ESG Currents

Partanna Global is on a mission to change the way the world builds by creating concrete that’s carbon negative. In today’s episode of Bloomberg Intelligence’s ESG Currents podcast, Partanna Co-Founder and CEO Rick Fox joins Chris Ratti, BI’s senior ESG credit analyst, to discuss combating the climate crisis with a winning mindset, the company’s innovations, carbon credits and next steps for change.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Who can take a boardroom, sprinkle it with climate goals? On this week’s episode of the ESG Currents Podcast, Bloomberg Intelligence Senior ESG Analyst Rob Du Boff speaks with one such candy man, former President & CEO of Mars Incorporated Grant Reid. At the privately held multinational manufacturer of candy and other foods, Reid used the levers of corporate governance to drive sustainability outcomes. He talks about enabling sustainability through compensation policies, corporate strategy and executive leadership. For more insights, register here for BI ESG’s June 4 virtual conference, COP 28.5: Looking Back on Dubai, Looking Ahead to Baku. This episode was recorded on April 22, 2024.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marc-André Blanchard, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Sustainability at CDPQ, shares insights from his extensive background, including his role as Canada's UN Ambassador. He argues for a transformative approach to sustainable finance, highlighting the importance of blended finance and collaboration among stakeholders. Blanchard emphasizes balancing regulation with market incentives to drive real change. The discussion also touches on the need for innovative solutions to unlock sustainable investments while addressing risks in emerging markets.

Technology’s role in decarbonization is evolving, with many developments still in the making. In this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Shaheen Contractor, Bloomberg Intelligence’s senior ESG analyst, interviews Daniel Hanna, head of Sustainable Finance at Barclays, Kelly Becker, president of Schneider Electric UK & Ireland, Mikkel Bülow-Lehnsby, co-founder and chairman of Urban Partners and Chris Dodwell, global head of Policy & Advocacy at Impax Asset Management, at the Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summit in London. They discuss how climate tech can be deployed and the risks and opportunities ahead. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In her new book “H Is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z,” Elizabeth Kolbert writes that “to say amazing work is being done to combat climate change and to say that almost no progress has been made is not a contradiction. It’s a simple statement of fact.” In this episode of ESG Currents, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author joins Bloomberg Intelligence Director of ESG Research Eric Kane to talk about this paradox, why she was drawn to writing about climate change and biodiversity, the timeline of earth’s history, whether we can reach net zero when we keep inventing new ways to consume energy and much more. This episode was recorded on April 22.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF) is working to reach net-zero carbon emissions in its investment portfolio by 2040. To achieve this goal, NYSIF focuses on four tenants: internal and external engagement, investment and divestment. In this episode of ESG Currents, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Eric Kane and Shaheen Contractor talk with Rajith Sebastian, Head of ESG and Sustainable Investing for NYSIF about the fund’s approach to net zero, minimizing risk and maximizing impact, the need for more intentionally impactful and evidence-based investment products and more.This episode was recorded on April 3. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As ESG has shifted from a niche investment strategy to the mainstream, it has become a hot-button political issue among top-level state and national officials. That includes laws banning ESG on one side of the aisle and mandating exclusionary screens on the other, and the trend may accelerate heading into the US elections. On this week’s episode of ESG Currents, BI Senior ESG Analyst Rob Du Boff is joined by Ropes & Gray partners Michael Littenberg, Josh Lichtenstein and Rob Skinner, who have extensive experience representing corporate and asset-management clients facing legal, compliance and regulatory issues around ESG. This episode was recorded on April 10.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Climate opportunities extend beyond clean-energy fuels and into a broad diffusion of business models, including areas such as efficiency and infrastructure. Join Senior BI analysts Shaheen Contractor and Andrew Stevenson as they speak with Sarah Wilson, managing director and head of climate strategy at Nuveen, to discuss the state of play in ESG asset gathering, strategies that are gaining steam and datasets to help portfolio managers make better ESG-related investment decisions. This episode was recorded on April 2.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Engagement plays an important role for managers to ensure the companies they invest in are managing ESG factors to maximize long-term value. But what happens when this engagement just doesn’t cut it? When the carrot doesn’t work, sometimes you need the stick. On this episode of ESG Currents, BI Senior ESG Analyst Rob Du Boff chats with NYS Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. They discuss the recent announcement that the New York State Common Retirement Fund, one of the largest public pensions in the US, will restrict investment in eight oil and gas companies it deemed not ready for the carbon transition, including Exxon Mobil. This episode was recorded on March 26.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

About 50% of global GDP is at least moderately dependent on nature, according to the World Bank. Increasing recognition of this dependency has fueled new biodiversity-related disclosure frameworks, regulations, and investor action. In this episode of ESG Currents, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Eric Kane and Melanie Rua are joined by David Craig, co-chair of the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) to discuss how climate and biodiversity are interrelated, how the TNFD framework fits in with other disclosure guidelines, hopes for COP 16 in Colombia, why nature risk is financial risk, and much more. This episode was recorded on Mar. 18. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.