Advancing Sustainable Finance Through Research, Education, and Student Engagement

The CIBC Office of Sustainable Finance was one of the first themed offices established under McGill’s Sustainable Growth Initiative (SGI), reflecting SGI’s early recognition of sustainable finance as a critical area for interdisciplinary research, education, experiential learning, and collaboration with industry.

Student Opportunities and Experiential Learning

The Office supports high-impact learning opportunities that enable students to apply their knowledge to real-world sustainability and finance challenges.

Under the academic leadership of Professor Katrin Tinn, the Office is entering its next phase of development with a focus on purposeful, high-impact opportunities for students and researchers.

Planning for the years ahead is centered on ensuring continuity, clarity, and momentum. The Office will prioritize a focused set of activities that can be delivered effectively while creating meaningful opportunities for McGill students to learn about and contribute to sustainable finance beyond the classroom.

These opportunities combine academic learning with hands-on experience, allowing students to engage directly with complex sustainability and investment challenges.

McGill International Portfolio Challenge

The McGill International Portfolio Challenge (MIPC) is a leading buy-side finance case competition focused on pension funds, institutional asset management, and innovative portfolio design.

Innovation for Impact

The Innovation for Impact is a competition that encourages undergraduate and graduate students to develop practical and innovative solutions with positive environmental, social, or governance outcomes.

Research Funding Opportunities

Supporting research is central to the Office’s mandate. Upcoming activities will include new research funding opportunities designed to encourage scholarship and interdisciplinary collaboration in sustainable finance and related fields.

These opportunities may support work that:

• advances knowledge in sustainable finance, responsible investment, climate finance, biodiversity finance, or social impact;
• brings together researchers from different faculties and disciplines;
• responds to challenges identified by industry and policy partners;
• creates opportunities for student participation and research training; and
• translates academic findings into tools, recommendations, or insights for decision-makers.

Details about eligibility, funding levels, application requirements, and timelines will be announced as they become available.

Sustainability-Focused Awards

The Office is developing new sustainability-focused awards to recognize and encourage outstanding student work.

The awards will celebrate projects, research, and ideas that demonstrate academic quality, creativity, practical relevance, and the potential to generate meaningful environmental or social impact.

Additional information—including award categories, eligibility requirements, evaluation criteria, application procedures, and deadlines—will be shared soon.

Coming soon: Details about research funding opportunities, sustainability-focused awards, student competitions, and other ways to get involved with the CIBC Office of Sustainable Finance.

Academic Leadership

In 2025, Professor Katrin Tinn assumed the role of Academic Head of the CIBC Office of Sustainable Finance, succeeding Professor Peer Zumbansen. Professor Tinn brings renewed academic leadership to the Office as it defines its next phase of programming, research support, and student engagement.

Building on the Office’s established foundation, she will help guide focused opportunities that strengthen sustainable finance research, support student development, and connect McGill’s academic community with external partners.

Building on a Strong Foundation

Under Professor Zumbansen’s leadership, the Office contributed to several interdisciplinary initiatives, including:

• the McGill SGI Research Papers in Business, Finance, Law & Society;
• the Business & Society Speaker and Workshop Series;
• spring and fall conferences focused on environmental, social, and governance issues;
• the McGill Business Law Meter; and
• the Transformative Business Law Summer Academy, an international policy research and writing program launched in 2023 and offered again in 2025.

These initiatives created a strong foundation for the Office’s next phase. Moving forward, the Office will draw on these experiences while directing its resources toward feasible, visible, and impactful opportunities for students, researchers, the University, and external partners.