The Sustainability Story

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

We talk with Gabriel Thoumi, CFA, FRM, Head of Plastics Pogramme and Director of Financial Markets at Planet Tracker. We discuss the major players in the plastics world, the move to a more sustainable and circular plastics economy. We also talk about what investors and consumers can do to help move to a more sustainable use of plastics.

We talk with Betty Jiang, CFA, Head of US ESG Research at Credit Suisse. We discuss the ongoing COP26 meeting and what investors should look for post-COP26 concerning climate policy, climate financing, carbon markets. We also examine the industries and sectors that face the most climate related risks and opportunities in the coming years.

We talk with Mark Van Clieaf, Managing Director of Future Zero. We discuss what to expect and what not to expect from COP26/Glasgow. With apologies to Wayne Gretzky, we talk about “where the puck will be” concerning climate and Net Zero Business Models in the coming years. This includes coming “stress tests” for companies, the $ 43 trillion of carbon risks in their business models, the current mispricing of net zero business model designs and carbon risk, the potential legal jeopardy for companies and corporate directors around climate change, and what a disorderly climate transition looks like (including in the boardroom). The conversation is a long one but filled with great investor and inside the boardroom insights rarely shared. Related sites : https://www.sustainalytics.com/net-zero-business-models http://www.futurezero.com https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9099027/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/76483543/admin/

We talk with Grace Hui, Managing Director Head of Green and Sustainable Finance, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited. We discuss with Grace how the Hong Kong Stock Exchange balances the demand from investors for more information on ESG data and sustainable finance products with the ability of companies to supply this information. We talk about development of sustainable finance in Asia and the work the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is doing in supporting companies’ transition to a sustainable future.

We talk with Matt Howard, Vice-President, Water and Stewardship at the Water Council. We talk about the water challenges we currently face and will increasingly face in coming decades as well as tools the Water Council is developing to help companies become better stewards of water and more responsive to ESG pressures. Link to the Water Council

CFA Institute talks with Denise Weger, Senior Manager, ESG, Strategic Initiatives at Novartis. Denise discusses how Novartis handles ESG strategy and planning, the materiality of ESG data and the evolution of ESG reporting. We also discuss how Novartis engages with investors and other stakeholders about important material ESG issues. Please find the following link to Novartis materiality page: www.novartis.com/materiality The FAZ toolkit is at the following link: https://www.faz-institut.de/plattformen/verantwortung1/materiality/

We Talk with Curtis Ravenel, Senior Advisor to former bank of England governor Mark Carney, COP26 Finance Advisor and UN Special Envoy for Climate Finance. Mr. Ravenel discusses how the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosure or TCFD has conducted its work and structured its recommendation since it was formed by the G20’s Financial Stability Board in 2015.

We talk with Michael Azlen, Founder and CEO, Carbon Cap Management LLP who frames the discussion on carbon markets in terms of where we’ve been, where we are and where we are going. Mr. Azlen reviews the importance of carbon pricing and how government regulated carbon markets provide a market-based solution to climate change which offers the best chance of addressing the problem at the scale and speed that the climate crisis requires.