Bennett Institute’s Professor Matthew Agarwala receives 2025 Financial Times Responsible Business Education Award
Announced today, Professor Matthew Agarwala has been awarded the 2025 Financial Times for Academic Research with Impact.
The award is for a long-standing collaboration with Professor Pati Klusak (Edinburgh Business School and Visiting Professor at the Bennett Institute for Innovation and Policy Acceleration) and colleagues, that demonstrates how environmental change will affect sovereign debt markets across more than 100 countries.
Using AI to combine climate and ecological models with financial data, the research simulates the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss on the cost of borrowing for countries and businesses, with direct implications for the $100tn global debt market.
Chloe Cheung, who uses the research as Head of Climate Risk Models at Standard Chartered said “The team’s work is a strong example of how innovative research and world-leading business schools can help to support real-world impact.”
Through sustained engagement with policymakers, financial institutions and organisations worldwide, the team’s work has influenced the policies and practices of the US government, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and systemically important banks, whilst providing thought leadership at the World Bank, UN, and the IMF.
Prof Agarwala said “This is high risk research. We’re mixing methods, data, and disciplines in ways that journals, funders, and universities aren’t always ready for. That’s what makes the Bennett Institutes and University of Sussex so important: it’s where we push the boundaries.”
Professor Ingrid Woolard, Dean of the Business School said, “The main focus of the Bennett Institute at Sussex is about translating research into action and it’s fantastic to see our researchers already delivering on this mission”.
WINNERS of the 2025 FT Award
Pati Klusak, Matthew Agarwala, Matt Burke, Kamiar Mohaddes, Uli Volz, Moritz Kraemer, Edinburgh, Sussex, Sheffield and Cambridge University Business Schools.
Link to paper: Rising Temperatures, Falling Ratings: The Effect of Climate Change on Sovereign Creditworthiness
