The UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment (CGFI) was a programme established in 2021 by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) via the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Innovate UK. The need to establish CGFI was identified in the UK Green Finance Strategy 2019 in order to support the acceleraed use of climate and environmental data and analytics by financial institutions and to connect science with finance. Funding was made available by UKRI to run CGFI for 3 years, under the Climate and Environmental Risk Analytics for Resilient Finance (CERAF) funding call, with this extended by 1.5 years in 2024 and ending in September 2025. The consortium selected to create CGFI was announced on 15 February 2021. The CGFI consortium was led by the University of Oxford in partnership with the University of Bristol, Imperial College London, University of Leeds, University of Reading, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Alan Turing Institute and the Satellite Applications Catapult.
While CGFI’s four-year programme funded by UKRI draws to a close, CGFI’s work continues through programmes it has established or helped to establish, including the Spatial Finance Initiative, the International Transition Plan Network, and the Resilient Planet Data Hub. It will also continue through the ongoing work being taken forward at each of the host institutions. Additionally the Data & Analytics Facility for National Infrastructure (DAFNI), based at the Science and Technology Facilities Council, will continue to support the longer term storage of CGFI assets.
Such a legacy has been made possible by the dedicated work of our team across the CGFI consortium; the contributions of our fellows and partners in industry; and the backing of NERC, Innovate UK and other industry and philanthropic partners.
OUR RESEARCH FOCUS
CGFI’s research has ranged from climate-related physical and transition risks to spatial finance, with an emphasis on engaging with practitioners on urgent and emerging challenges. Our work on physical climate risks has resulted in new tools and approaches to address the financial risks that can arise from compound wind and floods; new models and datasets on tropical cyclone risks; and enduring collaborations on data challenges with insurers, via the CGFI Leeds Innovation Hub.
BUILDING RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE
CGFI’s work on climate risks to infrastructure was instrumental in the creation of the Resilient Planet Data Hub, launched at COP28. The platform provides access to global, open risk data for financial use cases, and has supplemented CGFI’s capacity building work with central bankers and governments globally.
ADVANCING CLIMATE TRANSITION RESEARCH
Our climate transition research has yielded a wide range of working papers addressing transition pathways across various sectors; best practice for scenario analysis and stress testing; and a significant contribution via CGFI’s role co-leading the Secretariat of the Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT). The TPT’s disclosure specific guidance has subsequently been adopted by the IFRS Foundation, informing best practice for transition planning globally.
SPATIAL FINANCE INITIATIVE
CGFI’s Spatial Finance Initiative has originated and mainstreamed the practice of spatial finance, producing open asset-level datasets for high-impact industries, covering cement, steel, petrochemicals, pulp & paper, waste management and agriculture sectors. These are now leveraged by financial practitioners, corporates, data providers, consultants and researchers to understand asset-level climate and nature-related risks and impacts and to develop bespoke analytical tools and products.
FOSTERING DATA AND ANALYTICS ECOSYSTEMS
In parallel, CGFI has helped to nurture an ecosystem of climate and environmental data and analytics providers and played a pivotal role in fostering cross-sector collaboration.
For example, CGFI’s London and Leeds Innovation Hubs have supported green fintech start-ups in Undaunted’s Greenhouse programme and student entrepreneurs with a dedicated Climate Analytics Prize. CGFI has advanced industry-academia collaboration through secondments and catalysed new analytical solutions, for example, through a joint ‘hackathon’ on tropical cyclones with the reinsurance industry.
CONNECTING RESEARCH WITH PRACTICE
Our numerous events, including CGFI’s flagship Annual Forum, have shared insights and convened expert networks with over 1,000 attendees across research and industry. Our collaborations with the UK Climate Financial Risk Forum and Bank of England have resulted in insights and recommendations for future central bank climate stress testing and provided a platform for connecting research with practice.
DRIVING POLICY AND INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT
In partnership with the Bank of England, CGFI convened over 100 colleagues from financial regulation, academia and industry to help inform the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) consultation on revised supervisory expectations for climate risk. And our successful Associate Fellows programme has established collaborations between industry experts and researchers, with outputs including a Climate Scenario Taxonomy for the financial sector.
