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Objective

Together with UN agencies, regional associations, national governments, public and private financial institutions, and other stakeholders, CLFI will address the legal and structural challenges to mobilizing adequate, affordable finance for the energy transition.

Pillar Lead

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Lisa Sachs

Director, Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment

Lisa Sachs is the Director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. Since joining CCSI in 2008, she established and oversees CCSI’s robust and interdisciplinary research portfolio and advisory work on the alignment of investment law, investment practice, and investment policy with the sustainable development goals. She is a globally recognized expert in the ways that laws, policies and business practices shape global investment flows and affect sustainable development. She works with governments around the world, regional and international development organizations, financial institutions, companies, civil society organizations and academic centers to understand the inter-relations of investment flows and sustainable development, and to influence investment policies and practices to promote the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. She has served on World Economic Forum Global Future Councils and on several advisory boards, including of the Investor Alliance for Human Rights and the SDG Academy. Before joining CCSI, she worked at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and at Amnesty USA, in both cases on shareholder engagement. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Harvard University, a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School, where she was a James Kent Scholar and recipient of the Parker School Certificate in International and Comparative Law.

Lisa Sachs

Director
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment

Projects

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Articulating the financing pathways for regional energy transition projects

CLFI has identified unique opportunities and shared challenges in addressing climate finance gaps and advancing regional energy strategies across four key regions.
Analyzing SDGs

Analyzing SDG-linked sovereign bonds

CLFI will assess the viability of sustainability-linked sovereign bonds to provide a more sustainable form of financing for lower income countries, and will consider aspects of their design that could make them more effective in increasing access to finance for SDG- and climate-aligned investment in particular.

Supporting net-zero alignment of the financial sector

Outlines the limitations of bottom-up approaches to achieving decarbonization goals while focusing on the things the financial sector can do even in the absence of a robust long-term public policy framework.

Analyzing the drivers and constraints of investment in renewables

Two papers and an expert interview series on investment in renewable energy in developing countries provide actionable recommendations to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.