ISSB board members Verity Chegar and Jeff Hales discuss materiality in sustainability reporting, evaluating disclosure vs. performance, and ISSB's priorities. They emphasize the importance of strategy and risk reporting, the significance of talking about sustainability as a core business value, and the relationship between materiality and impact in ESG scores. They also highlight the need for specific measures in different industries and express enthusiasm for sustainability disclosure and global competition.

Sustainable fixed-income markets continue to develop with new products, regulations and uses of financing. Bruce Ronbeck, who focuses on sustainable finance in debt capital at Natixis CIB Americas, joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s senior ESG credit analyst Chris Ratti on this episode of the ESG Currents podcast to discuss recent trends, the evolution of the greenium and uses of financing along with challenges facing sustainable fixed income.  This episode was recorded on Sept. 14.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Financed emissions and the role banks play in financing carbon-intensive industries have become a focal point of climate discussions. Citigroup has emerged as a leader in this conversation with its approach to transition planning and transparency. On this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Val Smith, Citi’s chief sustainability officer, joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s director of ESG research, Eric Kane, to discuss how the company approaches its transition plan, emerging ESG topics and the evolving global regulatory framework.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The podcast discusses the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative(RGGI), a successful carbon market that aims to eliminate 66% of CO2 emissions from utilities in Northeastern states. They explore the market structure of RGGI, potential expansion into other industries like transportation, and the distinction between allowances and offsets in decarbonization. Additionally, they highlight the importance of long-term decarbonization targets and provide a summary of key points.

Nikita Singhal, Co-head of sustainable investment & ESG at Lazard Asset Management, discusses key skills and career paths in ESG and sustainability. They explore the importance of finding the intersection between functional expertise and sustainability, share personal journeys into the field, and highlight the benefits of unconventional career paths. They also recommend resources and certifications for pursuing a career in ESG and sustainability, along with book recommendations in the space.

Corporate America has increasingly leaned in on ESG issues, but not everyone thinks business should get involved, including several prominent presidential candidates and our guest this week, Scott Shepard, director of the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project, which bills itself as the “original and premier opponent of the woke takeover of America.” Shepard joins BI analyst Rob Du Boff on this ESG Currents podcast episode to discuss his concerns over ESG, the risk of political bias at the SEC, and how he's is taking his fight to other shareholders. This episode was recorded on Aug. 16. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A portfolio manager of an ESG and sustainable fund is an increasingly complex job, given the wide swath of data and themes. On this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Bruce Kahn joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Shaheen Contractor to discuss how he uses ESG data and metrics to analyze company performance and drive selection in his portfolio. The conversation focuses on the metrics that impact company value and the challenges in ESG analysis. This was recorded on Sept. 28. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many companies approach ESG as a box-checking exercise, but Tensie Whelan, director of NYU’s Center for Sustainable Business believes managements that do this could be missing out. Her work has found that companies that fail to track returns on their sustainable investments can make poor decisions and allocate capital suboptimally. On this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Whelan joins Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Gail Glazerman and Rob Du Boff to discuss Return on Sustainable Investment (ROSI), a tool she developed to help quantify these contributions. This was recorded as of Oct. 2.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ESG regulation remains divisive in the US, yet other regions have gone full steam ahead in setting the rules of the road for sustainable finance. Chief among them is the EU, which has rolled out a broad set of new and enhanced regulations for companies and investors. Nathan Fabian, chief sustainable systems officer at the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment and former chair of the European Platform for Sustainable Finance, and Nadia Humphreys, manager of Bloomberg’s Global Regulatory and Climate solutions team join Bloomberg Intelligence senior ESG analyst Rob Du Boff on this ESG Currents podcast episode to discuss the need for standardization for market participants and the challenges in implementing this ambitious but much-needed agenda.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sean Kidney, cofounder and CEO of Climate Bonds Initiative joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Christopher Ratti on this episode of the ESG Currents podcast to talk about Green Financing. Kidney discusses how CBI was formed and the impacts it’s had on green financing along with recent trends, policy initiatives and market developments.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.