Global wealth and asset manager Lombard Odier and the University of Oxford announced today the official signing of a multi-year partnership to foster sustainable finance and investment research.

Initially announced in September 2020, the new collaboration creates the first endowed professorship in sustainable finance at any major global research university. Lombard Odier and Oxford will work together on a range of sustainable finance projects, with a particular focus on climate change, circular economy and nature.

Professor Louise Richardson, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, said:

“Oxford’s students and staff are united in our commitment to finding solutions to the grave environmental challenges facing our planet. We are delighted to work with Lombard Odier to ensure the success of our sustainable finance programme.”

Hubert Keller, Co-Senior Partner of the banking group Lombard Odier, added:

“The environmental transition is the finance industry’s most pressing challenge. Lombard Odier’s ability to lead this conversation and provide frameworks and solutions for reallocating private capital into an environment-friendly economy, is supported by this unique partnership with the University of Oxford and its Sustainable Finance Programme. It provides a robust academic basis to our work, which is focused on understanding the nature of the transition, the alignment of companies and investments, and the value impact linked to these challenges.”

Other key elements of the collaboration include Lombard Odier working with Oxford’s scholars to integrate the University’s work into their own proprietary research and investment solutions, the establishment of a program at Oxford for the ongoing training of Lombard Odier investment professionals, and a jointly hosted annual research forum, open to the wider academic and practitioner community.

Dr Ben Caldecott, the Lombard Odier Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow of Sustainable Finance, said:

“Sustainable finance is mission critical for tackling the massive environmental and social challenges facing humanity. This is a huge agenda that is rapidly expanding as we head into COP26. As the Lombard Odier endowment implies, these questions and issues will endure in some form for many generations and at the University of Oxford we look forward to continuing to play a major role in creating, defining, and growing this major new field.”