Sustainable Finance

The Financial System and the Financial Economy in the Context of Sustainable Development

(research project funded by the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt Foundation, 2010–2013)

 

The natural environment has become one of the preferred areas for speculation and trade in the financial economy. While financial intermediaries such as banks and institutional investors were already able to indirectly influence the real economy and, therefore, the environment through their lending and investment behavior, liberalization and financialization have resulted in an increase in their direct influence. For example, infrastructure projects, energy and water supplies, and trade in raw materials are closely linked to the powers of capital markets. This project aims to gain a deeper understanding of this interaction between the natural environment and the world of finance using empirical and normative approaches. Taking into account the multi-scalar architecture of the national and international financial systems, the project team will investigate two different contexts (industry and transformation) in order to determine to what extent investors and (regional) financial infrastructures in different institutional arrangements influence natural processes and how the financial system can be reformed to improve environmental governance.

Project carried out by: Dipl.-Wirtsch.Geogr. Johanna Dichtl

 

Publications:

Doctoral thesis: Finanzwirtschaft, nachhaltige Entwicklung und die Energiewende - zu den verschiedenen Rollen von Finanzintermediären und Investoren bei Transitionsprozessen der Energiewirtschaft in Deutschland und Polen (under review)

Dichtl, J. (2017): Die Rolle(n) der Finanzwirtschaft bei der Umstellung von Energiesystemen. In: Altmeppen, K.-D., Zschaler, F., Zademach, H.-M., Böttigheimer, C. und M. Müller (Hrsg.): Nachhaltigkeit in Umwelt, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft – Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven, Wiesbaden: Springer VS, pp. 101-127

Zademach, H.-M. and J. Dichtl (2016): Greening Finance and Financing the Green: Considerations and observations on the role of finance in energy transitions, in: Jones, A., Ström, P., Hermelin, B. and G. Rusten (eds.): Services and the Green Economy, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 153-174