SoFiE Financial Econometrics Summer School
"Climate and Nature Finance"
August 4 – August 8, 2025
Note: This year, the Summer School will be delivered in a hybrid teaching format. However, we highly recommend participants to attend the school in person at the Volatility Institute of NYU Shanghai.
The SoFiE Financial Econometrics Schools are annual week-long research-based courses for Ph.D. students and new faculty in financial econometrics. For the first two years, the Summer School was held at Oxford University’s Oxford-Man Institute and in 2014 it moved to Harvard University. In 2015 and 2016, it was held in Brussels. Since 2017, The SoFiE Financial Econometrics Summer School took place in North America, Asia and Europe. For the past seven years, the Summer School in Asia has been held at the Volatility Institute of NYU Shanghai. In 2025, we will continue this tradition at the same venue, offering participants an unparalleled opportunity to delve into and contribute to the evolving field of financial econometrics within a vibrant scholarly setting.
The editorial board for these annual series is made up of Professors Torben Andersen (Northwestern University), Francis X. Diebold (University of Pennsylvania and past President of SoFiE), Eric Ghysels (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Secretary and Founding Co-President of SoFiE), Ravi Jagannathan (Northwestern and past President SoFiE), Per Mykland (University of Chicago and past President of SoFiE), Eric Renault (University of Warwick and past President of SoFiE), Neil Shephard (Harvard University) and Viktor Todorov (Northwestern University).
Course Overview:
This course will introduce students to key concepts and methods used in research on climate and nature finance, with a focus on influential research papers in the field. The course covers the key players, their motivations, and incentives in the climate and nature finance space (institutional investors, companies, ESG raters, regulatory institutions), climate and nature risk measurement and metrics, climate- and nature-related disclosure and regulation, and link between climate and nature risks and financial performance, and shareholder engagement. The course will cover physical and transition risks. Special topics within these broader themes include corporate climate lobbying and corporate nature risk perceptions. As part of the course, students will replicate some papers in the climate finance area and are invited to present a research idea related to the scope of the course. The course will also cover career advice and information on the publication process in finance.
Lecturers:
Professor Zacharias Sautner (University of Zurich)
Zacharias Sautner is Professor of Sustainable Finance at University of Zurich and Senior Chair at the Swiss Finance Institute. He works on sustainable finance, ESG, climate finance, and biodiversity finance. Through his research on ESG topics, he provides insights on how finance can contribute to a more sustainable future. He is an Associate Editor at the Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Management Science, Journal of Banking & Finance, and Journal of Corporate Finance, a Regular Research Visitor at the ECB, and an advisor of asset management companies on sustainable finance issues. He is also a Director of the European Finance Association. His research was published in leading international journals. Two of his papers were ranked #3 and #4 in a Financial Times ranking of “Business School Sustainability Research: What is Read Most?” (July 2023). His research has been cited 9,500+ times according to Google Scholar and was downloaded 100,000+ times on SSRN.
Professor Emirhan Ilhan (National University of Singapore)
Emirhan Ilhan is Assistant Professor in the Department of Finance at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School. He is also a Research Affiliate at the NUS Sustainable and Green Finance Institute (SGFIN) and a Research Fellow at the NUS Risk Management Institute (RMI). His research interests lie in climate finance, with applications in household finance, corporate finance, and asset pricing. His work has been published in the Review of Financial Studies, and he presented at conferences such as the AFA, WFA, and EFA. Prior to earning his Ph.D. in Finance from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management in 2022, he studied applied mathematics and computer simulations at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden and the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands and mechanical engineering in Turkey.
Course Outline:
Schedule in Time Zones
7pm to 12am (midnight) Shanghai Time
1pm to 6pm Zurich time
7am to 12pm (noon) New York time
| Time (Shanghai Time Zone) | August 4 | August 5 | August 6 | August 7 | August 8 |
| 7.00pm-8.15pm | Climate and Nature Finance Landscape (ZS, online) | Nature Risks (ZS online) | What is Climate Finance (EI, in presence) | Climate Research and Geospatial Data (EI, in presence) | Student Presentations (ZS, online; EI, in presence) |
| 8.15pm-8.30pm | Break | Break | Break | Break | Break |
| 8.30pm-9.45pm | Climate Transition Risks (ZS, online) | Corporate Nature Risk Perceptions (ZS, online) | Paper Replication and Discussion (EI, in presence) | Career Advice | Student Presentations (ZS, online; EI, in presence) |
| 9.45pm-10.00pm | Break | Break | Break | Break | Break |
| 10.00pm-11.00pm | Guest Speaker: Hyeyoon Jung (NY Fed): Physical Climate Risk Factors and an Application to Measuring Insurers’ Climate Risk Exposure | Guest Speaker: Sangmin Simon Oh (Columbia University): Climate Capitalists | Physical Climate Risks (EI, in presence) | Guest Speaker: J. Anthony Cookson, University of Colorado | Student Presentations (ZS, online; EI, in presence) |
| 11.00pm-12am | Corporate Climate Lobbying (ZS, online) | Career and Publishing Advice (ZS, online) | Guest Speaker: Philip Mulder, University of Wisconsin-Madison | Paper Replication and Discussion (EI, in presence) | Student Presentations (ZS, online; EI, in presence) |
Presentation of Research Idea:
Students prepare a presentation of an early or more mature research idea. It is preferable for the research idea to be related to the scope of the course, even though it is not strictly mandatory. Participants and lecturers discuss potential avenues to improve the paper and provide feedback to the presenter.
Applications:
Applicants should register and submit electronical materials through the following registration website: https://research.shanghai.nyu.edu/vins/sofie_summer_school_registration. The applications should include a full CV and motivation letter (half-page length) explaining why attending this course would be helpful to the applicant’s research work. All materials should be in pdf version. The application deadline is 25 July, 2025.
Fees for attending the school:
$500 for full-time Ph.D. students
$700 for full-time academics (Post-docs, Faculty, etc.)
$1000 for others (Professionals)
Confirmed admission of a selected applicants will be conditional on the fee payment in due time (details will be provided in the admission email). Fees cover the course, refreshment and coffee breaks during the program, and a welcome reception.
Travel and accommodation costs: Attendees are responsible for their own travel and accommodation costs. A list of suitable local hotels will be provided. A free welcome reception and social event will be organized during the week where students and faculty can meet informally.
Accommodation:
1) Shangri-La Qiantan Shanghai
Website: https://www.shangri-la.com/shanghai/qiantanshangrila/
Distance to campus: 500m
2) Artyzen Habitat Qiantan Shanghai
Website: https://www.artyzen.com/en/hotels/artyzen-habitat-qiantan-shanghai/
Distance to campus: 60m
Useful Links:
All accepted participants will be expected to be members of the Society for Financial Econometrics or join before their place is confirmed.
See https://www.stern.nyu.edu/