The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority is partnering with the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group on an innovation lab for ESG practitioners and regulators.

Announced July 20, the Oxford Sustainable Finance Lab is scheduled to open in the fall at Oxford University in England.

Oxford researchers will spend time with practitioners from financial institutions, regulators, central banks, government departments and professional organizations. The goal is “nurturing interactions between different parts of the financial system and (to) break down barriers between them, providing a space for the global community to align finance and investment with global environmental sustainability,” the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, a multidisciplinary center for research and education on ESG and finance, said in a release announcing the lab.

Lab founder Ben Caldecott, director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group and the Lombard Odier Associate Professor of Sustainable Finance at the University of Oxford, said the lab will conceive, test and scale “urgently needed innovations in sustainable finance.”

Sacha Sadan, director of ESG for the Financial Conduct Authority in London, said the collaboration should drive productive partnerships. “In a fast-moving and challenging space, positive ESG outcomes will depend on sharing experiences and providing mutual support. This partnership is a great opportunity to contribute and collaborate to the advancement of knowledge in the ESG space, and we are so pleased to participate as a founding member,” Mr. Sadan said in the announcement.

The Oxford Sustainable Finance Group already partners with the Public and Third Sector Academy for Sustainable Finance on an ESG in finance course for regulators, central and development bank officials and other practitioners.

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