Brief Encounters: Student Policy Briefs on Climate and Colonialism Scoop Chronos LSE Prizes

Chronos Sustainability Prizes at LSE awarded to students whose work shows greatest potential to have a positive social or environmental impact.

The winners of this year’s Chronos Sustainability Prizes at The London School of Economics (LSE) were awarded last night to students Natalie Ho (postgraduate) and Jolie Chan (undergraduate), with high praise for all ten students whose policy briefs were shortlisted for the prizes. The wide-ranging analysis looked at issues from the role of AI in sustainable finance, to the influence of populism on environmental policy and failures in the UK water market.

 Now in their fourth year, the prizes are awarded in undergraduate and postgraduate categories to students in the LSE Department of Geography and Environment (see Note 1 below). As part of their coursework, students are required to prepare a policy brief on a key area of sustainability significance and to offer recommendations to key stakeholders such as regulators, investors and companies. Winners are those whose analysis and recommendations are considered to have the greatest potential positive social or environmental impact. 

The prizes are judged by a panel of internationally recognised sustainability experts from a mix of finance, industry, NGO, public policy and regulatory backgrounds (see Notes 2 and 3 below).

 This year’s winners were:

Postgraduate

• Winner: Natalie Ho - How can the EU’s green energy transition avoid reproducing colonial logics of extraction and dependency?

• Highly Commended: Kean Lin - The influence of populism on environmental policy dismantling

• Finalists: Rory Hannigan, Sacha Utting, Katie Desforges

Undergraduate

• Winner: Jolie Chan - Should the UK introduce mandatory 1.5°C-aligned climate transition plans for companies?

• Highly Commended: Minxuan Zhang - What Role Can Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Sustainable Finance Play in Driving Real-Economy Sustainability Improvements?

• Finalists: Benjamin Falcon, Li-Ann Lim, Zakira Noor

 Many congratulations to all the students for their excellent work, and sincere thanks to the judges for their time assessing the essays and to Dr. Richard Perkins and the team at LSE.

The standards were high this year, and we hope to publish some of the policy briefs in full on the Chronos website over the coming weeks.

Notes:

 1.         The prizes are open to (a) postgraduate students completing MSc degrees in Environmental Economics and Climate Change, Environmental Policy and Regulation, and Environment and Development, and taking the course GY465 (Concepts in Environmental Regulation), and (b) undergraduate students completing BA/BSc degrees in the Department of Geography and Environment, Department of Accounting, and Department of Economics, and taking the course GY326 (Sustainable Business and Finance).

2.         The judges for the undergraduate prize were:

1. Nicky Amos (Chair), Managing Director, Chronos Sustainability

2. Will Crumbie, CEO, FatFace Foundation

3. Hilary Eastman, CEO, Confluence Advisory

4. Martina Stephany, Animal Welfare Issues Director, Four Paws

5. Rory Sullivan, CEO, Chronos Sustainability

6. Jessica Wan, Co-Lead ESG Research, Redwheel

3.         The judges for the postgraduate prize were:

1. Rory Sullivan (Chair), CEO, Chronos Sustainability

2. Nicky Amos, Managing Director, Chronos Sustainability

3. Nikki Gwilliam-Beharee, Head of Stakeholder and Policy Engagement, World Benchmarking Alliance

4. Abigail Herron, Global Head of Health and Nature Policy, Aviva Investors

5. David Russell, Chair, Transition Pathway Initiative

6. Amelia Sharman, Director Sustainability Reporting, External Reporting Board

7. Trisha Taneja, Investor Strategies Director, Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC)