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Hidden harms: exploring the economic and financial consequences of deforestation

Hosted by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment

In-person and online public event (Old Theatre, Old Building)

Speakers

Elena Almeida

Professor Alexandre Antonelli

Luiz Awazu Pereira da Silva

Irene Heemskerk

Chair

Rob Patalano

This event aims at addressing the often overlooked yet profound economic and financial consequences of deforestation.

This event will delve into the intricate links between forest ecosystems and global economic systems, highlighting how nature loss affects the economy and financial system. Through the lens of deforestation as a primary driver of nature loss, this presentation will focus on the interplay between forest ecosystems and both economic and social dimensions. It will examine the economic and financial risks associated with deforestation, analysing key transmission channels such as supply chains, trade, and international governance.

The panel discussion will focus on persistent challenges in:

- progressing understanding nature loss in the context of price stability considerations

- developing stringent global forest governance despite progress made on the Global Biodiversity Framework

- opportunities for innovative policy interventions such as the role of trade, supply chains, and international forest governance to address deforestation and its risks.

Meet our speakers and chair

Elena Almeida is a senior policy fellow at the Grantham Research Institute’s Centre for Economic Transition Expertise (CETEx), focusing on nature-related financial risks and central banking. She led the NGFS-INSPIRE Study Group on biodiversity loss and financial stability and co-authored its key report.

Alexandre Antonelli is the Director of Science at the Royal Botanical Gardens Kew in London. He is also Professor in Biodiversity and Systematics at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and was the founder and first Director of the Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre. Antonelli’s mission is to stop biodiversity loss. To tackle this major challenge, he studies the distribution and evolution of species and develops methods to speed up scientific discovery.

Luiz Awazu Pereira da Silva was Deputy General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) from 2015 to 2023, also serving as acting Chief Risk Officer and chairing key committees on diversity, inclusion, and sustainability. Previously, he was Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Brazil and held various roles at the World Bank in Washington DC, Tokyo, and southern Africa.

Irene Heemskerk has led the ECB’s Climate Change Centre since June 2021, steering its climate and nature-related agenda. Previously, she worked at De Nederlandsche Bank and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and has long been involved with the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS). The ECB launched its Climate Change Centre in 2021 to coordinate its climate strategy, later expanding its focus to nature-related risks.

From March 2025 Rob Patalano will be Executive Director in CETEx and Professor in Practice in the Grantham Research Institute. He brings extensive experience in central banking, international financial policy and climate issues.

More about this event

Join us on campus or register to watch the event online at LSE Live. LSE Live is the home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.

The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment (@GRI_LSE) was established by the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2008 to create a world-leading multidisciplinary centre for policy-relevant research and training on climate change and the environment, bringing together international expertise from across LSE and beyond, including on economics, finance, geography, the environment, science, law, international relations, development and political science.

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This public event is free and open to all. This event will be a hybrid event, with an in-person audience and an online audience.

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For the online event: Registration for this event via LSE Live will open in mid April.

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