2025 Climate and Finance Conference – Climate, Finance, and the Energy Transition: Risks, Innovation, and Global Impact

Call for Papers & Abstracts

Conference Theme: Climate, Finance, and the Energy Transition: Risks, Innovation, and Global Impact

We invite submissions for the forthcoming Climate and Finance Conference 2025, in association with the Met Office‘s Energy-Climate Strategic Forum, we seek to bring together researchers, policy experts, financial professionals, and industry practitioners to explore the critical intersection of climate change, finance, and the global energy transition.

The conference aims to foster dialogue across disciplines, promote cutting-edge research, and surface actionable insights for navigating the fast-evolving energy landscape in a warming world. Presenters should be mindful that many in the audience may be non-specialists, and are requested to describe the relevance of their work in an accessible way to as wide an audience as possible, particularly focussing on the energy-finance-weather/climate cross-over. Submissions structured as “explainers” of new areas of academic research or new industry practice and policy developments are welcome.

Keynote Speech

“Towards improved climate information for risk assessment in finance and energy” by Professor Jason A Lowe OBE, Chair in Interdisciplinary Climate Research, Priestley Centre, University of Leeds, and Principal Fellow/Head of Climate Services for Government at the Met Office.

 Conference Details:

• Date: 5th November 2025
• Venue: ICMA Centre – Henley Business School, University of Reading
• Format: One-day conference featuring a keynote speech, panel discussions and research/industry paper presentations.
• Attendance: Both in-person and online participation are available. However, we require conference speakers to attend in person.

Key Themes & Topics of Interest

We welcome empirical, theoretical, and policy-relevant contributions, including papers, work-in-progress, abstracts and case studies, on (but not limited to) the following topics:

Financing the Future of Energy

• Government green bonds and sovereign climate instruments
• Optimal public-private investment mix for energy decarbonisation
• Tailored financing models for net-zero transitions across geographies
• The role of subsidies and incentives in shaping the renewables market

Climate Risk, Insurance & Market Resilience

• Insurance solutions for power plants and transmission networks
• Climate-linked catastrophe models for energy asset valuation
• Weather derivatives and extreme weather risk pricing
• Resilient infrastructure finance under extreme climate scenarios
• Estimating damage functions: Methodological challenges.

 Carbon pricing, Regulation & Energy Markets in a Changing Climate

• Carbon tax and emissions trading systems: financial and market effects
• Volatility in energy and carbon markets in a changing climate: hedging and investment under uncertainty
• Policy instruments: regulation vs. market-based mechanisms
• The impact of tariffs and cross-border carbon pricing on competitiveness

Innovation, Technology & Data for Energy Finance

• AI and advanced analytics in energy system optimization
• Energy storage financing and technology scaling
• Satellite data for energy risk pricing and trading precision
• The market for rare earths, cleantech investment, and innovation finance

Geopolitics, Equity & Global Energy Transition

• Geopolitical dimensions of energy transition: winners, losers, and conflict risks
• Energy price and carbon differentials as global competitive factors
• Climate finance justice and access to clean energy in emerging markets
• Government strategies, barriers, and accelerators of the transition
• Innovation ecosystems and policy frameworks enabling energy breakthroughs

Submission Guidelines

• Submission Deadline: 30^th September 2025
• Please send your papers or abstracts to s.varotto@icmacentre.ac.uk with the subject line “Climate and Finance Conference Submission.”
• Authors of accepted papers will be notified by 10^th October 2025.

Award

Met Office Early Career Better Together Award: This non-monetary award recognises the early career practitioner or academic presenting the paper with the best actionable insights to real-world challenges in climate, finance and the energy transition.

Scientific Committee

• David Brayshaw, Meteorology Department, University of Reading
• Theresa Lober, Bank of England and Met Office
• Jason Lowe, Met Office and University of Leeds
• Luca Taschini, University of Edinburgh Business School
• Simone Varotto, ICMA Centre – Henley Business School, University of Reading
• Emily Wallace, Met Office and Fellow in Weather and Climate Extremes, University of Strathclyde

Registration

The conference is free of charge, but registration is required. Please register online at

https://forms.office.com/e/sqA1PN7SAB by 22nd October 2025.

Contact

For questions, please contact: s.varotto@icmacentre.ac.uk