Paul Harris, Sustainable Product Innovation Lead with Bank of Ireland, recently won the IOB Future of Finance Award for Positive Impact on Sustainability.
From his role in designing Ireland’s first carbon-linked investment in 2004, to his leadership of ground-breaking renewable energy, social finance and biodiversity finance products, Paul has been at the forefront of sustainable finance innovation in Ireland for over 20 years.
His nomination for the Awards highlighted Paul’s influence across the ESG spectrum in financial services, from renewable energy to carbon and social finance.
We speak with Paul about his career journey in sustainable finance and his passion for curiosity, innovation and knowledge sharing.
Graduating from City of London University with a degree in Accountancy, Law & Economics there was an inevitability that I would end up working in banking. I started off trading Eurobonds for a Canadian bank and after a short while switched to Sovereign Bonds, then futures, swaps and options, then securitization and structured products. I have a low boredom threshold and an extremely curious nature which explains the drive to explore a wide range of markets – I’ve always been on the lookout for the ‘next thing’.
The migration into product solutions and corporate treasury was probably a reflection of this and a great way of using and adapting my accumulated knowledge to deliver solutions.
I didn’t consciously decide to move into sustainability, it was more of a natural progression for me. I became intrigued by the carbon markets in around 2003 and established Bank of Ireland’s capability in carbon markets in 2004. It’s impossible to operate in the carbon markets without an appreciation of all aspects of green finance – and my natural curiosity spurred me on to learn as much as possible – everything from anaerobic digestion to weather derivatives. The constant evolution in this space has kept me interested – and learning – ever since.
The Bank was approached by Coillte with a challenge – to finance the non-commercial planting of new native woodlands in Ireland. That was a really interesting problem to solve without any immediately obvious solution. The product I designed is a testament to the skill and expertise of a number of people – lawyers, scientists, environmentalists, consultants and of course, the expert team in Coillte – who helped me hone the idea into a viable product proposition.
The biggest challenge was crafting something that put a price on the value of an environmental asset in such a way as not to ‘commoditize nature’. It’s a fine distinction that was fairly tricky to sell at a time when nature finance was very much in its infancy.
Whilst I do appreciate the positive social and environmental impacts of my work, I view these outcomes as a measure of the effectiveness of the products I develop. For example, 1.8 million trees is a significant contribution to the repair of biodiversity in Ireland, but I derive more satisfaction from the creation of a product that securitized ecosystem services for the first time – and provides a blueprint for others to replicate. I’m a financial engineer first and a pin-striped eco-warrior second!
When I embarked on my sustainability journey there were no courses or qualifications available. Consequently, I am entirely self-taught. Between huge amounts of reading and incessant questioning of really smart experts who have been so generous with their time – I’ve accumulated a great deal of knowledge.
Given the enormity of the challenge to transition to a low carbon economy, and the acute biodiversity crisis, it is important to be evangelical and ensure knowledge is shared. I do enjoy lecturing -it is so gratifying to see so many of the students I taught at DCU making really important impacts across the sustainability landscape in Ireland.
I am thankful that my current boss had the vision and insight to understand the importance of product solutions in the context of sustainability, and trust me with the responsibility of leading out in this area. The role enables me to be curious, creative and problem solve – absolutely key components to my job satisfaction! The challenge of a blank page and an issue to resolve never gets boring.
Bit of a trick question as, ultimately, sustainability considerations will shade every aspect of financial services. I would encourage everyone to upskill across as broad a range as possible within the sustainability sphere – it definitely will be time well spent.
It is a humbling experience first and foremost to be nominated and short-listed. To win the award was amazing – my journey in sustainability has been a hard slog at times and tremendously intellectually challenging – so the award is (probably) as much for my tenacity as for my achievements.
I cut my teeth in financial services when the mantra was “Greed is good!”. I think financial services is in a much better place now. The understanding that our institutions have an integral part to play in the communities they serve as catalysts for societal change is pretty much a given (well, in Europe anyway). I hope that now financial institutions know that acting sustainably and making money are not mutually exclusive, we will eventually see sustainability totally embedded into BAU and the resulting positive impacts delivering positive change.
Paul Harris won the IOB Future of Finance Award for Positive Impact on Sustainability. Learn more about the IOB Future of Finance Awards 2025 winners here.