The Law of ESG Derivatives: Risk, Uncertainty, and Sustainable Finance

The London Financial Regulation Seminar is an inter-collegiate and inter-disciplinary group of experts led by CCLS and our Institute of Banking and Finance under the leadership of Professor Rosa M. Lastra and Dr. Daniele D’Alvia.

On Monday 24 June, Dr. Ligia Catherine Arias-Barrera will discuss her last book titled “The law of ESG Derivatives: Risk, Uncertainty, and Sustainable Finance” (Routledge 2024). Prof. Rosa M. Lastra will chair the event, and Dr. Katrien Morbee will be the discussant.

Dr. Ligia Catherine Arias-Barrera is a Professor of Financial Law at the Externado de Colombia University. She holds a Ph.D. in Financial Law from the University of Warwick, as a scholar of the Colombian Central Bank (Banco de la Republica), and an LL.M. in Commercial and Corporate Law from Queen Mary University of London. Author of the book “Regulation and Supervision of the OTC Derivatives Market” published by Routledge in 2018, recognised by BookAuthority as one of the best banking law books of all time. Currently, she is the CEO at the firm Financial Services Consulting LLP, and is a member of the Sustainable Finance Working Group of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). She also works as an international consultant on Financial Regulation, Capital Markets, Derivatives Markets, Sustainable Finance, FinTech and Regulatory Reforms for the House of Commons and the European Commission. She is a consultant to the International Finance Corporation and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Dr. Katrien Morbee is a Lecturer in Banking and Finance Law at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London. She teaches Corporate Finance Law, Mergers and Acquisitions, Art and Money, and Sustainability and the Corporation. She wrote her D.Phil in Law and Finance at the University of Oxford, and she holds an LL.B. and LL.M. from Ghent University, Belgium, and an LL.M. from Yale University, United States. During her studies, she interned at four international law firms: Cleary Gottlieb, Eubelius, Clifford Chance and Freshfields.

Dr. Arias-Barrera will discuss the book’s central themes, including a comprehensive legal analysis of sustainable finance regimes governing Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) derivatives, along with insightful sociological prospective on risk and uncertainties.

The book explores how ESG derivatives can strategically serve sustainable investment, offering insights into optimal risk management. It not only outlines challenges but presents potential solutions, highlighting ESG derivatives’ role in addressing market failures affecting sustainable finance, which is an aspect often overlooked by regulators in the EU, the UK, and the US.

With its dual emphasis on financial derivatives for ESG risk management and sociological prospective, the book is an ideal resource for scholars, experts, practitioners, researchers, and curios minds across Law, Business, Management, and Sociological Studies.

Host or Publisher The Centre for Commercial Law Studies, QMUL