As part of its support of a new open access journal on Corporate Climate Governance, published by Cambridge University Press (CUP), CCE is issuing a call for abstracts from academics and expert practitioners on the theme of ‘Making Climate Finance Work – Insights from Ethics, Economics and Law’.
The new journal, called the ‘Cambridge Forum on Corporate Climate Governance’, explores how corporate climate actions can contribute to a sustainable future. It examines the governance and decision-making processes, and the legal, regulatory and financial frameworks needed to support these efforts.
The journal supports the growth of academic and practitioner research in this area and aims to push forward the global corporate climate agenda by using peer-reviewed research to better inform, engage and influence individuals working in or advising publicly listed companies, private enterprises, family-owned businesses, state-owned enterprises and other corporate entities. It seeks to publish applied academic articles alongside contributions from non-academic experts, practitioners and policymakers as well as contributions jointly authored by academics and their counterparts in business, finance and the legal and accounting professions.
A themed issue format will be used to bring together research from the many disciplines that are fundamental to understanding corporations and corporate governance, including business, law, and finance. This is a journal for academics, legal and financial advisers, corporate executives, board members, shareholders, regulators, investors, policymakers and all individuals critical to supporting and scaling climate action within businesses and across key industry sectors and value chains. To foster meaningful dialogue between academic and non-academic experts, the journal prioritises clear, accessible language in all its published contributions.
The journal invites submissions for a special issue on the thematic area: Making Climate Finance Work – Insights from Ethics, Economics and Law. It will be guest edited by Roland A.J. Mees, Professor of Practice of Business Ethics at the University of Groningen; Dirk J. Bezemer, Professor of Economics of International Financial Development at University of Groningen; and Cynthia A. Williams, Professor of Law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
This special issue will examine the role of finance in the climate transition from ethical, economic, and legal perspectives. A consensus has developed suggesting that mobilizing finance is key to the transition, and that the private financial sector should take the lead in both mobilizing and directing finance, provided that necessary public-sector conditions are met. Those conditions include creating a level playing field and public de-risking of climate asset markets.
The aim of this issue is to scrutinize this consensus critically and constructively from an interdisciplinary perspective. The overall questions guiding the issue are: What roles are private and public finance best suited for in the climate transition, and how should these sources of finance be structured to interact with one another?
Cambridge Forum on Corporate Climate Governance is part of the Cambridge Forum journal series, which progresses cross-disciplinary conversations on issues of global importance.
In the first instance, please submit an extended abstract of 1,000 words (excluding references) to the journal at cfg@cambridge.org, copying the editors at r.a.j.mees@rug.nl, d.j.bezemer@rug.nl, and cynwill@iu.edu. The editors invite submissions from scholars and practitioners throughout the world, and encourage contributions in particular from scholars in Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia.
The deadline for submissions of abstracts is 15 October 2025.
Following the submission of abstracts, authors will receive responses by 31 October 2025. Authors will be invited to participate in a workshop in the Netherlands to further the interdisciplinary insights at the core of this Special Issue. This interdisciplinary workshop will likely take place in January 2026. After the workshop, authors will be asked to submit full articles of 5,000 to 10,000 words, by end February 2026, which will then be double-blind peer reviewed. We aim to have the Special Issue on Climate Finance published in the second quarter of 2026.
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