The Influence of the Finance Sector on Global Material Flows: Anastasia Gives Guest Lecture at University of Lausanne

Anastasia Linn presenting to Environmental Studies students at the University of Lausanne as part of the course ‘Social management of material flows’.

Finance currently has a huge influence over where and how resources flow in the current economy. This includes money, of course, but also influences the movement or stagnation of other forms of value like material goods or human workers.

How might aligning the financial system with planetary boundaries change those flows, and why would such a transition leave us better off?

In her Guest Lecture at University of Lausanne (UNIL) on February 27th, 2026, Anastasia Linn spoke about how investment patterns influence what's possible in today's economy and how we at Arketa Institute have been working with other financial professionals to start changing the decision criteria.

The lecture was part of Prof. Julia Steinberger's course on the 'Social Management of Material Flows' (Gestion sociale de flux de matière), led by Lorenz Keyßer. Steinberger is a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report and one of the three leads of the REAL project, a scientific research project focused on p0st-growth transformations funded by the European Research Council.

For more on why we think a financial system based on Ecological Economics would be better equipped to address the challenges of the 21st Century, see our first report.