New Frontiers in Climate Finance

Heavy industry is responsible for some of the most stubborn greenhouse-gas emissions on the planet. Cement alone drives an estimated 7-8 % of global CO₂ output, while bulk chemicals such as ethylene sit at the heart of the world’s largest industrial energy user – the chemicals sector. As governments tighten climate policy and investors demand credible net-zero plans, decarbonising these “hard-to-abate” sectors has become an urgent financial and technological challenge.   In this episode of New Frontiers in Climate Finance, host Harry MacKenzie speaks with two experts who bridge engineering and finance: Dr Gbemi Oluleye, chemical-engineering researcher developing whole-system tools for deep decarbonisation, and Dr Raúl Rosales, Senior Fellow at Imperial’s Centre for Climate Finance & Investment and Co-Director of King’s Net Zero Centre. Together they unpack how market-based mechanisms (carbon markets, offtake contracts, blended-finance structures) can unlock the capital required to scale breakthrough technologies for low-carbon cement and ethylene.   Listeners will learn why traditional project-finance models often stall in heavy industry, which policy signals really move private capital, and how integrated engineering-policy-finance thinking can close the cost gap versus fossil incumbents.    Please find below some of the brilliant talks and research by our two guests.    Raúl: Raul Rosales Profile | Imperial College London [https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/r.rosales] Enhancing-Market-Infrastructure-and-Integrity-to-Scale-Up-Carbon-Markets-in-ASEAN-Policy-Brief.pdf [https://www.singaporegreenfinance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Enhancing-Market-Infrastructure-and-Integrity-to-Scale-Up-Carbon-Markets-in-ASEAN-Policy-Brief.pdf] The Carbon Credit Price and National Tree Planting Impact of Woodland Carbon Code Admittance to the UK-ETS | Imperial Business School [https://www.imperial.ac.uk/business-school/faculty-research/research-centres/centre-climate-finance-investment/research/the-carbon-credit-price/] Global Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCMs) and Market Infrastructure [https://www.imperial.ac.uk/business-school/faculty-research/research-centres/centre-climate-finance-investment/research/global-vcms-and-infrastructure/] Financial Accounting for Carbon Finance: A New Standard for a New Paradigm [https://www.imperial.ac.uk/business-school/faculty-research/research-centres/centre-climate-finance-investment/research/financial-accounting-carbon-finance-new-standard-new-paradigm/] Gbemi:  ht [https://gbemioluleye.com/research/]tps://gbemioluleye.com/research/ [https://gbemioluleye.com/research/] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319925015721 [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319925015721] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pdLdvWUm0c&pp=ygUNZ2JlbWkgb2x1bGV5ZQ%3D%3D [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pdLdvWUm0c&pp=ygUNZ2JlbWkgb2x1bGV5ZQ%3D%3D] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-wUwx9SO_k&pp=ygUNZ2JlbWkgb2x1bGV5ZQ%3D%3D [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-wUwx9SO_k&pp=ygUNZ2JlbWkgb2x1bGV5ZQ%3D%3D] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggx8xMTOvCI&pp=ygUNZ2JlbWkgb2x1bGV5ZQ%3D%3D [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggx8xMTOvCI&pp=ygUNZ2JlbWkgb2x1bGV5ZQ%3D%3D] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMmSLZRLugE&pp=ygUNZ2JlbWkgb2x1bGV5ZQ%3D%3D [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMmSLZRLugE&pp=ygUNZ2JlbWkgb2x1bGV5ZQ%3D%3D] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekknyM7P9S8&pp=ygUNZ2JlbWkgb2x1bGV5ZQ%3D%3D [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekknyM7P9S8&pp=ygUNZ2JlbWkgb2x1bGV5ZQ%3D%3D]   Sign up to Imperial's London Climate Action Week events below:  Imperial London Climate Action Week: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/96888/london-climate-action-week/ [https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/96888/london-climate-action-week/]

This podcast episode features Alissa Kleinnijenhuis and host Harry MacKenzie discussing the New Common Quantified Goals (NCQGs) from COP 29 and its implications for global climate finance. The conversation underscores the systemic omission of fossil fuels from climate action discourse and highlights the inadequacies of the current financial commitments to decarbonization. Alissa elaborates on the need for developed countries to provide substantial and properly defined climate finance in grant-equivalent terms to aid developing countries in transitioning to renewable energy. The episode also explores the geopolitical and economic dynamics that hinder sufficient climate action and the urgent necessity for a coordinated, large-scale financial response to meet global mitigation targets. Alissa concludes by pointing out the economic self-interest for developed nations to fund decarbonization in developing countries, emphasizing the critical nature of timely and targeted climate finance. To learn more about Alissa’s research, please follow the links below:  Joint Statement: link [https://e-axes.org/research/joint-statement-on-the-new-common-quantified-goal-ncqg-of-climate-finance-and-its-delivery-on-the-1-5c-paris-agreement-goal-addressed-to-all-states-party-to-the-convention-mr-simon-stiell/]  Paper #1: link [https://e-axes.org/research/cop29-the-economic-case-for-a-new-common-quantified-goal-of-climate-finance-ncqg-at-scale/]  Paper #2: link [https://www.bruegel.org/policy-brief/economic-case-climate-finance-scale]  00:00 Introduction to the Climate Crisis  00:28 Understanding NCQGs and Their Importance  00:58 Challenges in Climate Finance  02:26 COP 29 and Climate Finance Goals  04:01 Issues with Current Climate Finance  05:09 Economic Case for Climate Finance  06:25 Political and Economic Barriers  08:32 Proposed Solutions and Recommendations  28:29 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

This podcast episode features Angel Miao, Raffaele De La Croce (Advanced Research Fellow at the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment and Co-Director of the Singapore Green Finance Centre), and Emma Howard Boyd (Chair of the London Climate Resilience Review), in a conversation about the role of finance and investment in urban adaptation and resilience. The discussion highlights the vulnerabilities of cities like London to climate impacts, explores innovative investment models, and examines the importance of integrating social dimensions into climate adaptation strategies. The episode concludes with a focus on future research, policy engagements, and international collaboration to promote resilient urban planning. To learn more about Raffaele’s research, please click here [https://www.imperial.ac.uk/business-school/faculty-research/research-centres/centre-climate-finance-investment/research/financing-adaptation-and-resilience-london-and-the-uk-moving-aspiration-reality/]. To learn more about Emma’s work with the London Climate Resilience Review, please click here [https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/environment-and-climate-change/climate-change/climate-adaptation/london-climate-resilience-review].  00:00 Introduction to New Frontiers in Climate Finance  00:23 Urban Adaptation and Resilience: The Policy Challenge  01:22 Expert Insights: Raffaele De La Croce and Emma Howard Boyd  02:05 Key Findings and Policy Recommendations  08:07 People-Centered Approach to Adaptation  20:05 Nature-Based Solutions and Community Engagement  25:43 Role of the Financial Sector in Climate Resilience  29:22 Future Steps and Concluding Thoughts

This podcast episode features Angel Miao, Raffaele della Croce (Advanced Research Fellow at the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment and Co-Director of Singapore Green Finance Centre), and Stella Whittaker (PhD Candidate at Copenhagen Business School and Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Lead at Royal HaskoningDHV) in a conversation about the current status of adaptation and resilience financing in London, Singapore, and Copenhagen, and the types of adaptation projects and innovative that can serve as inspiration for future policymakers. To learn more about Raffaele and Stella’s research, please click here [https://www.imperial.ac.uk/business-school/faculty-research/research-centres/centre-climate-finance-investment/research/financing-adaptation-and-resilience-london-and-the-uk-moving-aspiration-reality/].

This episode features Angel Miao, Michael Wilkins (Executive Director & Professor of Practice at the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment), and Leila Pourarkin (Partner at Kaya Partners) in a conversation about the key topics of discussion at COP29 in Baku, the challenges of scaling climate finance, and what the comeback of Donald Trump means for global climate action. To learn more about Imperial College London’s insights on COP29, please click here [https://www.imperial.ac.uk/grantham/publications/background-briefings/spotlight-on-cop29-scaling-up-private-climate-finance-in-developing-countries-/#d.en.1553946].