Dr Celine McInerney

Biography

Expertise in climate finance, sustainability, climate risk, decarbonisation, stranded asset risk, 
governance, climate reporting. Celine teaches undergraduate and postgraduate finance, accounting and 
corporate finance courses.

Celine's current research is focused on how climate risk impacts corporate strategy, profitability, credit 
risk and ability to access finance generally. There are also significant policy elements to her 
research around incentivising investment in low carbon technologies and decarbonisation 
generally. In the period 2014 to 2019, Celine secured research funding of over €6m with over €2.2m as 
Principal Investigator from the EPA, SEAI, Irish Research Council, European Commission. She took 
a career break in the period 2020-2024. She has published in journals including: Journal of 
Corporate Finance, Energy Economics, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Energy 
Policy, the Energy Journal, Energy Research and Social Science, Local Economy. Celine has
supervised PhD students and Masters students and was programme director for the Masters in 
Corporate Finance from 2012 to 2019.

Following an undergraduate finance degree and Masters from Trinity, Celine spent her early career as 
an investment banker specialising in Mergers and Acquisitions in London and New York with 
Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers. On returning to Ireland in the early 2000’s, her focus moved 
to renewable energy investment with SWS Energy and then Merrion Capital where she was a 
founding partner of the Cork office. In 2010 she took up a role in UCC lecturing in finance and 
completing her PhD in energy finance with Professor Derek Bunn at London Business School in 
2014.

Celine has completed the Institute of Director’s Diploma in Company Direction and sits on a number 
of boards: She chairs the audit and risk committee at the Port of Cork since January 2023, is a 
member of the audit and risk committee of telco regulator COMRREG since April 2023, is a 
board member of the company that owns UCC’s 1,500 bed student accommodation since 2016, 
she chaired the board of the Money Advice and Budgeting Service in Cork and Kerry from 2018-2021.
Celine has lectured / guest lectured on both the Irish Management Institute and Institute of Director’s
sustainable leadership courses and provides coaching to senior leasers and boards on 
developing sustainability strategies.

Google Scholar Profile