The Sustainability Story

We talk with Delilah Rothenberg, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Predistribution Initiative. We discuss how the Predistribution Initiative is working with investors to create investment structures and asset allocation strategies that better address systematic risks. We talk about how a focus on how internal standard setting, disclosure, improved governance and financial practices can help build more regenerative investment structures and align practices of investment professionals with their stewardship counterparts. LINK: Visit The Predistribution Initiative website at: https://predistributioninitiative.​org/

We talk with Mervyn Tang, Head of Sustainability Strategy, APAC at Schroders. We discuss what investors should be looking for when analyzing a company’s climate change strategy and decarbonization efforts. We talk about the growing investor interest in the area of natural capital and how Asia sits in the center of many efforts to address investments in biodiversity. LINK: Visit Schroders Talking Point for market news and expert views http://www.​schroders.​com/talkingpoint

We talk with Barbara Davidson, Head of Accounting, Audit and Disclosure at Carbon Tracker Initiative. We discuss Carbon Tracker’s recent report; Flying Blind: The Glaring Absence of Climate Risks in Financial Reporting, which detailed the troublingly low level of consideration of climate risk impacts in financial climate related reporting for some of the most carbon intensive global companies. We talk about the CA100+ Net Zero Company benchmark and its new Climate Accounting and Audit Assessment that aims to bring better transparency to ‘climate accounting’ issues. Finally, we talk about the efforts of regulators and policymakers around the world and what to expect from coming climate-related disclosure initiatives. More on Carbon Tracker at www.carbontracker.org LINKS: https://carbontracker.org/reports/flying-blind-the-glaring-absence-of-climate-risks-in-financial-reporting/

We talk with Olivia Knight, Racial Justice Initiative Manager, As You Sow. We discuss how investors can better track whether companies are walking the walk as well as talking the talk on racial justice and environmental justice issues. We talk about the increase interest in social justice data, and what companies and industries are doing a better job of providing investors with this information. More on As You Sow: https://www.asyousow.org/

We talk with Andrew Watson, Founder and Director, Rethinking Capital. We discuss how accounting, and in particular normative accounting can be used to help address climate change and other sustainability issues. We talk about how the assumptions we make with our accounting systems set the incentives, and how accounting can be used to help incentivize sustainable finance.

We talk with Ken Pucker, Advisory Director at Berkshire Partners and a Senior Lecturer at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. We discuss Ken’s time at Timberland, where he was at the forefront of the company’s social responsibility movement. We talk about the challenges facing the sustainable finance, ESG investing and impact accounting.

We talk with Asha Mehta, CFA, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Global Delta Capital. We discuss how investors can approach sustainable investing from a quantitative point of view. We talk about the state of ESG data, the coming evolution of ESG disclosures, emerging markets, SDGs and impact investing.

We talk with Sandra Taylor, Founder and President, Sustainable Business International. We discuss her time leading the Sustainability efforts at Starbucks as well as her current work with wineries to help winemaking become more sustainable and equitable. We talk about organic, biodynamic and sustainable agricultural practices and what role these practices have in a more sustainable agricultural system.

We talk with Rob Zochowski, Program Director of the Impact-Weighted Accounts Initiative at Harvard Business School . We discuss how to better measure the positive and negative impacts or externalities that businesses have on society and our environment. These efforts are aimed at providing a more complete understanding of these impacts so that investors can better value companies and managers can better manage impacts in their decision-making.

We talk with William Burckart, President and COO at The Investment Integration Project (TIIP) and co-author of the book “21st Century Investing”. We discuss TIIP’s focus on system-level investing, that aims to help investors understand that healthy portfolio returns are dependent on healthy systems on which we all depend. We talk about how the management of systemic risks in a portfolio can contribute to solving systemic problems. 21st Century Investing