Investing in our future: COP30 and the sustainable growth agenda
As the world prepares for COP30 in Brazil, this event provides a forward-looking platform to explore priorities, challenges, and opportunities for accelerating and aligning climate ambition with sustainable economic growth.
As countries prepare to submit enhanced nationally determined contributions (NDCs), our panel explores how climate action can drive innovation, job creation, and long-term resilience, particularly in emerging and developing economies.
Meet our speakers and chair
Patrick Bolton is Professor of Finance at Imperial Business School. He is a past President of the American Finance Association, a Fellow of the Econometric Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. He has co-authored Contract Theory (2005) with Mathias Dewatripont, The Green Swan: Central Banking and Financial Stability in the Age of Climate Change (2020) with Morgan Despres, Luiz Pereira Da Silva, Frederic Samama, and Romain Svartzman, and Money Capital: New Monetary Principles for a More Prosperous Society (2024) with Haizhou Huang.
Michael Greenstone is the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics as well as the Director of the Becker Friedman Institute and the interdisciplinary Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. In addition, he serves as the founding director of the University’s Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth and Director of the interdisciplinary Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. He was previously Director of the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics.
Sherry Rehman (@sherryrehman) is a member of the Senate of Pakistan. Senator Rehman is Pakistan’s first woman Senate Opposition Leader and served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States from 2011 to 2013 and as Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pakistan from 2008 to 2009.
José Scheinkman is the Charles and Lynn Zhang Professor of Economics at Columbia University and the Theodore A Wells '29 Professor of Economics Emeritus at Princeton University. He spent much of his career at the University of Chicago, where he served as department chair immediately prior to his departure for Princeton
Andrew Steer is Professor in Practice in the Global School of Sustainability at LSE. He is a leader in sustainable development and climate change advocacy. Sir Andrew has served most recently as the founding President and CEO of the Bezos Earth Fund. Previously the President and CEO of World Resources Institute and has held significant positions at the World Bank, including Special Envoy for Climate Change, and was Director General at the former UK Department for International Development (DFID).
More about this event
The Economics of Environment and Energy Programme (@STICERD_LSE), International Growth Centre (@The_IGC) and Programme on Innovation and Diffusion (@POID_LSE) within the Department of Economics at LSE are convening the fourth Environment Week at LSE from 22-25 September 2025. Working with partners at the School and across the world we want to use Environment Week to encourage economists from all fields of economics to work on environmental issues and to connect this work to policy change.
This is one of three public events during LSE Environment Week, the others are:
23 September - Valuing nature in a changing climate: rethinking natural capital
24 September - Climate finance and investment in low-income countries
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Podcast and video
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A video of this event is available to watch at Investing in our future: COP30 and the sustainable growth agenda.
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