Staff Profile

Iftekhar Ahmed is an international expert in sustainable finance with extensive research and training in climate and inclusive finance for global development. Currently, he is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Sustainable Finance and the module leader for a brand-new postgraduate module in “Green Finance and Sustainability” at Newcastle University Business School (NUBS). Following successful completion of a PhD in Finance (specialising in climate finance and risks analytics) at the University of Otago (Dunedin, New Zealand), Iftekhar started his academic and research career at the University of Cambridge (Cambridge, UK), where he led a research project on "systemic resilience in investments" as well as supervised master’s dissertations. In this capacity, he led collaborations on systemic resilience topics with a global network of pension funds, insurers and asset managers, with over $9 trillion under management and advice. Prior to this, he also held academic and research positions at the University of Otago (Dunedin, New Zealand), Universiti Utara Malaysia (Sintok, Malaysia), Universiti Teknologi MARA (Shah Alam, Malaysia), and has held guest lectures on climate-related financial risks at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester (Manchester, UK).

He has conducted research and policy work for several organisations, including the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI). He is the Lead Author for the IPBES nexus assessment, focusing on finance for biodiversity-related elements of the nexus.

His research has been published in leading international journals, including Economics and Sociology, International Journal of Managerial and Financial Accounting and Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research. He has also contributed to a policy-relevant book chapter on "ASEAN energy policy" that has been published by the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI). Additionally, he has been serving as a regular referee for several peer-reviewed journals.

He is pioneering systemic resilience analytics to advance practical solutions to cope with complex environmental and social risks. His research broadly focuses on different aspects of environmental and social risk analytics for resilient finance to address complex global challenges. Current projects try to inform and influence how the work of institutional investors, asset managers, financial intermediaries and financial supervisors can achieve an equitable, net-zero and nature-positive future (for people, planet and prosperity), with a particular interest in emerging markets and developing economies.

External links:

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Iftekhar's research interests lie in sustainable finance and risk analytics, with applications in corporate finance, financial markets and institutions.

Research Interests:

Ø Financial economics of climate change

Ø Financial economics of biodiversity loss

Ø Climate - Nature nexus and financial stability

Ø Climate damage attribution science (loss and damage)

Ø Climate and development finance (incl. adaptation and resilience finance)

Ø Biodiversity / nature finance (esp. innovative measures, methods and instruments)

Apart from them, I am also interested in the contemporary issues in sustainable finance and investment, such as:

• ESG
• Inequality
• SDG finance
• Green fintech
• Green banking
• Green macrofinance
• Inclusive green finance
• Green finance innovation
• Ethical finance and investment
• Energy and environmental policy
• Environmental and social risks analytics

Teaching Modules:

• NBS8633 : Green Finance and Sustainability (Module Leader 2023 - ongoing)
• NBS8332 : Financial Theory (2023 - ongoing)
• ACC3000 : Case Studies in Finance, Accounting and Business (2024 - ongoing)