Forest fires, floods, hurricanes – extreme climate events are taking their toll around the world. To avert a growing climate crisis, we know that the vast majority of fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground.

If “money is the oxygen on which the climate crisis burns”, how do we stop funding fossil fuels?

We are delighted to welcome Ben Caldecott, Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme and leading expert in Sustainable Finance, together with student campaigner Anna Olerinyova, for a webinar on fossil fuel divestment. Ben and Anna will discuss the fossil fuel industry’s central role in the climate crisis, what can be done to stop funding it, and how we can all play our part.

The event is open to all. Further details and joining instructions (through Zoom) will be emailed to participants nearer the time.

Ben is the founding Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme. He is an Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Senior Advisor to the Chair and CEO of the UK Green Finance Institute (GFI) and the COP26 Strategy Advisor for Finance based out of the Cabinet Office. Ben founded and co-chairs the Global Research Alliance for Sustainable Finance and Investment (GRASFI), an alliance of global research universities promoting rigorous and impactful academic research on sustainable finance. He also chairs the International Green Finance Coordination Group on behalf of the UK Green Finance Institute and the UK Government. This brings together twenty central government departments, public bodies, regulators, and organisations close to the public sector all working on green finance and has been established to enhance coordination on UK priorities for green finance internationally.

Anna, a Dphil Student at Oxford University in Biophysics and molecular biology, is an active member and organiser of the student-led Oxford Climate Justice Campaign, which successfully campaigned for Oxford University to divest from fossil fuels and follow a net-zero investment strategy. She was also one of the leaders of the high - profile St John's College occupation protests earlier this year, demanding fossil fuel divestment and ethical investment from the college. She is a keen activist with Extinction Rebellion, both locally and nationally as a member of XR Scientists group, working on a number of educational and outreach projects.