18.4 million in funding for research on climate and economics

Two economic research projects at the School of Business, Economics and Law have been awarded funding from the research council Formas, to investigate connections between climate and economics.

In the project Carbon footprints, climate risks, and financial professionals, which is awarded SEK 8.5 million, the researchers will study how financial professionals act and react to climate change and climate risks. A greater understanding is needed for the motives that drive professional investors to invest in green investments – if investors’ expectations systematically underestimate climate risks, too much capital may still be invested in e.g. fossil-related assets. The project will also investigate the carbon footprint of different types of green investments. The research group consists of Martin Holmen, Marion Dupoux, Adam Farago, Michael Kirchler (Innsbruck and the University of Gothenburg), Åsa Löfgren, Samson Mukanjari and Thomas Sterner.

The project Bridging the policy gap to materialize deep decarbonization, which is granted SEK 9.9 million, will work with economic modeling, policy evaluation and simulations to identify the policy changes needed to materialize deep decarbonization. A special emphasis is placed on the “harder-to-abate” sectors, such as the cement, steel and chemical industries, heavy-duty road transport, shipping and aviation. The research group consists of Åsa Löfgren, Jessica CoriaJohan Rootzén and Inge van den Bijgaart from the University of Gothenburg, as well as Lassi Ahlvik, University of Helsinki, Jurate Jaraite, Umeå University, and Filip Johnsson, Chalmers.

BY: LARS MAGNUSSON

Originally published on: economics.handels.gu.se