Principal Investigator: Decarbonization and Finance, Université Libre de Bruxelles & Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium

The successful candidate will be embedded in the ULB-VUB Urban Socio-Environmental Transformations Research HUB at USQUARE campus where a critical mass in the study of finance for the common good is in place. In this interdisciplinary context the Chair will chart existing funding gaps and societal and environmental needs of households and industry regarding decarbonization, study potential and pitfalls of existing decarbonization funding strategies by private institutions (e.g. banks, asset managers), community owned institutions (e.g. cooperative banks, crowdfunding platforms) and public institutions (e.g. publicly owned banks, regional and national investment funds) in Belgium, learn from international cases, models, and strategies, and will evaluate the potential of various financial and governance models. Together with stakeholders, the Chair also intends to develop concrete policy tools that, when implemented, can support decarbonization.

The candidate will analyze both quantitative and qualitative data sources. Quantitative sources include balance sheet and portfolio data, key risk/return metrics, etc. Qualitative sources include investor relations documents for individual organizations as well as industry-wide documents, public policies (in Belgium/Europe), as well as primary data on investment strategies, governance models collected through interviews and surveys. Critical confrontation of narratives and numbers at the policy, industry and organizational level will help to identify gaps and potential contradictions in current funding approaches. The analysis of viable strategies in other (European) contexts can inform scenario-building regarding the implementation of financial models and strategies to decarbonize. The candidate will also seek to co-produce such pathways with key stakeholders in policy, public institutions, and the industry.