The Bank of America has promised to pay funds to Oxford University to support research into greenhouse gas removal and sustainable finance.

In a bid to tackle climate change, Bank of America has promised to pay £1.2 million ($1.48 million) to Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment to support three years of research into greenhouse gas removal and sustainable finance.

The research will focus on two key areas, namely the integration of nature-related factors and the use of climate and environmental data in financial decision-making. This will take place at the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group at the Smith School and the UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment (CGFI), led by Dr Ben Caldecott.

The research will also identify ways of removng greenhouse gases in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable way, working with the UK’s Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub, led by Dr Stephen Smith.

In addition, the money will be used to provide funding for a director’s research fund that will enable the school to seize ground-breaking, but otherwise unfunded sustainable research opportunities. 

“Successful partnerships between business, academia and governments are critical if we are to accelerate the transition to sustainable, secure and affordable energy and bring forward the path to net zero,” Bernard Mensah, president of international at Bank of America said. “With the support of Bank of America, the work of the Oxford Smith School now has the potential to transform scalable carbon capture and greenhouse gas removal and also the integration of nature-based metrics into sustainable finance frameworks,” he added.

“This partnership will enable us to expand Smith School research in sustainable finance and greenhouse gas removal, both of which are critical as we move from an era of climate change debate, to one of action,” Professor Cameron Hepburn, director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, added.

To date, the school has worked with 20 different governments around the world on their green recovery plans and its research is used to inform global financial institutions worldwide. Oxford University will also hold its first sustainable finance summit this July, bringing together researchers, policymakers and regulators to look at trends in sustainable finance and investment.