About SCRF

Built on the conviction that credible, independent research is the most powerful instrument for aligning capital with climate.

Sustainable Capital Research Foundation is an independent research, policy advisory, and thought leadership institution at the forefront of carbon markets, sustainable finance, and climate policy. We work with governments, regulators, financial institutions, and corporates navigating the economics and architecture of the global sustainability transition. Headquartered in India, we are the leading independent research voice on emerging market climate finance, and bring a genuinely global perspective to every question we engage with.

Our Story

Founded on a Conviction

The Sustainable Capital Research Foundation was established on a clear conviction: that markets are the most powerful instruments available for the sustainability transition, but only when they are grounded in rigorous, independent research and anchored in credible data.

We saw a gap between the pace of global sustainability commitments and the quality of market infrastructure, policy frameworks, and research that could translate those commitments into real-world outcomes. SCRF was created to bridge that gap.

Operating as a fully independent, not-for-profit research foundation, we do not represent any industry constituency. Our only mandate is truth, producing research that is useful, honest, and actionable for the people who need it most: policymakers, investors, market operators, and communities navigating the sustainability transition.

Emerging economies sit at the heart of our work. They are where the most consequential climate decisions of the next decade will be made, where carbon markets and sustainable finance frameworks are being built from the ground up, and where the gap between global capital and local climate ambition remains widest. SCRF exists to close that gap, with the research depth, policy engagement, and institutional credibility that serious markets require and emerging economies deserve.

"Institutions exist to outlast the urgency that created them. We built SCRF for the decade after the headlines, when the hard, unglamorous work of market design and policy architecture actually determines whether any of this meant anything."

Shaurya Ritwik, Director, SCRF

Our Purpose

Vision & Mission

Our Vision

A world in which capital markets are fully aligned with the demands of sustainability, where carbon is priced honestly, where green finance is channelled efficiently, and where the Global South is not a passive recipient of climate finance but an active architect of the markets that govern it.

Our Mission

To produce rigorous, independent research, shape credible policy, and build the market infrastructure and institutional frameworks that align global capital with the demands of a sustainable and just transition.

What We Study

Our Research Disciplines

Five interconnected disciplines, each representing a distinct area of analytical depth where SCRF sets the intellectual standard for independent, evidence-based work.

Carbon Markets, Credit Integrity & Nature-Based Solutions

The design, governance, and integrity of voluntary and compliance carbon markets globally, including credit typologies, MRV standards, Article 6 implementation, registry architecture, and the science and economics of forest carbon, blue carbon, soil carbon, and emerging biodiversity credit markets.

Sustainable & Transition Finance

Green bonds, sustainability-linked instruments, transition finance taxonomies, blended finance structures, and the disclosure and impact measurement frameworks that give investors and institutions confidence in climate-aligned capital deployment.

Climate Policy & Regulation

National climate commitments, carbon pricing mechanisms, Paris Agreement implementation, transition planning mandates, and the evolving regulatory landscape shaping sustainable capital markets across Asia and the Global South.

Corporate & Sectoral Transition

How industries, corporates, and cities develop and execute credible net-zero transition strategies, including science-based target frameworks, sector-level decarbonisation pathways, transition credibility assessment, and the alignment of corporate climate commitments with market and regulatory expectations.

Government & Institutional Advisory

The translation of research into policy and market architecture, through structured engagement with governments, regulators, development finance institutions, and corporates navigating net-zero transition strategy and sustainable finance frameworks.

Structure

Organisational Structure

SCRF operates as the parent foundation, with IISF as its dedicated education, credentialing, and capacity building arm, two distinct institutions, one unified mission.

Sustainable Capital Research Foundation

Parent Foundation, Research, Policy Advisory & Programs

Research Policy Advisory Programs

International Institute for Sustainable Finance (IISF)

Education, Credentialing & International Outreach

Education Credentialing Partnerships

IISF operates with its own brand, governance council, and international outreach mandate, drawing on SCRF's research base and operating under SCRF's board. The two institutions are designed to be complementary: SCRF generates the knowledge and policy frameworks; IISF builds the professional community equipped to apply them.

Visit IISF Website →

IISF

IISF Global Advisory Council

The International Institute for Sustainable Finance (IISF), SCRF's dedicated education and credentialing arm, is guided by a Global Advisory Council of senior practitioners, academics, and policymakers from the world's leading financial, development, and policy institutions. Their collective expertise spans sustainable finance, carbon markets, climate policy, and emerging market development across five continents, ensuring IISF's programmes reflect the highest standards of global practice.

Ms. Adina Manuela Relicovschi

Principal Advisor, Sustainable Finance European Investment Bank

Mr. Ali Shaker

Head of ESG & Sustainability The Zubair Corporation

Ms. Anna Jakobsen

EMEA Regional Service Leader, Social Impact & Human Rights ERM

Ms. Audrey Lim

Nature Finance Director Standard Chartered Bank

Dr. Diem Thi Thanh Hai

Head of Business Administration Department University of Greenwich (Hanoi Campus)

Dr. Kaiser H. Naseem

Leader in Global Development Finance Former World Bank

Ms. Meeta Misra, CFA

Chief Sustainability Officer Helicap

Dr. Nicole Kranz

Head of Climate Action and Disaster Resilience Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

Ms. Nikki Lizares

Head of Sustainability Security Bank Corporation

Mr. Rafi Cristobal

Founder Philanthropy for Sustainable Education Asia (PSEA)

Ms. Samantha Shin

Climate Policy Expert & Adjunct Lecturer Hult International Business School

Shaurya Ritwik

Professor of Practice (Strategy & Sustainable Finance), Strategic Director Solar Futures Alliance

Learn More About IISF →

Our Focus

Why Emerging Economies?

The sustainability transition will not be determined in the boardrooms of London, New York, or Tokyo. It will be won or lost across the emerging economies of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, where the largest populations live, where climate vulnerability is most acute, and where the financial and policy architecture for a credible transition is still being built.

These are the economies where carbon markets are nascent, where sustainable finance frameworks are being designed from the ground up, and where the decisions made in the next decade will set precedents for billions of people. They are also the economies most underserved by the global research and policy community.

India sits at the centre of this story. With a commitment to net zero by 2070, a 500GW renewable energy target by 2030, and 63 million MSMEs navigating the green transition, India's choices carry consequences that extend far beyond its borders. SCRF brings the depth of understanding these markets demand, and the independence they deserve.

$2.4T Annual emerging market climate finance gap

2030 Critical deadline for credible transition commitments

80% Share of future carbon market growth in the Global South

63M MSMEs in transition across India alone

Our Values

How We Work

Independence

Our research is funded by grants and philanthropy, never by market participants with a stake in our findings. We publish what the evidence shows.

Rigour

All research undergoes peer review or expert panel scrutiny before publication. We do not publish opinion dressed as evidence.

Accessibility

All publications are freely available. We believe knowledge that can improve sustainability outcomes should not sit behind paywalls.

Impact

We measure success not by citations alone but by whether our research shapes markets, policies, and institutions for the better.