Rebekah Markey-Towler
PhD candidate
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
Fit for purpose? Financial / climate regulation of climate change impacts to banks’ mortgage portfolios
Thesis Summary
This thesis aims to investigate whether financial / climate regulation of climate change impacts to banks’ mortgage portfolios is fit for purpose. While it is not uncommon to hear of banks’ role in financing the transition to a low-carbon economy, they are perhaps more significantly exposed to climate change impacts in their mortgage portfolios. This thesis expects to contribute solutions to an important problem (managing the impacts of climate change to the financial sector and beyond) by bringing together knowledge in new ways from financial law, climate law and regulatory theory. It aims to identify whether regulation is ‘fit for purpose’ and possible approaches going forwards.