CLFI works to understand the potential impacts of and improve means of accounting for climate risk and resilience factors in decisions concerning investment portfolios, assets and operations, litigation, and policymaking.
Pillar Lead
Cynthia Hanawalt
Director of Climate Finance & Regulation, Sabin Center
Cynthia Hanawalt is the Director of the Sabin Center’s financial regulation practice. Her work supports regulatory and policy responses to climate-related financial risk at the federal and state level and includes a focus on the complex intersections of ESG and antitrust law with sustainability goals and climate resiliency measures. Cynthia is affiliated with Columbia Climate School and the Initiative for Climate Risk & Resilience Law. She is a frequent speaker and media source and writes regularly on issues of climate law and finance.
Prior to joining the Sabin Center, Cynthia served as Chief of the Investor Protection Bureau for the New York State Office of the Attorney General. Under her leadership, the Bureau recovered over $850M on behalf of New York investors and achieved groundbreaking results in electronic trading and cryptocurrency matters. Previously, she was a litigation partner at the firm Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP.
Cynthia serves as a Trustee and Chair of the Audit Committee of Wave Hill, a public garden and cultural center in the Bronx. She is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and Duke University, where she received the William J. Griffith University Service Award.
Cynthia Hanawalt
Director of Climate Finance & Regulation
Sabin Center
