Climate Risk, Capital, and the Institutions That Price the Future
Columbia Climate School's MS in Climate Finance Practitioner Series and Columbia Business School's Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change welcome Dr. Sarah Kapnick, Managing Director and Global Head of Climate Advisory at J.P. Morgan, in conversation with Professor Lisa Sachs.
Climate change is repricing assets, disrupting food systems, and straining energy grids faster than most institutions have adjusted to account for it. Dr. Kapnick, formerly Chief Scientist at NOAA and now leading climate advisory at one of the world’s largest financial institutions, sits at the intersection where physical science meets capital allocation. This conversation explores what that vantage point looks like in practice.
We will cover ground that rarely gets covered honestly: where science, finance, and policy have talked past each other, where well-intentioned frameworks have obscured more than they’ve clarified, and where the field’s own vocabulary has become part of the problem. Dr. Kapnick has sat at enough tables in government, in research, and in capital markets to distinguish between the genuine tradeoffs that require hard choices and the apparent conflicts that dissolve once the framing improves. Both matter, and conflating them has cost the field time it doesn’t have.
The session will include ample time for a Q&A — bring your questions!
SPEAKER BIO
Dr. Sarah B. Kapnick is the Managing Director and Global Head of Climate Advisory in the Commercial and Investment Bank at J.P. Morgan. She advises the bank's clients on climate, energy, biodiversity and sustainability topics. Responsible for overseeing the Firm’s climate thought leadership strategy, Dr. Kapnick leverages extensive technical and scientific expertise to drive content strategy and advise clients at the intersection of finance, climate science, and national security. She was previously with the bank’s Asset and Wealth Management division.
Prior to her current role, Dr. Kapnick was Chief Scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), responsible for guiding the programmatic focus of NOAA’s science and technology priorities. She spent a decade at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) leading research and development on seasonal to decadal variability and prediction.
Dr. Kapnick earned a Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and a Leaders in Sustainability Certificate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and an A.B. in Mathematics with a Finance Certificate from Princeton University. She presently serves on the nonprofit boards of Climate Central and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Additionally, she serves on the scientific advisory panels for the World Meteorological Organization and Food Security Leadership Council.
