In his PhD Matthias explores how financial market actors govern their relationships with the environment. The research aims at understanding and explaining a) why specific financial governance arrangements relating to the environment emerge and how they are designed, b) how norms, rules and standards within said governance arrangements are being contested, constructed and legitimised and c) how these norms, rules and standards are being distributed, institutionalised and marketized within financial markets. Matthias’ thesis focuses on the case of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

Before joining LSE in 2017 Matthias was a Fulbright student at the School for the Environment, University of Massachusetts Boston, where he also worked as a research assistant. Previously, he held various positions as research assistant at the University of Bremen, the European Institute for Public Participation in Bremen, the LMU Munich and the Institute for Contemporary History Munich. He received a B.A. in Political Science and History from LMU Munich and a M.A. in International Relations from the University of Bremen and the Jacobs University Bremen.

Research interests 

Transnational environmental governance; political economy of the environment; sociology of finance; STS; sustainable finance