We propose to establish a multi-disciplinary Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP). Led by the University of Surrey, CUSP will work with a range of academic and non-academic partners to establish a rich international network of collaborative research. The aim of this research will be to explore the economic, ecological, social and governance dimensions of sustainable prosperity and to make concrete recommendations to government, business and civil society in pursuit of it. Our guiding vision for sustainable prosperity is one in which people everywhere have the capability to flourish as human beings - within the ecological and resource constraints of a finite planet. Our work will explore not just the economic aspects of this challenge, but also its social, political and philosophical dimensions. We will address the implications of sustainable prosperity at the level of households and firms; and we will explore sector-level and macro-economic implications of different pathways to prosperity. We will pay particular attention to the pragmatic steps that need to be taken by enterprise, government and civil society in order to achieve a sustainable prosperity. The CUSP work programme is split into five themes (our MAPSS framework). Theme M explores the moral framing and contested meanings of prosperity itself. Taking a broadly philosophical approach we examine how people, enterprise and government negotiate the tensions between sustainability and prosperity. Theme A explores the role of the arts and of culture in our society. We will look not only at the role of the arts in communicating sustainability but at culture as a vital element in prosperity itself. Theme P addresses the politics of sustainable prosperity and explores the institutional shifts that will be needed to achieve it. We will work closely with both corporate and social enterprise to test new models of sustainability for business. Theme S1 explores the social and psychological dimensions of prosperity. We will work with households and individuals in order to understand how people negotiate their aspirations for the good life. As part of this theme we will engage with UNEP in a major study of young people's lifestyles across the world. Theme S2 examines the complex dynamics of social and economic systems on which sustainable prosperity depends. We will address in particular the challenge of achieving financial stability and high employment under conditions of constrained resource consumption. Alongside our MAPSS work programme, we will initiate a major international Sustainable Prosperity Dialogue (chaired by Dr Rowan Williams - former Archbishop of Canterbury and Master of Magdalene College Cambridge). We will also establish an international network of CUSP Fellows from both academic and non-academic institutions.

Climate and environmental (CE) risks (CER) to our economy and society are accelerating. CER include climate-related physical risks such as floods, storms, or changing growing seasons; climate-related transition risks such as carbon pricing and climate litigation; and environmental risks such as biodiversity loss. It is now well accepted that CER can impact asset values across multiple sectors and pose a threat to the solvency of financial institutions (FIs). This can cause cascading effects with the potential to undermine financial stability. The adoption of CER analytics will ensure that CE risks can be properly measured, priced, and managed by individual FIs and across the financial system. This is also a necessary condition to ensure that capital is allocated by FIs towards technologies, infrastructure, and business models that lower CER, which are also those required to deliver the net zero carbon transition, climate resilience, and sustainable development. These twin tracks - greening finance and financing green - are both enabled by CER analytics being appropriately used by FIs. The UK is a world-leader in Green Finance (GF). UK FIs have played a key role in GF innovation. Yet, despite these advances and leadership in almost every aspect of GF, UK FIs cannot secure the data and analytics needed to properly measure and manage their exposures to CER. While the last decade has seen the exponential growth of CE data, as well as improved analytics and methods, often produced by world-leading UK science, the vast majority of this has not found its way into FI decision-making. Our vision for CERAF is to establish a new national centre to resolve this disconnect. CERAF aims to enable a step-change in the provision and accessibility of data, analytics, and guidance and accelerate the integration of CER into products and decisions by FIs to manage CER risks and drive efficient and sustainable investment decisions, thereby delivering the following impacts: - Enhance the solvency of individual FIs in the UK and globally and so contribute to the resilience of the global financial system as a whole for all, as well the efficient pricing and reallocation of capital away from assets at risk to those that are more resilient. - Underpin the development and the growth of UK GF-related products and services. - Enable a vibrant ecosystem of UK enterprises providing CER analytics and realise the opportunity for UK plc of being a world-leader in the creation and provision of CER services. Our vision is that CERAF will be the nucleus of a new national centre established to deliver world-leading research, information, and innovation to systematically accelerate the adoption and use of CER data and analytics by FIs and to unlock opportunities for the UK to lead internationally in delivering CER services to support advancements in greening finance and financing green globally It aims to overcome the following barriers: 1) Making existing data on hazards, vulnerabilities, and exposures more accessible and useable for FIs, with clearly communicated confidence and with analytics that does not yet exist being secured; 2) Consistency and standards to reduce fragmentation, facilitate innovative products and enable the efficient flow and use of data; 3) Assurance and suitability are needed to understand which CER analytics are best suited for particular uses and provide transparency into underlying data and methodologies, so that CER analytics can be trusted and used; 4) Unlocking innovation through supporting FIs to test new approaches in a lower-risk way; and 5) Building capability, knowledge, and skills within FIs to analyse and interpret CER data. Resolving these barriers is a necessary condition for repricing capital and avoiding its misallocation, and achieving the UK's ambitions on GF.