UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Department of Geography will host Sophie Webber, senior lecturer and Australian Research Council DECRA Research Fellow in Geography at the University of Sydney, as part of its spring 2025 Coffee Hour lecture series. Webber’s talk, "Climate Finance: Taking a Position on Climate Futures," will examine how climate change is increasingly understood and addressed through financial mechanisms.
The talk will take place at noon on Friday, March 21, in 401 Steidle Building on the University Park campus and via Zoom.
Webber’s research explores how international climate politics and domestic policies frame climate change in financial terms, often focusing on the gap between available funding and the costs of mitigation and adaptation. Her work examines climate finance as both an indicator and a driver of climate futures.
Drawing from her book, “Climate Finance,” co-authored with Gareth Brant, Webber will discuss key developments in climate finance, including the emergence of climate infrastructure as an asset class, index insurance for climate losses and debates over climate debt compensation.
Webber is an economic geographer who studies how market and financial mechanisms influence climate adaptation and resilience in the Asia-Pacific region. In her talk, she will outline six key positions — climate capital, climate risk, precision markets, speculative markets, big green states and climate finance justice — that shape climate finance and open different pathways for advancing more democratic and just financial strategies.
Additionally, Webber will participate in the Penn State Climate Consortium’s March Climate Conversations Café. The event will be held from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 20, in 313 Earth and Engineering Science Building. A light lunch will be provided directly following the discussion. There will be a zoom option also. The event is free and open to the public, but all attendees must register.
The Conversations Café event will feature a panel discussion with Webber and Penn State geography faculty members on improving climate finance strategies — funding from governments, businesses and other sources that helps mitigate climate change and support adaptation efforts. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with the panel and ask questions following the discussion.
The Climate Conversations Café is organized by the Penn State Climate Consortium, and Webber’s visit is supported by the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute and the Penn State Department of Geography.
Webber’s talk is part of the spring 2025 Coffee Hour seminar series hosted by Penn State’s Department of Geography. For more information and to access the Zoom link, visit the Coffee Hour event webpage.