Zacharias Sautner

Professor of Sustainable Finance at University of Zurich

Professor of Sustainable Finance, University of Zurich/SFI Senior Chair at Swiss Finance Institute

Biography

University of Zurich

Zacharias Sautner is Professor of Sustainable Finance at the Department of Banking and Finance of the University of Zurich (UZH) and a senior chair at the Swiss Finance Institute (SFI). Through his research on ESG topics such as climate change or biodiversity, he provides insights on how finance can contribute to a more sustainable future. He enjoys spreading his sustainable finance views in keynote speeches around the world.

His research was published in leading international journals, and he was ranked #23 globally across 12,000 business authors in a ranking based on SSRN research paper downloads (January 2023, calculated over the past 12 months,). His research has been cited more than 5,000 times according to Google Scholar and his expertise is referenced in newspapers such as Wall Street Journal, New York Times, or Financial Times, and in reports by the IMF, ECB, or European Commission as well as in speeches by central bankers.

Sautner acts as Associate Editor at the Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Banking & Finance, Financial Management, and Journal of Corporate Finance. He is also a Regular Research Visitor at the ECB and advises institutional investors on ESG issues.

Prior to moving to Switzerland, he was Professor of Finance at Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, where he headed for many years the finance department.

He is the proud father of three daughters (born 2017, 2019, 2021), making him intrinsically motivated to work hard for a sustainable future.

Swiss Finance Institute

Zacharias Sautner is Professor of Sustainable Finance at the University of Zurich. Prior to moving to Switzerland, he was Professor of Finance at Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, where he headed the finance department for many years. Through his research on ESG topics such as climate change or biodiversity, he provides insights on how finance can contribute to a more sustainable future. His expertise is referenced in newspapers such as Wall Street Journal, New York Times, or Financial Times, and in reports by the IMF, ECB, or European Commission as well as in speeches by central bankers.

Expertise

Professor Sautner’s recent focus is on sustainable finance, in particular ESG topics such as climate change or biodiversity. Currently, he is studying the importance of biodiversity risks for investors and whether investors demand a risk premium when investing into stocks of companies with large negative biodiversity footprints. Understanding such questions is important in light of the increasing importance of biodiversity topics among investors, policy makers, and the wider public. He also examines the role of ESG-related disclosures, including whether mandatory ESG disclosures rules have beneficial financial market effects or whether institutional investors positively affect the climate-related disclosure of portfolio companies.

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Courses Taught

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