Lindsey Stewart is Director of Stewardship Research and Policy at Morningstar Sustainanalytics, where he is a sustainability and governance specialist. Based in London he writes regularly about how institutional investors engage with companies and policymakers on environmental, social and governance themes and is a regular speaker on these topics. He previously was head of Stakeholder Engagement at the Financial Reporting Council and spent 8 years at KPMG in various engagement roles.

Our conversation starts with Lindsey’s unconventional background where he approached finance straight from school instead of via a traditional college degree. He describes it as a “moon shot” and details his journey into a governance specialists role, and some of the disorientation he experienced once he “landed” on the moon. This leads to a discussion around socio-economic mobility and the profession more generally and we look at the scaffolding that can enable such moves.

We turn then to a discussion of the current state of sustainability data, where the world of engagement has moved to and challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the area of sustainable investing.

Episode 285: Lindsey Stewart of Morningstar Sustainanalytics: on Moon Shots - large and small