Rebekkah (Bek) Markey-Towler is a PhD candidate at the Melbourne Law School. Her research spans across the fields of climate change law and litigation, financial law and corporate law. Her primary research interest is in the intersection of financial and climate change regulation, specifically looking at the regulation of climate change impacts to banks’ mortgage portfolios.
Prior to commencing her PhD, Bek has worked as a Research Fellow at Melbourne Climate Futures at the University of Melbourne and a Research Assistant at the Melbourne Law School. She was also an associate to a judge on the Federal Court of Australia, an English teacher in Japan, and holds a Bachelor of Arts/Law (Hons), majoring in Political Science and International Relations, from the University of Queensland.
Thesis Title
Climate action starts with home (loans): Law and regulation to address climate change in the context of banks’ mortgage lending
Thesis Summary
My thesis investigates what the network of regulatory actors in the field of practice of bank mortgage lending are doing about climate change mitigation and adaptation goals. Emerging literature around this problem, situated at the intersection of climate, banking and finance law, has largely focused on discussing discrete legal developments like adapting corporate and financial law tools to the climate context or the role of central banks and financial regulators in climate action. However, my thesis will contribute a more comprehensive approach. It will describe the regulatory network and critically evaluate what they are doing, with conclusions that have socio-legal significance in terms of law reform relevance.