Sustainability at Crossroads: The Edinburgh and International Review of Finance Conference

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles have become central to financial decision-making, yet they remain at a critical crossroads. Investors, regulators, and policymakers grapple with defining sustainable strategies, measuring ESG impact, and navigating regulatory landscapes. This conference aims to explore the latest academic and industry insights on ESG, focusing on its challenges, innovations, and future directions.

Given the anticipated interest and our commitment to fostering an intimate and interactive environment, capacity may be limited. Early expression of interest for attendance is encouraged.

Submissions

We invite high-quality research papers from scholars, practitioners, and policymakers addressing key issues surrounding sustainability in finance, including but not limited to:

• The evolving regulatory landscape of ESG
• Climate risk assessment and measurement
• ESG integration in investment decision-making
• The role of technology and AI in ESG analysis
• Greenwashing and transparency challenges
• ESG and corporate financial performance
• The impact of ESG on emerging markets
• Sustainable finance innovations and best practices

Submission Guidelines

Authors are invited to submit extended abstracts (500-1,000 words) or full papers. All submissions will undergo a peer-review process.

Submissions should be in PDF format, following standard academic formatting. Please send your submissions via email to yupu.zhang@ed.ac.uk with the subject line: Edinburgh Sustainable Finance Conference Submission - [Author Name].

Keynote Speaker

We are honoured to announce our Keynote Speaker:

Professor Elroy Dimson
Professor of Finance, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
Chairman, Centre for Endowment Asset Management

Biography
Elroy Dimson is Professor of Finance and Director of Research at Cambridge Judge Business School, and Bye Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He is Co-founder and Chairman of the Centre for Endowment Asset Management at Cambridge. Formerly, he was Chairman of the Strategy Council for Norway’s sovereign wealth fund and Chairman of the Policy and Advisory Boards of FTSE Russell. He is Former President of the European Finance Association. He is an elected Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, the Royal Historical Society and CFA UK, and a member of the European Corporate Governance Institute. Elroy’s research is on long-horizon investment, endowment strategy, responsible investing, and financial history. Books include Triumph of the Optimists, Global Investment Returns Yearbook, Financial Market History, Endowment Asset Management, Cases in Corporate Finance, and Stock Market Anomalies. He recently received the PAM Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the investment industry.

Find out more about the conference

Conference Program Committee (Journal Scientific Committee)

• Tang, Dragon Yongjun The University of Hong Kong
• Cao, Jie The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• Gupta, Nandini Kelley School of Business, Finance Department, Indiana University
• Hameed, Allaudeen National University of Singapore
• Ongena, Steven University of Zurich, Swiss Finance Institute, KU Leuven and CEPR
• Shu, Tao CUHK Business School, Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Yu, Xiaoyun Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF)