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Building a more inclusive financial system requires understanding not only who receives capital, but also who gets the opportunity to provide it.

In this study, Johan Sulaeman (Director, SGFIN) and his co-authors examine whether startups respond differently to male and female investors. Using a large-scale randomized field experiment involving more than 40,000 U.S. startups, the authors send otherwise identical investment outreach from fictitious male and female investors.

The results reveal substantial gender differences at the very first stage of investor–startup matching. Startups are 23% more likely to open an email from a male investor and 27% more likely to visit his website than those of an otherwise identical female investor. The gender gap is particularly pronounced for angel investors, and professional credentials – which increase engagement for male investors – can actually reduce engagement with female investors.

The findings highlight an important dimension of inclusive and sustainable finance: gender-based frictions can affect not only entrepreneurs’ access to capital, but also investors’ access to investment opportunities and deal flow.

SGFIN LinkedIn | Financial Management journal article

Sustainability is no longer shaped only by governments, businesses and financial institutions. It is also influenced by the everyday choices of households. This publication offers a timely perspective on how household decisions can contribute to a greener, fairer and more prosperous future. By connecting sustainability with household behaviour, financial decision-making and broader societal outcomes, it highlights an often-overlooked dimension of the sustainability transition. The work provides valuable insights for researchers, policymakers and practitioners seeking to understand how individual choices can collectively drive meaningful change. It reinforces the importance of placing people and households at the heart of the sustainability agenda.

SGFIN LinkedIn | World Scientific – Household Sustainability

Agarwal, S., Wang, L., & Yang, Y. (2026). Online consumption and sustained air pollution exposure: Evidence from a quasi-experiment in China. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 121 (104267). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2026.104267

This study examines how air pollution affects household consumption in the digital economy. Using a proprietary dataset constructed from more than 500 million online transactions across 291 Chinese cities from 2017 to 2019, we study how online spending changes when pollution rises. To identify causal effects, we exploit quasi-exogenous variation in air quality generated by China’s winter heating policy and implement a difference-in-differences design comparing northern and southern cities around the heating period. We find that pollution increases online spending on health-related products and necessities and reduces spending on non-essential goods. The response is concentrated in the heating period itself, with little evidence of stockpiling before or delayed adjustment afterward. Item-level evidence shows that the increase in spending operates mainly through higher quantities purchased rather than higher payment per item. Additional evidence from Baidu search activity suggests that the spending response is associated with greater attention to pollution risks and protective products, as well as worse mood.

Gefen, O., D. Reeb, and J. Sulaeman.(2026). Choosing Startup Investors: Does Gender Matter? Financial Management. https://doi.org/10.1111/fima.70063

We investigate whether startups respond differently to male and female investors during outbound origination, a setting where ale investors often report being marginalized by male founders. Using a randomized field experiment, we examine gender differences in startups’ responses to investor outreach. Leveraging the rapid increase in outbound origination, our field experiment involves 40,572 startups sending identical unsolicited emails from fictitious male and female investors. Startups are substantially more likely to read emails from male investors, visit their websites, and attempt to make contact. This pattern is stronger for angel investors than for VC investors. Disclosing professional certifications increases a male investor’s email’s likelihood of being read but reduces the corresponding female investor’s chances. A second experiment with 4836 recently incorporated startups reveals similar gender-based choices. The findings provide large-scale field evidence suggesting that gender-based frictions in entrepreneurial finance may extend beyond founders’ access to capital to investors’ access to deal flow.

Lin Xu, Y., Meili, N., Chen, M., Ren, J., Mahto, S. S., & Galelli, S., et al. (2026). Singapore water budget: The past, the present, and the future. Water Resources Research, 62, e2025WR041411. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025WR041411

Urbanization and climate change profoundly impact hydrological processes and the associated water budget, challenging sustainable water management. In this study, we use a distributed mechanistic ecohydrological model adapted for urban environments to quantify changes in the hydrological budget components in response to urbanization, as well as projected future climate conditions and additional land cover changes. The city of Singapore is selected as the study site, given the high complexity of its water management system that integrates elements highly relevant to similar tropical urban settings, where the presented framework can be applicable. Results reveal that, compared to a pristine landscape in Singapore, urbanization has increased sensible heat flux by ∼5% and decreased latent heat flux by ∼11%. This is accompanied by a ∼32% reduction in total transpiration and a ∼16% increase in runoff. Climate change scenarios with higher temperature and elevated atmospheric CO2 levels show minimal impact on total evapotranspiration; therefore, runoff is very much dependent on the potential changes in future precipitation. Notably, the response of vegetation is shown to be relevant for long-term urban hydrology, with higher CO2 concentrations projected in the future significantly reducing the simulated stomatal conductance, which results in decreased transpiration rates broadly compensated by increased evaporation. By quantifying how urbanization and climate change can jointly impact hydrological budget components, this study demonstrates the significance of urban ecohydrology for a proper assessment of water resources, which is highly relevant to Water Sensitive Urban Design, in Singapore as well other cities.

Zhang, W., Jefferson, Zhang, F., Zhang, J., Or, F. X., Wong, E.Z.H., and Wong, S.J. (2026). Keppel Bay Tower: Valuing What A Green Retrofit Delivers, SGFIN-Keppel Case Study, National University of Singapore. https://sgfin.nus.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/KBT-case-study.pdf

In an interview with CNA, Professor Sumit Agarwal, Managing Director of SGFIN, expressed his opinion that AI and sustainability are symbiotically aligned, not contradictory. He argued that AI can help advance the sustainability agenda, while sustainability principles should shape how AI is developed and deployed. On broader strategy, he supported Temasek’s rising AI investment given its general-purpose, cross-industry transferability, despite execution risks from high valuations.  On sustainability, he stressed that success lies in whether capital accelerates the shift to a low-carbon economy, not just falling portfolio emissions.

CNA Interview | SGFIN LinkedIn

On CNA938 Rewind, Professor Johan Sulaeman, Director of the Sustainable and Green Finance Institute at NUS, discussed the World Bank’s decision to phase out lending to China by 2031. He observed that the decision is partly technical but also symbolic, as China is now treated as a facilitator and supporter of the Bank. The phase-out reflects a reprioritisation of lending towards the poorest economies, yet this does not mean retreating from climate adaptation: physical climate risks continue to rise and fall disproportionately on poorer countries, so development finance and climate resilience remain deeply connected.

CNA938 Rewind | SGFIN LinkedIn

In The Business Times, Professor Johan Sulaeman, Director of the Sustainable and Green Finance Institute at NUS, examines the investor bargain behind SpaceX’s listing and the wider Musk ecosystem, including xAI’s rapid AI buildout. AI data centres require vast electricity, water, land and cooling infrastructure. Yet investors buying into founder-controlled structures may have limited power to influence how these environmental risks are managed. This highlights a core challenge in sustainable finance: the AI economy’s physical footprint must be measured, governed and priced.

The Business Times | SGFIN LinkedIn

In The Business Times (16 June 2026), Professor Johan Sulaeman, Director of the Sustainable and Green Finance Institute at NUS, underscores how banks can better manage indirect exposure to coal in sectors producing transition-critical minerals. Coal-powered industrial operations face rising decarbonisation pressures, from trade measures to shifting buyer expectations. Rather than blanket exclusions, a more calibrated approach is needed: credible transition pathways, declining emissions-intensity thresholds, and enhanced disclosure. This highlights a core tension in sustainable finance, supporting essential low-carbon materials while avoiding carbon lock-in.

The Business Times | SGFIN LinkedIn