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Objective

CLFI works to understand the potential impacts of and improve means of accounting for climate risk and resilience factors in decisions concerning investment portfolios, assets and operations, litigation, and policymaking.

Pillar Lead

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Cynthia Hanawalt

Director of Climate Finance & Regulation, Sabin Center

Cynthia Hanawalt is the Director of the Sabin Center’s financial regulation practice. Her work supports regulatory and policy responses to climate-related financial risk at the federal and state level and includes a focus on the complex intersections of ESG and antitrust law with sustainability goals and climate resiliency measures. Cynthia is affiliated with Columbia Climate School and the Initiative for Climate Risk & Resilience Law. She is a frequent speaker and media source and writes regularly on issues of climate law and finance.

Prior to joining the Sabin Center, Cynthia served as Chief of the Investor Protection Bureau for the New York State Office of the Attorney General. Under her leadership, the Bureau recovered over $850M on behalf of New York investors and achieved groundbreaking results in electronic trading and cryptocurrency matters. Previously, she was a litigation partner at the firm Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP.

Cynthia serves as a Trustee and Chair of the Audit Committee of Wave Hill, a public garden and cultural center in the Bronx. She is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and Duke University, where she received the William J. Griffith University Service Award.

Cynthia Hanawalt

Director of Climate Finance & Regulation
Sabin Center

Projects

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Supporting development of climate-aligned capital allocation and investment strategy

CLFI is reviewing climate change dimensions relevant to investment portfolio decision making, to help a pension fund better understand the potential impact of ESG factors on long-term value creation and effective risk management within its investment portfolio.

Modeling climate litigation risk for (re)insurers

CLFI’s research and analysis provides guidance on how to build quantitative models of climate change litigation risk for (re)insurers.
ICRRL

Driving the recognition of climate risk and resilience through legal innovation, scholarship, and practice

Via collaboration with partners on the Initiative on Climate Risk and Resilience Law (ICRRL), CLFI supports state and federal regulatory efforts to address climate-related financial risk. Learn more about ICRRL's work here.