Seminar: Political Economy of Climate Finance: Disasters, Lobbying, and Market Responses - Elisa D'Amico (University College Dublin), Andreas Hoepner (University College Dublin), Diego P. Guisande (University of Sussex)
14:00-15:00 (GMT) Wednesday, January 28.
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14:00-15:00 (GMT) Wednesday, April 1.
Abstract: How do natural disasters, corporate lobbying, and climate policy interact to shape market outcomes and ultimately societal outcomes? This paper examines the relationships between disaster shocks, corporate lobbying behavior, and stock market responses. Using a series of difference-in-differences designs, we investigate how disasters directly impact lobby volume and market prices, how lobbying activity responds to or influences these price movements, and how policy interventions alter these dynamics. We analyze exposure to US markets to understand who benefits from these interactions. Our findings provide insight into the political economy of climate finance and whether corporate responses to environmental shocks serve shareholder interests, broader societal goals, or both.
About the speakers: Elisa D'Amico is Assistant Professor (Ad Astra Fellow) in Environmental Politics in the School of Politics and International Relations at University College Dublin. Her research examines the intersection of climate change, conflict, migration, and political economy, with particular emphasis on how environmental shocks shape conflict dynamics, peace processes, and migration patterns. Her work employs computational social science methods and has appeared in the Review of International Political Economy, Journal of Peace Research, and Climate Policy."
Andreas Hoepner is Full Professor of Operational Risk, Banking and Finance at University College Dublin's Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and the Lochlann Quinn School of Business, where he also serves as Vice Principal for Research, Innovation and Impact. His research focuses on climate finance, financial data science, greenwashing, and responsible investment. He serves as Head of the Data Subgroup on the European Union's Platform on Sustainable Finance and co-invented EU Climate Transition and EU Paris-Aligned Investing benchmarks. He has published widely in climate finance and sustainable investment, with over 6,200 citations, and is co-founder of greenwatch.ai.
Diego P. Guisande is an assistant professor in accounting and finance at the University of Sussex. His research covers topics in investor activism and its strategies, having published a research paper on divestment in the banking sector. He is working on several projects on shareholder engagement, examining how it is instrumented and its financial effects. More broadly, he is interested in the beliefs and actions of investors and stakeholders and their consequences on financial markets and physical outcomes.