Saphira Rekker

Dr. Saphira Rekker is a Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Finance at The University of Queensland's School of Business (Faculty of Business, Economics and Law) and a Senior Research Fellow at the UQ Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation (Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology). Her work bridges finance and climate science to develop tools for measuring corporate decarbonization commitments.

Her educational background includes a PhD in Finance, Graduate Diploma in Environmental Management and Sustainability, and Master's (Coursework) from Tilburg University. Key qualifications:

• Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
• Graduate Diploma of Environmental Management and Sustainability, The University of Queensland
• Masters (Coursework), Tilburg University

Rekker's research focuses on Paris Agreement compliance measurement, science-based target methodologies, and corporate climate accountability. She leads the Are You Paris Compliant program (UQ/Oxford/Princeton collaboration) and contributes to the Science Based Targets initiative's oil and gas working group. Her work directly informs EU climate benchmarking regulations and has driven global attention through publications in Nature Climate Change and Nature Communications.

Her publication trends reveal three dominant themes: (1) Corporate climate performance metrics (e.g., Paris Compliance frameworks), (2) Fossil fuel industry alignment with 1.5°C pathways, and (3) Cross-border capital flows in decarbonization. Recent work increasingly integrates equity principles and examines climate activism drivers across 88 countries.

Award highlights:

• ARC DECRA Fellowship (2024-2027, $430k+)
• Best Paper Award 2021 (Business & Society)
• UQBS Excellence in Innovation Award
• UN Responsible Investment Essay Competition (2018)

She actively supervises PhD candidates on Paris alignment in finance and corporate compliance while securing $780,074.26 across six grants including the ARC DECRA project 'Paris-compliance: assessing companies and portfolios'. Her industry collaborations include Norges Bank Investment Management and Aurecon Australasia. Rekker also co-leads Australia's first Carbon Literacy course and serves as UQ's Unisuper academic representative.

Rekker directs the Are You Paris Compliant program and contributes to the Dow Centre's E-Mobility and Green Hydrogen Production research streams. She serves on the Science Based Targets initiative's Technical Working Group for oil and gas and advises the EU on climate benchmarking regulations through quantified methodologies that survived multiple regulatory revisions.