Dr. Christian Morin Elliott, Political Scientist

Welcome! 

I am an Assistant Professor of Sustainability and Political Science at Penn State's School of International Affairs. 

My research examines how financial companies, investors, and financial regulators respond to the climate crisis. Those responses, often collaborative and global in scope, entail partnerships with international organizations, the development of technical standards for "green" financial products, and the promotion of new norms for how to effectively finance the climate transition. I'm especially interested in how these partnerships, standards, and norms emerge, who has influence over them, and what their effects may be for decarbonization and the organization of the global financial system. 

My work has been published in the Review of International Political Economy, Regulation & Governance, International Theory, and International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law, and Economics, among other journals. I have also contributed chapters to edited volumes: Uncertainty in Global Politics (2023, Routledge) and The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Environmental Politics (2021, Oxford University Press). 

Previously, I was a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Postdoctoral Fellow at Brown University's Climate Solutions Lab. I received my Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Toronto, where I was a SSHRC Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholar from 2020-2023, and a graduate researcher with the Environmental Governance Lab.