, and incentive structures embedded in financial markets shape the ability of investors and companies to pursue low-carbon transition strategies?

Specifically, how are we to understand the Carbon Measures proposal, backed by ExxonMobil and several large industrial and financial firms, which is to create a new global carbon accounting framework that measures emissions primarily at the product level rather than across corporate value chains (i.e., Scopes 2 and 3). According to its critics, this approach would reduce pressure on producers - particularly fossil fuel companies - to address downstream emissions, fragment global reporting standards, and potentially weaken existing climate accountability frameworks.

To discuss these and other questions, we are pleased to welcome one of the world’s preeminent experts on the topic:

Richard Tarboton is Director of Corporate Transition at WRI (World Resources Institute), where he leads the development of strategies to enable corporates to transition to net zero. He brings more than two decades of leadership in sustainability across major financial institutions, professional services, and global NGOs.

Most recently, he served as Managing Director and Head of Sustainable Strategy and Policy at Barclays, and has held senior roles at Credit Suisse, UBS, and EY. He served on the board of Carbon Intelligence, advising clients on science-based targets and transition planning. Earlier in his career, Richard led global energy and environmental programs at BT (British Telecom), achieving an 80% reduction in its carbon footprint. Beyond the corporate sphere, Richard has collaborated with NGOs and the UK Government to shape climate strategies across industries including transport, energy, and technology. He holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa), an MBA from Cranfield School of Management, and has completed executive programs at Harvard and Cambridge.

The discussion will examine how measurement architectures, policy frameworks, and financial decision models influence capital allocation, and how advances in AI-enabled analysis may help connect sustainability reporting, fiduciary decision-making, and real-economy outcomes.

We are also pleased to be joined by: 

Toby Heaps is the co-founder and CEO of Corporate Knights, a pioneering media, research, and investment organization dedicated to advancing a more sustainable and inclusive global economy. For more than two decades, he has been at the forefront of efforts to measure, compare, and accelerate corporate performance on climate and sustainability. Under his leadership, Corporate Knights launched the Global 100—widely regarded as one of the most rigorous rankings of the world’s most sustainable corporations—and developed a suite of analytical tools that translate carbon intensity, clean revenue, and resource productivity into decision-useful metrics for investors, policymakers, and business leaders.

His work has helped shift the conversation from aspirational commitments to quantifiable performance, embedding climate considerations more deeply into capital markets. Heaps is broadly recognized as one of the field’s most persistent and credible architects of carbon accountability frameworks—bridging the worlds of journalism, data science, and financial analysis to make sustainability measurable at scale. A regular voice at international forums, including the World Economic Forum, and a contributor to the evolution of disclosure and benchmarking standards, he has consistently pushed for greater transparency, comparability, and ambition in how companies report and manage emissions.

April 1: Presentation and Discussion

The presentation and discussion on April 1 will cover two of the most important emerging topics in the field of carbon emissions:

• how measurement architectures, policy frameworks, and financial decision models influence capital allocation
• how advances in AI-enabled analysis will help connect sustainability reporting, fiduciary decision-making, and real-economy outcomes.