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£10M investment in Centre for Greening Finance research hubs that will provide the data to help turn investors green

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The government is to invest £10 million in a new UK Centre for Greening Finance, with physical hubs in Leeds and London.

These research hubs will provide data and analytics to financial institutions and services such as banks, lenders, investors and insurers around the world to better support their investment and business decisions by considering the impact on the environment and climate change.

The consortium, led by the University of Oxford, will include University of Leeds, University of Bristol, University of Reading, Imperial College London, The Alan Turing Institute, Satellite Applications Catapult, and the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

The aim is to position Leeds and London as global centres for green finance, encouraging financial services to focus on sectors and companies that have a smaller environmental footprint.

John Glen, economic Secretary to the Treasury and city minister, said: “We’ve set the ambition for net zero – now we must ensure our financial sector has the tools and information to get behind the transition. We’re already improving the climate data available by mandating TCFD-aligned disclosures across the economy and implementing a green taxonomy.

“This new centre will advance the UK’s leadership in green finance and bring forward the day when firms can access environmental data and analytics for every place on Earth, past, present and future.”

Professor Sir Duncan Wingham, executive chair of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), part of UKRI  said: “Good data and analytics – based on the best science – is fundamental to understanding and managing climate and environmental risk exposure in support of the transition to a more sustainable global finance system.

“This investment by NERC and Innovate UK will enable improved access to, and understanding of, physical and transition climate and environmental risks as they impact both sides of the balance sheet. It will help the finance sector to support delivery of a low carbon economy and the recovery and restoration of our natural environments.”