Competence and Transfer Center (CTC)

The House of Finance is a hub for economic and legal research, focusing on sustainable finance and regulatory issues. It also serves as a bridge to sustainability research conducted in the social sciences and natural sciences at Goethe University Frankfurt and its affiliated research institutions.

In line with this role, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in April 2024 between the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), which has been based in Frankfurt am Main since 2022, and Goethe University Frankfurt, assigned the House of Finance a coordination and transfer function. This role supports an academic and interdisciplinary network collaborating with the ISSB’s office.

To fulfill this task, the Competence and Transfer Center (CTC) for Sustainable Finance and Regulation, funded by the Innovation Fund of the State of Hesse, was established at the House of Finance and commenced operations in autumn 2024.

Additional partners in the MoU network include the university’s Sustainability & Biodiversity profile area and the Department of Economics, along with the following research institutions: the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE, the Senckenberg Nature Research Society, the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE), and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UfZ), as well as the German Accounting Standards Committee (DRSC).

Together with this interdisciplinary “ecosystem,” the CTC organizes workshops to foster dialogue on topics such as financing the sustainability transition, sustainability reporting, and the underlying data. These events target researchers, standard-setters, and practitioners alike. A current focus of the network’s activities is research related to biodiversity finance.