"To the extent that it matters for investors, climate risk is already priced in." Great fun debating this motion with Jakob Thomä of Theia Finance Labs on Bloomberg's ESG Currents podcast. Listen to the debate and read my remarks here: substack.com/@bencaldecot...

Britain needs a climate reset, not a climate culture war. Repealing the Climate Change Act would be a mistake. So would treating the 2008 framework as immutable. Keep the destination. Modernise the machinery. bencaldecott.substack.com/p/britain-ne...

Britain needs a climate reset, not a climate culture war

The UK should keep net zero as the destination but overhaul the architecture that gets us there

bencaldecott.substack.com

UK intelligence agencies say nature destruction is a national security threat. We need to rapidly scale environmental deterrence: raising detection probability and violation costs of nature destruction until the expected penalty exceeds the gain. bencaldecott.substack.com/p/towards-en...

Towards Environmental Deterrence

If nature is a national security threat, we need to act like it

bencaldecott.substack.com

Registration is now open for the @ox.ac.uk Sustainable Finance Summit 2026. 29th June, Rhodes House, Oxford. Geopolitics, the agentic economy, silicon boundaries, transition finance, nature, heat risk, and more. Register: sustainablefinance.ox.ac.uk/summit-2025/... @smithschool.ox.ac.uk

The new #SiliconBoundaries report is accompanied by a podcast where we talk through the core arguments: why societies have thresholds for absorbing AI, how those differ from planetary boundaries, and what happens if we act to stay within them. Listen: open.spotify.com/show/0Z2kU9t...

New report: #SiliconBoundaries. Societies have preconditions for stability. AI and compute can erode them. Unlike planetary boundaries, these thresholds move, which is both the opportunity and the risk. See: bencaldecott.substack.com/p/silicon-bo...

Coming soon: This Thursday, the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group in partnership with Theia Finance Labs, will release the first report from our new joint programme: Silicon Boundaries. Find out more here: substack.com/@bencaldecot...

At The Villars Institute Summit I argued we have a nature proposition problem. We've built extraordinary frameworks but not enough investable, place-based propositions at a scale institutional capital can back. Time to shift from complexity to delivery. Remarks here: substack.com/@bencaldecot...

Ben Caldecott (@bencaldecott)

The Nature Proposition Gap At the fourth Villars Summit this week I was asked to pitch a big idea on climate and nature finance. Here is what I said. My argument: our field has built an extraordinar...

substack.com

New article: The agentic economy will need finance: credit, settlement, risk management, prudential rules. The policy debate is almost entirely focused on compute and talent. Nobody is asking who finances the agents. The UK has a window to build this. It is closing. open.substack.com/pub/bencalde...

Delighted to host Emmanuel Faber, Chair of the @ifrsfoundation.ifrs.org ISSB, @ox.ac.uk for a public lecture on “Future Proofing Capital Markets with Sustainability Disclosures”, as part of him winning the Oxford Prize for Greening Finance. See: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKqC...

Oxford Sustainable Finance Group & Theia Finance Labs are working together on an exciting new initiative. 'Silicon Boundaries' are thresholds where the benefits of AI and related technologies are outweighed by their contributions to societal instability: mailchi.mp/cgfi/invitat...

It was wonderful to host Ruth Davis, the UK’s first nature envoy, at the University of Oxford on Friday where she gave a wonderfully thoughtful and expansive speech on nature that was simultaneously challenging and inspiring, as well as deeply personal. A treat! Recording and transcript to follow.

The world needs a strong Japan, and Japan’s Green Transformation programme (“GX”) can be a cornerstone of that strength: www.nikkei.com/article/DGKK...

日本のGXを世界のモデルに　英オックスフォード大学サステナブルファイナンス・グループディレクター　ベン・カルデコット - 日本経済新聞

日本の「グリーントランスフォーメーション（GX）」は、国際的にも最も野心的な脱炭素の取り組みの一つに見える。政府は2023年からの10年間に総額150兆円超を動員する計画を掲げる。そのうち20兆円はGX経済移行債によって調達し、これを呼び水に約130兆円の民間投資を誘発する方針だ。制度設計と財源確保は一体的に構築されている。今後導入される炭素に関する課徴金や排出量取引制度（ETS）の有償オーク

nikkei.com

Geological storage needs to be stewarded wisely, more wisely than this research implies. A fraction of that estimated will be accessible at a price society is willing to pay. Carbon removal budgeting is needed to optimise the use of this scarce resource. on.ft.com/4nigq4Z

Carbon capture set to be less useful in tackling climate change, scientists warn

CO₂ stored underground will be at risk of leaking back into the atmosphere, study finds

on.ft.com

Delighted to be hosting Ruth Davis, the first UK Special Representative for Nature, for a lecture @UniofOxford on 3 Oct 2025. Opportunity to hear directly from Ruth on the UK's priorities for nature ahead of COP30 and following UNGA week. Register here: www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/event/lectur...

Yet more inflation statistics show that the UK is more vulnerable to the drivers of inflation than peer economies. This report, from a project I chaired, had some excellent supply side proposals to fix the problem: ukonward.com/reports/targ...

Target Practice | Onward

Supply side solutions to deliver stable prices and overcome economic stagnation

ukonward.com

Delighted to be confirmed as an @ipcc.bsky.social Coordinating Lead Author for the Finance Chapter of AR7 WGIII. Looking forward to working as part of the IPCC and with members of the wider climate finance community who will contribute over the next few years www.ipcc.ch/assessment-r... @ox.ac.uk

A recalibration of sustainable finance is underway. We hosted our third Oxford Sustainable Finance Summit on the theme of reinvention and renewal. If you missed #OSFS25, you can check out some highlights here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_AY...

Oxford Sustainable Finance Summit 2025 highlights

YouTube video by OxfordSmithSchool

youtube.com

We mapped all 117,116 of England’s farms – here’s why that matters for transition finance and net zero www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/news/we-mapp...

We mapped all 117,116 of England’s farms – here’s why that matters for transition finance and net zero

Dr Hassan Aftab Sheikh explains the potential impact of his new research, which mapped farms across England. "We see this foundational work as a first step in providing open-source information for fin...

smithschool.ox.ac.uk

Extreme weather drives food price surges across the globe on.ft.com/4lDrSYl

Extreme weather drives food price surges across the globe

Unusual climatic events are directly linked to short-term spikes in cost of basic foodstuffs, study shows

on.ft.com

Excited to welcome participants to our 3rd Oxford Sustainable Finance Summit this week. Theme is Reinvention & Renewal. Progress is not linear or assured. Our task is to confront realities head-on and identify practical pathways that make progress. sustainablefinance.ox.ac.uk/summit/

Extreme weather is the UK's new normal, says Met Office www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Met Office: Extreme weather the UK's new normal

The UK has a notably different climate compared with just a few decades ago, the Met Office says.

bbc.co.uk

Global Banks Increase Fossil-Fuel Funding - WSJ www.wsj.com/articles/glo...

Global Banks Increase Fossil-Fuel Funding as Climate Pledges Crumble

New report shows that banks poured nearly $900 billion into financing coal, oil and gas projects in 2024.

wsj.com

European and UK pension funds drive transatlantic split on sustainable investing on.ft.com/4k5C4bu

European and UK pension funds drive transatlantic split on sustainable investing

Number of mandates under review over asset managers’ record is growing, consultants say

on.ft.com

BoE tells banks and insurers to fix climate risk ‘gaps’ on.ft.com/3EQn9Cv

BoE watchdog tells banks and insurers to fix climate risk ‘gaps’

Most lenders did not consider the issue a material danger except for the ‘reputational risk’, PRA said

on.ft.com

Climate impacts will worsen - it is a question of whether they are terrible, really bad or just bad. It is a no brainer to scale up investment in adaptation. This will save money and spur economic activity. Climate resilience is a competitive advantage. www.theccc.org.uk/2025/04/30/t...

​​​​The country is not prepared for climate impacts, say advisors​ - Climate Change Committee

There is now unequivocal evidence that climate change is making extreme weather in the UK more likely and…

theccc.org.uk

New satellite will see through clouds to 'weigh' Earth's forests www.bbc.com/news/article...

New satellite will see through clouds to 'weigh' Earth's forests

The new satellite will be able to see through clouds and forest canopies.

bbc.com

"State Street loses £28bn of assets to Amundi and Invesco over ESG goals. US asset manager previously managed all of The People’s Pension’s £33bn in assets" www.ft.com/content/541c...

The next Oxford Sustainable Finance Summit is taking place on Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th July 2025. Registration is now open! Find out more here: sustainablefinance.ox.ac.uk/summit/

“…while China added a record 356GW of wind and solar electricity-generating capacity in 2024, it also began building coal power plants with 94.5GW of capacity…” on.ft.com/4jUZyQQ