How prevalent are psychological biases like confirmation bias and black-and-white in your thinking? Listen to Jason Mitchell discuss with Professor Alex Edmans, London Business School, about why misinformation is a problem that affects us all; how we can counter it through more critical, rigorous analysis; and what it means for the world of sustainable investing.Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School. Alex serves as non-executive director of the Investor Forum, on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Responsible Investing, on Royal London Asset Management’s Responsible Investment Advisory Committee, and on Novo Nordisk’s Sustainability Advisory Council. Alex’s book, Grow the Pie: How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit, was a Financial Times Book of the Year and has been translated into nine languages, and he is a co-author of Principles of Corporate Finance (with Brealey, Myers, and Allen). He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. His latest book, May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases – And What We Can Do About It comes out in April 2024.

Why is the world’s largest single waste stream—demolition concrete—one of the secrets to carbon dioxide removal? Listen to Jason Mitchell discuss with Neustark Head of Carbon Dioxide Removal, Lisa Braune, about what the world’s largest waste stream—demolition concrete—means as a carbon sink; how the private sector and governments are working to support and embed CDR technologies; and why CDR certification is so important in the wake of the recent carbon offsets scrutiny.

Dr. Tom Gosling from London Business School discusses investors' role in climate outcomes, emphasizing rethinking net zero commitments and universal ownership theory. They explore challenges in aligning investments with a 1.5-degree target, balancing financial responsibilities with environmental goals, and the importance of strategic engagement for impactful actions.

To what degree can investors control climate outcomes? Listen to Jason Mitchell discuss with Professor Madison Condon, Boston University School of Law, about what universal ownership theory represents in the context of climate change and how this has recently changed. In addition, this far-reaching conversation highlights how private sector ownership of climate models has created a ‘climate intelligence arms race’ that has serious oversight implications.Madison Condon is an Associate Professor at Boston University School of Law where she teaches Environmental Law and Corporations. Her research focuses on climate change and its relationship to corporate governance, market risk, and financial regulators. She was first a Legal Fellow, and then an Attorney, at the Institute for Policy Integrity from 2017-2020. Before that, she clerked for Judge Jane Kelly of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and was a fellow with the Earth Institute at Columbia University.

Why is a multi-disciplinary approach key to addressing biodiversity loss? Listen to Jason Mitchell discuss with Professor Simon Levin, Princeton University, about what’s at stake in the effort to preserve biodiversity loss; how his work has expanded into the sociological, political economy and policy space; and why a common language — a grammar for economic reasoning — is vital for bringing together different disciplines to understand nature.Professor Simon Levin is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University and the Director of the Center for BioComplexity in the High Meadows Environmental Institute. His research examines the structure and functioning of ecosystems, the dynamics of disease, and the coupling of ecological and socioeconomic systems. Simon is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and a Foreign Member of the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, and the Istituto Lombardo. He has over 500 publications and is the editor of the Encyclopedia of Biodiversity and the Princeton Guide to Ecology. Simon’s awards include: the Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences, Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences, the Ecological Society of America’s MacArthur and Eminent Ecologist Awards, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, and the National Medal of Science.

How is the FCA’s SDR framework a powerful example of second moveradvantage? Listen to Jason Mitchell discuss with Sara Woodroffe, Manager of theFCA’s ESG Policy & Advisory Team, about what the FCA’s new SDR frameworkmeans for investors, how it aims to provide anti-greenwashing protections perits mandate of consumer protection, and why a sustainable finance investmentlabelling regime could well be the antidote to one purely focused on disclosure.

Jason Mitchell discusses with Chris Stark, CEO of the Climate Change Committee, about the implications of COP28 on the UK's global climate leadership. They also talk about the role of the Climate Change Committee in advising the UK government on climate action, the challenges in translating climate goals into actions, the economic costs of climate action, and the challenges and solutions in decarbonizing home heating.

Listen to Jason Mitchell discuss with Andrew Strait, Ada Lovelace Institute, about how to think through the typology of AI harms, what to make of the different national and supranational efforts to regulate AI, and why the development of strong AI governance systems is in everyone’s interest.Andrew Strait is an Associate Director at the Ada Lovelace Institute where he is responsible for Ada’s work addressing emerging technology and industry practice. He’s spent the last decade working at the intersection of technology, law and society. Prior to joining Ada, he was an Ethics & Policy Researcher at DeepMind, where he managed internal AI ethics initiatives and oversaw the company’s network of external partnerships. Previously, Andrew worked as a Legal Operations Specialist at Google where he developed and implemented platform moderation policies on areas such as data protection, hate speech, terrorist content and child safety.

How are national policymakers driving transition finance into the real economy? Listen to Jason Mitchell discuss with Dr. Esther Wandel, German Federal Ministry of Finance, how the German Federal Ministry of Finance is evolving its Sustainable Finance Strategy and what ‘harmonisation’ holds for sustainable regulations and standards.Dr. Esther Wandel is head of division for Investment Funds and Sustainable Finance at the German Federal Ministry of Finance. She focuses on the international, European and national Agenda on sustainable finance and asset management topics. Esther led the financial services team of the Permanent Representation of Germany in Brussels for two years where she led and coordinated work on financial services during the German EU presidency. She worked for the European Commission for seven years as well as Financial Conduct Authority in London for three years.

When can sustainable investing be counterproductive? Listen to Jason Mitchell discuss with Professor Kelly Shue, Yale University School of Management, why brown firms—not green firms—will drive the greatest emissions savings, how the cost of capital can be a powerful lever for behaviour change, and why it’s vital that sustainable investors move more towards energy transition-type strategies.Kelly Shue serves as a Professor of Finance at the Yale University School of Management. Her academic interests lie at the intersection of behavioural economics and empirical corporate finance. Her research has explored the Peter Principle, compensation and promotions, gender and negotiations, the gambler's fallacy, contrast effects and non-proportional thinking in asset pricing, and executive social networks. Her research has been featured in numerous news outlets including CNN, NPR, and the Wall Street Journal, and has been awarded the AQR Insight Award, the Wharton School-WRDS Award for Best Empirical Finance Paper, and the UBS Global Asset Management Award for Research in Investments. She serves as an associate editor at the Journal of Finance and Journal of Financial Economics, and previously served as an editor at the Review of Finance. Her latest paper is Counterproductive Sustainable Investing: The Impact Elasticity of Brown and Green Firms