Sustainable Finance Initiative is a cross-campus effort of the Precourt Institute for Energy.

Sustainable Finance Initiative

Membership

Affiliates Program

The objective of SFI’s Affiliate Program is to provide thought-leadership on the financial, policy and regulatory innovations required to enable investments that deliver effective and efficient zero-carbon transitions. SFI researchers work in consultation with practitioners to develop, deploy and disseminate these innovations into strategic implementation pathways that translate research into action. 

SFI Affiliate Members inform SFI’s research agenda and accelerate the translation of SFI’s findings into real world impacts. SFI’s relationship with its Affiliate Members is premised on a mutual understanding of the urgent need to:  

  • Reconcile the discord faced by corporate and financial organizations in conforming to recognized climate practices that signal their climate commitments yet fall short of clearly contributing to effective climate outcomes; 
  • Respond to pressure for improved and accelerated climate actions in the face of unresolved uncertainties about their ultimate consequences;  
  • Collaborate with committed partners across academia, industry, government and civil society in shaping the still unsettled frontier of Paris-compatible climate action. 


A central pillar of SFI’s original, pathbreaking research agenda is focused on advancing foundational carbon accounting methods and carbon management frameworks capable of withstanding the forces required to: (1) scale investment in decarbonization from billions to trillions; (2) drive demand for carbon removal (both nature- and technology-based); (3) create strong price signals for carbon management; (4) fix global carbon markets; (5) enable rational capital allocation decision-making for transition finance; (6) align corporate, national, and global carbon ledgers.  

SFI Affiliate Members inform key lines of inquiry in the SFI research agenda and to shape the dissemination and implementation of SFI findings. Members can not only help shape the future of sustainable finance, but also have the opportunity to learn from SFI affiliated faculty and other Affiliate members and gain strategic advantages as early adopters of new tools, methods, and frameworks.  

Membership Benefits

The SFI Affiliate Program offers companies and institutions the following benefits, which vary depending upon membership level.

Corporate Membership ($100,000 / year; 2-year minimum)

  • Invitations to the SFI Annual Affiliates Meeting
  • Invitations to SFI convenings and workshops, including a bi-annual forum for sharing recent research updates, publication advisory, and outreach agenda
  • Invitations to attend events and activities at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
  • Facilitated access to SFI research publications, reports and newsletters
  • Facilitated engagement with Stanford faculty, researchers and students, including recruitment opportunities  
  • Recognition on the SFI website

Sustaining Membership ($250,000 / year) 

  • All benefits included at the Corporate Membership level  
  • Invitation to schedule executive consultation with SFI researchers including SFI-affiliated faculty and students
  • Opportunity to initiate a collaboration project of mutual interest to SFI researchers and affiliated faculty and students, including masters-, doctoral- and postdoctoral-level researchers
  • Opportunity to participate in the design and/or implementation of pilot programs
  • Opportunity to join SFI’s Advisory Board

Affiliated Faculty and Researchers


All SFI Memberships are subject to Stanford University Policies for Industry Affiliates Program. Companies join by paying an annual affiliate membership fee. Affiliate-funded research is open to all members of the program and does not include IP terms.

Affiliate Program members may provide additional funding. All research results arising from the use of the additional funding will be shared with all program members and the general public.  Affiliate Program members may request the additional funding be used to support a particular area of program research identified on the program’s website, or the program research of a named faculty member, as long as the faculty is identified on the program website as participating in the Affiliate Program. In either instance, the director of the Affiliate Program will determine how the additional funding will be used in the program’s research. For more information see Stanford University's Affiliate Policy: Establishment of Industrial Affiliates and Related Membership-Supported Programs. 

Additional funding and engagement may come in the following forms:

  • Sponsored Research Collaborations: A focused collaborative research project working with one or more faculty investigators. Companies might choose this path if they have very focused goals (e.g., a technical challenge specific to their company) and/or concerns about confidentiality, IP or proprietary data. Each sponsored research project has its own budget (including full indirect costs) and terms and conditions. Cash payments are made in accordance with the project timeline and budget.  
  • Gifts: A company interested in broader support for SFI, a particular lab, or research project might choose to support that engagement via gift funding. Gift support for graduate or postgraduate fellowships is an ideal way for companies to connect with students. Gifts to support programs or research must be “no strings attached.” Gifts are subject to a modest infrastructure charge. Cash gifts are typically made on an annual basis to allow for timely academic planning for the use of those gifts.
  • In-Kind Gifts: Companies may have unique equipment or data relevant to the Initiative’s research and could participate in the Initiative by contributing these as in-kind gifts. Given their unique nature, in-kind gifts are typically handled in an ad hoc manner with agreements tailored to each contribution. Acceptance and valuation of in-kind gifts is at the discretion of our faculty.

Current Members

If you're interested in joining the SFI Affiliates Program, please reach out to Alicia Seiger, SFI Managing Director, at aseiger@stanford.edu.