Sustainable Finance Conference

On 23 November 2023, academics and practitioners from the fields of economics and law gathered to discuss the legal framework required to finance a more sustainable economy.

The conference “Sustainable Finance” was held at Bucerius Law School and was organized by Dr. Sophie Burchardi and Prof. Dr. Jens Gerlach, together with Prof. Dr. Andreas Kerkemeyer (TU Darmstadt), in cooperation with the Institute for Corporate and Capital Market Law (IUKR) and generously supported by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation.

The event was opened with a welcome address by Prof. Dr. Axel Kämmerer (Bucerius Law School, Director of the IUKR). The first presentation, given by Prof. Dr. Anne-Christin Mittwoch (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg), focused on the EU Taxonomy Regulation as a driver of sustainable finance. This was followed by two economics presentations, in which Prof. Dr. Christiane Pott (TU Dortmund) and Prof. Dr. Reiner Quick (TU Darmstadt) shared empirical findings on selected aspects of sustainability reporting and its auditing. The legal perspective was then revisited: Prof. Dr. Jens Ekkenga (Justus Liebig University Giessen) examined the tension between corporate transparency and the minimum level of confidentiality necessary to maintain fair competition. Prof. Dr. Christoph Kumpan (Bucerius Law School, Director of the IUKR) presented the EU Green Bond Standard and discussed its role within the broader European regulatory framework.

An interdisciplinary international research project was presented by Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Veil (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich), who reported on a workshop exploring the “Institutional Architecture for a 1.5°C World.”

The conference concluded with two practical perspectives: Dr. Nicole Rölike (Linklaters) and Magdalena Senn (Finanzwende 2024) outlined the challenges practitioners face when working within the current regulatory environment. In the end, Prof. Dr. Christoph Kumpan provided a final summary of the conference and bid farewell to the participants.

Lively discussions throughout the event highlighted the value of interdisciplinary exchange, which proved to be highly enriching. The conference organizers and the IUKR would like to thank all participants for their contributions and the Fritz Thyssen Foundation for its generous support.

A detailed conference report can be found in: Kleiner, NZG 2023, 1678.