Hughes Hall Centre for Climate Engagement

Description

The Hughes Hall Centre for Climate Engagement was established to increase awareness of climate change mitigation and adaptation on the boards of private companies and the need for urgent action.

The effects of climate change are already reaching key thresholds that will adversely impact upon sustainable development. The need for education and action for climate mitigation, adaptation and finance has never been more urgent; individual citizens, corporations, non-governmental organisations and governments all have a role to play.

The Centre’s mission is to encourage academic excellence in climate law, governance and organisational change, and to translate and transfer this knowledge to corporate boards to accelerate the race to net zero emissions and climate resilience.

This situation is especially acute within the boardrooms of listed companies where, with few exceptions, board members are not yet engaged sufficiently with the climate agenda. Many boards have not given it the priority that it deserves, and some have not discussed it at all. Although the UK’s share of worldwide emissions is small and reducing, UK business has a global reach through its supply chains and provision of capital and can have a significant impact in tackling climate change.

A general focus of the Centre is on how levers are best used to get the boards of corporate organisations to accelerate action. The emphasis is on the role of law and regulation, of reporting requirements for corporations, and of how the financial sector including banks and investors can exert influence on corporations. There is a general need for a better understanding of the proper balance between the use of “sticks” and “carrots” as levers; and of techniques of persuasion using insights of marketing and psychology.

The research element of the Centre encourages scholarship in law, regulation and governance but also in fields such as psychology, marketing, economics, finance and management. Legal studies could include aspects of company law, such as the fiduciary duties of directors and investors; finance and investment law; consumer protection law; competition law; the role of insurers; regulations that govern the financial reports of companies; and other incentive structures for corporate boards. The Centre also enables PhD and post-doctoral researchers interested in climate change to advance their academic objectives by engaging with the Centre.

The Centre seeks to act as an independent and trusted intermediary between Cambridge academia, the corporate and financial communities and government, drawing on a wide range of disciplines alongside climate science and law. The Centre works across the University but in particular with the University’s Cambridge Zero.

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Founding year

2018

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University of Cambridge
Cambridge