Nicola Ranger
Professor Nicola Ranger specialises in advancing finance and policy to address critical societal challenges related to climate, nature, food, water, economic development and human well-being. Her expertise spans quantitative risk analytics, decision-making under uncertainty, international finance, development, public policy and risk governance. She is deeply involved in developing approaches to risk assessment, stress testing and scenario analysis for climate and nature risks with government, financial institutions and regulators. She also works extensively on mobilising sustainable investment, with a particular emphasis on working in Emerging and Developing Economies (EMDEs) to mobilise investment for a net-zero, nature-positive and resilient transition. Her work also aims to build systems to advance the systemic resilience of people, firms and economies to global crises. In addition to her academic research and leadership roles, Prof Ranger holds senior advisory roles with organisations including the World Bank, the Bank of England’s Climate Financial Risk Forum, the Network for Greening the Financial System, TRASE and PlanetaryX.
She also holds the following positions:
- Founding Director, Resilient Planet Finance Lab
- Co-Director, UKRI Integrating Finance and Biodiversity
- Co-Director, Leveraging Earth Observation for Nature Finance
- Senior Research Fellow, Institute for New Economic Thinking, Oxford Martin School
- Senior Associate, Oxford Net Zero
- Fellow, Centre for Economic Policy Research
Background
Nicola brings two decades of experience working in senior roles across government, research, international financial institutions and the private sector. Most recently, this includes leadership roles at the Environmental Change Institute of the University of Oxford, the World Bank and DFID (now FCDO) where she works with financial institutions, Ministries of Finance, Central Banks, International Financial Institutions to strengthen fiscal and financial resilience to climate and other crises, mobilise finance for sustainable development, and put in place systems to strengthen resilience to shocks and crises.
During her career, Nicola has been involved in founding and leading many significant global initiatives related to sustainable finance and systemic resilience, including the G20-V20 InsuResilience Global Partnership, the Global Shield Financing Facility, the Centre for Greening Finance and Investment and the Centre for Disaster Protection. She was a member of the European Commission High Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance in Low and Middle Income Economies; the UK Green Taxonomy Advisory Group; and the Financial Systems Thinking Innovation Centre of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.
Prior to this, Nicola was a Senior Research Fellow and Head of Adaptation and Development at the Grantham Research Institute, LSE between 2009 and 2013. In 2005/06, she was part of the HMT/Cabinet Office Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change and has worked as a Scientific Advisor at Defra, HM Treasury and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. Nicola also has a professional background in insurance and catastrophe risk modelling and has been involved in establishing insurance-based mechanisms, contingent financing and regional risk pools protecting multiple countries. Nicola completed her postdoctoral research in climate economics and policy at the Grantham Research Institute LSE and holds a doctorate in Atmospheric Physics from Imperial College London.
Research interests
- Sustainable finance
- Fiscal and financial policy and regulation
- Risk analytics, modelling, stress testing and scenario analysis
- The economics of natural capital
- Risk and decision making
- Disaster risk financing and insurance
- International financial system
- Sustainable development
- Mobilising sustainable investment in emerging and developing economies
- Systemic resilience
- Development and humanitarian finance
Research
Research - 2013
Official development assistance (ODA) currently totals around $130 billion USD per year, an order of magnitude greater than international climate... Read more
Nicola Ranger, Alex Harvey and Su-Lin Garbett-Shiels. Forthcoming. Read more
Abstract Over the past decade, the increase in insurance demand in the BRICS has been a key driver of global... Read more
Research - 2012
Reference Ranger, N., and Fisher, S. November 2012. The challenges of climate change and exposure growth for disaster risk management in... Read more
Reference Ranger, N., et al. November 2012. Reducing risks of future disasters: priorities for decision makers. Final Project Report. The Government Office... Read more
Abstract Current projections of long-term trends in Atlantic hurricane activity due to climate change are deeply uncertain, both in magnitude... Read more
Research - 2011
Working Paper 63 Abstract Over the past decade, growth in insurance demand in the BRICS economies has been a key... Read more
Working Paper 62 Abstract Multi-year insurance has been proposed as a tool to incentivise policyholders to invest in property level... Read more
Working Paper 61 Abstract Insurance demand is driven by many factors, but for the emerging economies, one of the most... Read more
Working Paper 51 Abstract Current projections of long-term trends in Atlantic hurricane activity due to climate change are deeply uncertain,... Read more
Working Paper 50 Abstract The series of devastating natural disasters around the world during the past few years has raised... Read more
Abstract This paper presents a first estimate of the exposure of the world’s large port cities (population exceeding one million... Read more
Abstract This paper presents a first estimate of the exposure of the world’s large port cities (population exceeding one million... Read more
Abstract Managing risks from extreme events will be a crucial component of climate change adaptation. In this study, we demonstrate... Read more
Policy
Policy - 2023
This publication forms the chair’s report for the Independent Expert Advisory Group convened by the Climate Change Committee to support... Read more
Policy - 2013
Headline issue In 2015, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) expire. Detailed discussions are already underway to inform the post-2015 development... Read more
Headline issue The economic costs of natural disasters have continued to rise since the early 1980s and are expected to... Read more
This report examines CO2 budgets and the growing ‘carbon bubble’, as well as its effects on the economy and global... Read more
An Independent National Adaptation Programme for England Read more
Policy - 2011
Extreme weather events represent the earliest, and in some places most significant, threats to the most vulnerable countries that are... Read more
Climate change is increasingly altering the pattern of climate-related risks. Developing countries, and in particular least developed countries, will be... Read more
Policy - 2010
Headline issue Climate change is one of the most significant challenges we face. It will impact the UK population, environment... Read more
Executive summary The Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are contemplating a range of goals... Read more
Policy - 2009
Mitigating climate change through reductions in greenhouse gas emissions: the science and economics of future paths for global annual emissions Read more
Events
Events - 2021
News
News - 2013
Senior Research Fellow, Nicola Ranger, produced this topic guide to stimulate thinking about two major issues: first, how climate change may alter the long-term outcomes of development interventions today, and, second, how such interventions can be better designed from the outset to have outcomes that enhance climate resilience and are themselves robust and adaptable to long-term stresses, like climate change. Read more
News - 2012
Dr Nicola Ranger argues that to tackle the unique challenges of climate change and growth, we also need to change the way... Read more
News - 2011
The first set of reports from public bodies setting out what they are doing to adapt to the impacts of... Read more
News - 2010
The Conservative party conference in Birmingham may be the focus of UK politics this week, but government representatives will be... Read more