Academia for Green Finance
Inspiring finance through academia
Academic institutions have a role to play in progressing green finance. As per the Green Finance Platform, green finance is the financing of investments that provide environmental benefits. Academia enables students with the tools to address issues that matter to them. In hindsight, what green finance is to the environment, academia is to society. Environment and society ought to co-exist in synchrony, making academia for green finance a relevant match.
I am writing this piece when all around the world, education institutions have been arm-twisted into finding online methods to remain relevant. The angle for academia that I present here contributes towards such innovation.
Story 1: From a recently inaugurated academic institution
Up until a few months ago in 2021, I was engaged in informal communication regarding the establishment of new academic institutions — what goes into setting up a new academic institution, how should curriculum be designed, who should partner, should students be given more knowledge or skills, and other fundamental considerations.
What struck me, thanks to such conversation, is that a new academic institution is most open to new ideas and suggestions. They are most willing to try something unique to make a mark among existing, established academic institutions, at least within their immediate geography. This is where I found the intervention of two green initiatives –
a) Green curriculum — developing a green curriculum is self-explanatory. However, must it follow traditional pedagogical methodology, limited by theory and textbook? The mix of academic and non-academic learning shall benefit the student and faculty to a great extent.
Imagine learning about waste management by visiting the municipal headquarters versus simply knowing waste must be segregated as per allocated bins, or imagine spending a day with a geologist who takes you on a tour of the nearby mountain range. Learning by doing fulfils the need of practical future leaders who are aware of reality.
Developing an in-class and outdoor green curriculum would improve acceptance of a new academic institution in society at the earliest. The investment that I am referring to over here is the investment in students (by management) towards a wholesome learning experience backed by science evidence offline learning. One might also see such investment in children (by parents) towards becoming a conscious youth.
b) Green infrastructure — What comes to your mind when you read ‘green infrastructure? To me, it means many things combined. These include a green campus, architecture, installations, food waste collection, water conservation, green energy, and so on.
A brand-new university maintains sufficient resources to explore new ideas. It is much easier to invest in the above initiatives right from the beginning than to retrofit. Public universities have ample access to public money, for instance, to install a solar panel system. Private universities are usually backed by well-endowed financiers or a fee structure. Universities should not find it difficult to dedicate finance for solar, water recycling, waste to biogas, cooling paint, bicycles, and so on.
The investment here is an actual shifting of money to green initiatives. This shall send a message to the local economy that there is a demand for green. If a shift to a green infrastructure works well in one university setting, it is easy to replicate.
Story 2: From an established academic institution
It would require an established university to implement the following ideas for green –
Green investments — During my Master’s education in 2014, I was introduced to the crafty allocation of university money in green funds. Universities exercise their investments across various financial instruments. In this case, the university had invested in a green pool fund that invested in green projects.
Over the last six years, it has become common to find a ‘green’ fund. Academic institutions should bifurcate between dark green, light green, or green before choosing a fund to invest university money. Such an exercise can very well be conducted through the inclusion of students and the launch of a make-shift ‘center for green investments’. The lessons from green investments can be included in daily education practice.
In this case, the students at the university identified that the pool fund in which the university had parked its money was also shared by oil and other injurious companies. The students forced the university to divest.
Partnerships — In another example, from my conversations with the academic community in May 2021, I realized the importance of academia as a subset that must play a role to build partnerships for sustainable development. I shall provide you with a basic structure.
The conversations that I had were with researchers of a social science approach to sustainability at a university. Researchers at an academic institution provide original research and remain unbiased in the best way possible. This helps to build partnerships with finance groups, governments, and society. Such original research on developments in areas of the Global Goals not only identifies investment opportunities but also builds relations among governments, bringing them close to each other.
The university that I was in conversation with was keen to work with common areas of threat that electric mobility might pose in the developing country context. The research that would identify the threats would not only create investment opportunities but also mobilize the position of an academic institution as a trustworthy partner of society and two governments. Such positioning is not only strategic but also long-term, especially, considering that it would take trillions of dollars to address climate change over the coming decades.
Stakeholders of academia for green finance include local green companies, the electricity supplier, water provider, energy installation sources, waste management initiatives, public authorities, authorities who formalize a curriculum, and the professors and management who influence the thinking of a student. As per Dr. John Seely Brown, an expert in organizational learning, education is a combination of knowledge, skills, and disposition. I think a reality where students and faculty serve as mentors to one another will encourage investments in green finance across academia in a concrete manner.
