In recent years, political coalitions supporting fossil fuel interests have attacked alliances, standards, and initiatives that were established to advance decarbonization and climate risk management in the financial system, also known as the "ESG Backlash." 

My research has analyzed which companies have been especially vulnerable to these attacks (forthcoming, International Studies Quarterly), why some initiatives and standards have been more susceptible (work in progress), how the backlash is affecting policy in other countries (work in progress), and what observed retrenchment on environmental ambition tells us about the financial system's role in addressing climate change more generally (International Theory). 

Sustainable or green finance is an issue area defined by numerous global initiatives, standards, and alliances, often interacting with varied and related public policies across countries; what scholars call a "regime complex" or a "global governance complex." 

My research examines how this complexity comes about and the consequences of this network of global initiatives for governance fragmentation (Review of International Political Economy), policy diffusion (Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning), the alignment between global standards and jurisdictional regulation (Regulation & Governance), and the ability of companies to signal green credentials to investors (forthcoming, Global Environmental Politics). 

Climate change is an incredibly sophisticated policy problem, and its consequences intensify over time. Anticipating where and when impacts materialize has been a central pre-occupation of climate scientists and financial sector actors alike, where the latter attempt to manage and mitigate risks of asset depreciation and financial loss. 

The global frameworks that actors develop to understand climate risk are not always neutral, but have significant consequences for how the financial system responds to climate change. Such frameworks can sometimes oversimplify environmental problems (manuscript under review), downplay unquantifiable uncertainty (book chapter), or reinforce certain ideas about what kind of policy frameworks are legitimate or illegitimate (work in progress).