According to the United Nations desertification caused by climate change affects a third of Earth’s land surface. This is a growing problem for the 250 million people directly impacted by the degradation of formerly fertile land. Wissal Ben Moussa, Co-founder and Chief Agricultural Officer of Sand to Green, says this Moroccan startup can transform a patch of desert into a sustainable and profitable plantation in five years and the firm’s technology can be deployed anywhere there is a source of brackish water, which Sand to Green desalinates using solar-powered technology. In today’s SFP episode we will unpack some of the opportunities that Sand To Green offers for investors interested in sustainable and profitable agricultural ventures.

When you’re the third-generation co-owner of a company that manufactures plastic bags for your family’s financial well-being, the idea of re-creating your business operations model to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable could easily be the stuff of nightmares, cold sweats and sanity checks. For Trent Romer and Clear View Bag Co., however, sustainability planning has been a way to reduce expenses, increase revenue and generate more profit from the family business. Trent is joining me for this episode of the SFP to discuss how the 60 million small business owners in the U.S. can transition their business operations models toward sustainability by choosing a slingshot versus a moon shot approach.

What sustainability progress have banks and insurers made in the last two years, given the role of financial institutions as a core component of the economy, and bearing in mind their responsibility to uphold the rigour and resilience of their risk management? Equally significant is their social responsibility to offer vital financial support to the development of sustainable global economies. In this episode of the SFP I discuss with Phuong Gomard of Mazars the need for the financial industry to reboot and shift to a more responsible finance model. Gomard is Sustainable Finance Global Leader at Mazars, which has just published it’s 2023 Sustainability practices stocktake for banks and insurers, which contains much of the data we will discuss.

What sustainability progress have banks and insurers made in the last two years, given the role of financial institutions as a core component of the economy, and bearing in mind their responsibility to uphold the rigour and resilience of their risk management? Equally significant is their social responsibility to offer vital financial support to the development of sustainable global economies. In this episode of the SFP I discuss with Phuong Gomard of Mazars the need for the financial industry to reboot and shift to a more responsible finance model. Gomard is Sustainable Finance Global Leader at Mazars, which has just published it’s 2023 Sustainability practices stocktake for banks and insurers, which contains much of the data we will discuss.

ScopeFour Capital is an investment management firm focused solely on climate solutions in the public equity markets. Founder and CEO Heather Beatty is committed to climate solution investment and the great re-imagination of economic growth by directing capital towards “drawdown”, when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline, thereby stopping human-induced climate change. ScopeFour provides investors with a roadmap to net zero and creates an opportunity to invest in the economic transition to decarbonization. Heather also co-founded Women in Institutional Investments Network (WIIIN), a Los Angeles-based 501c3 as part of her dedication to the advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion in sustainable investment.

Climate-focused philanthropy has increased significantly in recent years, but it’s still insufficient relative to the size and urgency of the challenge. Randall Kempner is a senior advisor at the Energy and Environment Program of The Aspen Institute, and a global leader in advancing policy solutions for critical issues. He joins me today to discuss why less than two percent of global philanthropy is focused on climate-related giving, while 85 percent of all U.S. foundation funders stated in a recent report that climate change was a top three issue. Nevertheless, only one third reported they were “open to considering funding efforts” to address climate change.

More successful employees create financial value for their employers and career opportunities for themselves. Our focus in today’s episode is how Ownership Works supports increasing prosperity through shared ownership, and that’s the mission of this non-profit organization. Executive Director, Anna-Lisa Miller joins me and Gloria Mirrione, Executive Director, and Head of Sustainable Finance & Impact Investing at Acre, Americas. Anna-Lisa will share with us how her firm supports the creation of a culture of ownership that aligns an entire workforce around a common purpose, values and goals to maximize shared wealth creation.

In his role as General Manager of Sustainability Solutions at Microsoft, Mark Kroese leads a team that drives product, customer and market development solutions that help Microsoft realize its goals of becoming a Carbon Negative company. Mark Fischel is the Carbon Product Lead at Novata. They are their launching their brand new tool, the Novata Carbon Navigator in January to radically improve the carbon reporting experience for Novata’s private company platform partners. Both Marks have joined this third episode of the SFP / Novata series on “Demystifying ESG” to help our sustainability-focused investor audience and their companies follow the pathway to decarbonization.

The Climate Bonds Initiative has identified five Hallmarks of a credible climate mitigation transition for companies. Today the SFP is fortunate to have Sean Kidney, CEO at Climate Bonds Initiative, as our guest to update our followers on how companies are using these Hallmarks and what climate mitigation action investors and their financial advisors can expect from companies in various sectors of the global economy between now and 2030. We’re also going to talk about what choices investors can make to support companies in achieving their Net Zero near-term objectives.

“Policies and institutions that open opportunities for focus on people of color are not racist. They are not even an attempt to “level the playing field” after centuries of systemic racism. They are an effort to bring Black people onto the playing field of economic mobility after centuries of being locked out…” I’m quoting from a Forbes article published on Oct. 12th and written by Lenwood V. Long, Sr., President & CEO, African American Alliance of CDFI CEOs, my guest for today’s SFP conversation. Lenwood joins me to tell us the story behind the article.

Companies in every sector of the global economy are discovering that the full spectrum of sustainability-focused challenges are more than their own and must be solved in collaboration with their partners in other businesses. My guest is this episode of the SFP is Karthik Balakrishnan, Co-Founder and President of Actual, which has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes and Business Insider among many other publications for it’s Sustainability Transformation Platform, a single place for firms to collaboratively study impact, minimize risk and maximize ROI while meeting strategic priorities. Open the BrightTalk Episode 238 Attachments tab for links to ACTUAL newsletters providing detailed research.

I’ve had the privilege to work with both of today’s podcast guests as leaders of their company, the first to launch a Responsible Investment fund and still a leader in the field. Calvert Research and Management is part of Morgan Stanley Investment Management today and traces its roots to Calvert Investments, which was founded in 1976. The SFP is privileged to welcome Emily Chew and Anthony Eames to this episode and we’re going back in time to begin today’s conversation. Responsible Investing was first given official status as an industry concept by the UN Principles for Responsible Investment in 2006, however, Calvert's history in the field stretches back many years before that.

Climate Aligned is building the world's first human-led, AI-assisted platform with the ability to analyze any bond issuer, borrower, bond or loan against any standard, framework, taxonomy or expert opinion in a fully customizable way, thanks to Generative AI. I’m excited to have Krista Tukiainen, Climate Aligned’s Chief Commercial Officer as my guest for this episode of the SFP. Building on the new generation of Large Language Models and tools, Climate Aligned is on a mission to change investor and capital provider workflows for the better and for good. Krista believes there is enough money in the world to solve the climate crisis, and much of it is funneled through debt capital markets. Congratulation to the ClimateAligned team for being recognized by Business Insider Tech as a leading climate tech startup! - http://www.businessinsider.com/sai

My guests today are coming down on the side of a more positive outcome for a sustainable climate transition rather than the doomsday opinions we read in the media daily. Anthony Hobley, Senior Strategic Advisor and Jakob Thomae, Project Director launched the IPR Forecast Policy Scenario (FPS) 2023 during Climate Week in NYC. IPR, the Inevitable Policy Response (IPR), is a climate transition forecasting consortium commissioned by the PRI. The findings give reason for optimism if we accelerate current approaches, however these policy responses will be increasingly forceful, abrupt, and disorderly. Our program today will be helpful not only to investors navigating the financial markets, but also for governments, policy makers and NGOs.

Today's podcast guests are a trio of leaders engaged in community economic development. John Holdsclaw IV, Gloria Mirrione and Harold Pettigrew, Jr. are on a mission to lift the banner of "Capital Meets Purpose". I will ask Harold and John to share their thoughts on this theme for the upcoming 39th annual Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) conference next month. Followers of The Sustainable Finance Podcast will be glad to know that John, President and CEO of Rochdale Capital and Harold, President and CEO at OFN joined this episode at Gloria and Acre's request to clarify the important role CDFIs are playing in ESG and Sustainability-Focused economic development.

A new regime in financial policy and market behavior is unfolding and the patterns of the past decade are facing a period of adjustment. Schroders Asset Management believes this new regime will be driven by several themes, including decarbonization, deglobalization and demographic change. In today’s Episode Three of this Schroders and SFP series we’re going to zero in on the impact deglobalization and demographic change are having on sustainability-focused investment strategies. Our guests from Schroders include Angus Bauer, Head of Sustainable Investment Research and Lazaro Tiant, Sustainable Investment Analyst. Let's begin by identifying Schroders’ sustainability considerations related to deglobalization and demographic change. A new study, released today by Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute (GLI) and Schroders, reveals extreme heat and flooding are threatening key apparel production hubs. See the attachments tab for the link.

Motivated by a lack of adequate and safe mobility systems and the potential of smart mobility to drastically reduce carbon emissions in emerging markets, Tonderai Njowera has embarked on a journey to catalyze investments in renewable energy and smart mobility in the South African and other emerging markets. Tonderai is a certified expert in sustainable finance as well as a civil and water engineer. He recently founded Mosi Partners, an ESG Consultant to private equity, family offices, microfinance institutions and mid-market companies in Africa. The SFP is excited to feature Tonderai’s story for our growing global audience.

Chrissa Pagitsas has been a leader in sustainable finance industry and product development for twenty years. She launched the Fannie Mae Green Financing Business which, under her leadership, issued over $51 billion in Green Bonds, becoming the largest issuer globally. Chrissa is a trusted board member to non-profit and for-profit companies and a sought-after speaker on catalyzing business transformation through ESG, sustainability and green financing. Our second guest for this Acre sponsored Episode 4 is Gloria Mirrione of Acre Americas. We’ll begin this episode with a discussion of leadership, drawing on Chrissa’s recently published and best-selling book, Chief Sustainability Officers at Work and Gloria’s recent appointment as Executive Director and Head of Sustainable Finance & Impact Investing for Acre Americas. See the BrightTalk Attachments tab for more details on "Chief Sustainability Officers at Work".

Why should VC firms require the entrepreneurs they fund to track ESG metrics from day one and for the long-term? We’re excited to bring you Part 2 of our series with Novata, the platform built to empower private companies and investors to collect, analyze and report relevant ESG data. Our guests are Elizabeth Meyer, Chief Legal Officer at Novata and Rosalind Bazany, Partner and Head of ESG and Impact at Antler, the VC/PE firm that launches and scales high potential startups across six continents. Open the BrightTalk Attachments tab of this episode for links to Novata's 2022 Sustainability Report and other Novata and Antler publications on the value-add to private market companies intent on leading the way in ESG data measurement, reporting and verificaiton.

Today we’re going to learn why the German federal state of Baden-Wurttemberg passed a law on sustainable investing that blacklisted US Treasury Bonds as a portfolio holding. My SFP guest is Arnim Emrich, head of treasury in Baden-Wurttemberg. Emrich and his team manage 35Billion Euros of capital market debt and the state’s 10Billion Euros sovereign fund for future pension obligations. They also launched the state’s green bond programme in 2021 and Emrich has authored a law on sustainable investing defining a common standard for any state entity investing in stocks, bonds or other financial instruments.

My first conversation with Helene Huby, Co-founder and CEO at The Exploration Company, was “out of this world.” Huby’s company is creating a reusable space vehicle with amazing possibilities. The Nyx will be modular, reusable and in-orbit refuellable, carrying cargo and, in the longer run, humans. The first prototype will launch in 2024, and Huby plans to be servicing the international space station by 2027. In today’s program, Huby joins me to share her journey to develop, manufacture and operate Nyx sustainably, with the goal of democratizing space exploration.

Building a global capital market that accelerates universal access to safe water and sanitation is WaterEquity’s mission and is at the core of global sustainable development. In addition to being a key determinant of improved health outcomes, gender equality and resilience to climate change, it is also a driver of overall economic growth. I’m very pleased to have Paul O’Connell, President of WaterEquity and Gloria Mirrione, Head of Sustainable Finance & Impact Investing, Acre Americas as my guests for this episode of the Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP). They are joining me to discuss how WaterEquity is using the capital markets to tackle UNSDG #6, ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

Dr. Selin Calik published “The Renaissance of Smart Energy: The Nexus of COVID 19 and Green Energy” in 2022, which describes the connection between Covid-19 and Climate Change with an emphasis on research in the field of clean and green energy. Calik is a Climate Change Scientist and Green Energy Observer for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. She is also an active member of the UK’s Institute of Directors, providing professional development, networking and expert advice for business leaders. Today we’re going to speak about Post-Pandemic energy transition issues, which are top-of-mind for every senior executive in every energy sector company. Open the Attachments link in the BrightTALK / SFP channel to read the study "Women for Sustainable Energy", published by GWNET - Global Women's Network for the Energy Transition

In April of 2023 the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) launched the Finance for Net Zero (FiNZ) Action Plan to catalyze Asia’s net zero transition and decarbonization activities. My guest today is Helge Muenkel, CSO at DBS Bank, and we’re going to talk about why establishing a roadmap for sustainability reporting by key financial institutions is a critical part of the (FiNZ). Helge and I will discuss why credible green and transition financing solutions are needed to support decarbonization efforts and climate risk mitigation. And the good news is that DBS is a global finance industry leader in the tracking and reporting of financed emissions as well as offering retail banking initiatives that support sustainable investment strategies and clean energy climate transition practices at the household level.

This is the second program in a series the Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP) is doing with Schroders. We’re taking an in-depth look at what Schroders is calling a global reset in the markets and the emergence of a new regime in financial policy and market behavior. My guests today are Mark Lacey, Head of Global Resource Equities, and Carol Storey, Active Ownership Manager. In the first program, Episode 213, we covered the big picture: decarbonization, deglobalization and demographic change. In today’s episode we’re zeroing in on decarbonization, and how a hybrid approach to energy investing, with a focus on careful selection and long-term investment strategy, together with active ownership, are the critical factors in successfully transforming the energy sector.

Gravitas Infinitum / Carbotura was among the world’s top 50 most innovative new companies in 2021. It uses industrial-scale modular facilities to eliminate Municipal Solid Waste and create renewable fuels, carbon sequestering critical minerals, and nano-biomaterials. In the process it delivers highly efficient, large scale carbon capture for positive environmental impact. Tyler Wood is a Director at Gravitas Infinitum / Carbotura, and he is going to tell us about this closed loop system that generates multiple circular and regenerative economic benefits. Open the BrightTALK channel attachments tab for a Carbotura Economic Impact Report.

Grain Ecosystem is a venture backed business spun out of Schneider Electric for the purpose of generating a high-quality carbon offset supply. The firm aims to support project developers in sequestering as much carbon as possible, which means bringing together the funding and stakeholders needed to drive projects forward with a focus on biochar. Today I’m excited to have Jason Dodier, Co-Founder of Grain Ecosystem and Brando Crespi, Co-Founder at Global Biochar, join me to discuss the crucial role that financing plays in scaling up carbon projects and the attention that Biochar has gained as a potential carbon removal technology.

My guests today exemplify an extraordinary partnership in the ESG landscape. Hamilton Lane, a private markets investment management firm with nearly $857 billion in AUM and AUA has a long track record of review and consideration of ESG factors. In 2021 Hamilton Lane joined a consortium of non-profit and for-profit partners to help found Novata, a software platform with the goal to make it easy and practical for the private markets to collect, manage, and act on the ESG metrics. In June 2023, Novata expanded their offering to include the private markets’ broadest collection of ESG benchmarks — enabling its clients to see how their data compares against industry peers. Joining me today to help demystify this complex topic is Lorraine Spradley Wilson, CSO at Novata, and Paul Yett, Director of ESG and Sustainability at Hamilton Lane.

Hello everyone and welcome to today’s episode. Many of you listening in today might be hearing the term Nature Based Solutions for sustainable investing and wondering what that means or thinking “I’m a finance person, not a scientist.” In today’s episode you’re going to learn how bringing science into your investment strategies will help you take your business to the next level. Our panel of experts includes Gloria Mirrione, ED & Head of Sustainable Finance & Impact Investing, Acre Americas. I’m excited to have Gloria return for episode #2 in the SFP / Acre sponsorship series. Gloria and I are joined today by two experts in Nature Based Solutions that address the impacts of climate change around the world like floods, wildfires and droughts. Charlotte Kaiser is Head of Impact Finance at BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group and Chris Larson is CIO, Alder Point Capital Management.

Nikita Singhal is Co-Head of Sustainable Investment & ESG at Lazard Asset Management, a $234.6 billion global asset management firm. She oversees the firm’s Sustainable Investment and ESG Integration strategy, leads client engagements and thought leadership on ESG topics. Nikita has been working in the field of sustainable investing for over 14 years at institutions such as IFC (World Bank Group), the Heron Foundation, and ClearBridge Investments. Guided by a core belief in the power of business enterprises to drive positive change in the world, Singhal and I begin this Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP) episode by focusing on the following question – Is ESG built for purpose?

Mike Wallace is an internationally recognized expert in the ESG & sustainability field. For over 25-years he has been advising corporations, non-profits, and government agencies on the development and implementation of sustainable business and investment strategies. As Chief Decarbonzation Officer at Persefoni (CDO) he works with corporate executive teams to help them understand sustainability risks and turn them into opportunities. Mike has helped launch a range of sustainability programs inside organizations, created new initiatives, and helped companies expand into new markets. In Episode 218 of The Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP) we discuss how carbon accounting turns climate risks into opportunities.

After a 25-year financial market and banking career, Scott Donachie founded Companies for Net Zero (CNZ), which brings together global business leaders via summits and networking events to share insights on delivering immediate climate outcomes. CNZ also publishes daily climate insights and education via its ‘CNZ Eco Forum’ smartphone app, which our followers will learn about in this episode. Since founding CNZ five years ago Scott has built an extensive network of sustainability-focused business leaders in the New York metro area who are committed to delivering climate outcomes. The Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP) will participate in CNZ’s upcoming Decarb New York on Sept. 14th, focusing on practical decarbonizing of New York real estate assets in response to Local Law 97, which we will discuss in this SFP episode. See the Attachments tab at the BrightTALK channel link to this SFP episode for details on future CNZ events.

My guest in this episode of The Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP) recently launched his new Amazon bestselling book, The ESG Data Revolution: Sustainable Fuel for Tomorrow’s Business. Michael Poisson’s advice for organizations large and small is to confidently explore the cutting-edge tools of this rapidly expanding field and tap into sustainability for long-term success. Michael is an established FinTech executive with a passion for corporate responsibility and ESG data. He is also Managing Director at Ideal Ratings, responsible for North American business. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today, the business of ESG Data.

Baringa is a global consulting firm with expertise in sustainable finance transformation, ESG integration and climate change risk. In today’s episode of the SFP I’m speaking with Cindra Maharaj, a corporate treasury and risk expert partner with Baringa in New York. We’re going to discuss how financial institutions are navigating the transition to a net zero economy and why those already aligned with TCFD, the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, likely still have some way to go to comply with the carbon and other Green House Gas (GHG) reporting protocol that the SEC is proposing. See the BrightTalk Attachments tab for a Baringa white paper on corporate GAP analysis.

We all know how important good employees are to any business. But in financial services, and particularly sustainable finance, which is rapidly expanding and changing the way we invest, finding and developing top talent is absolutely critical. So how do you go about finding the right people with the right skills to help your company become a sustainability leader? In today’s podcast I’m talking with 2 pioneers in recruiting and talent development in sustainable finance. Andy Cartland founded Acre 20 years ago, and has built the company into a global leader in the field. Gloria Mirrione is Executive Director and Head of Sustainable Finance and Impact Investing at Acre, Americas. Andy and Gloria will be answering some of the most important questions about how human capital drives transformational change, whether for traditional or alternative asset managers or for banks and insurers.

For investors trying to get a handle on what’s happening in the global economy, confusion and uncertainty seem to reign. My guest today, Marina Severinovsky, Head of Sustainability, North America for Schroders Asset Management, brings a new perspective in today’s podcast. Schroders believes that markets are currently experiencing more than a typical cyclical turning point. In fact, we’re looking at a global reset where patterns of the past decade will face a period of adjustment. What does this mean for investors and asset managers? Severinovsky and I talk about how a new regime in policy and market behavior is unfolding, driven by global themes like decarbonization, deglobalization, and demographic change, all of which investors need to understand if they are to find the best opportunities and safeguard their portfolios. Tune in to the program to find out why the Schroders team believes Sustainability will be key to navigating this new era. See the BrightTalk Attachments tab for additional Schroders research on Regime Shift topics for investors.

Vanessa Zamy is the founder of Your Vision’s Catalyst and a sustainable business growth strategist. She has been featured on Fast Company and NPR Marketplace. As a keynote speaker she enjoys delivering actionable tips to business owners that make burnout a thing of the past. Today we’re going to discuss common mistakes that sustainable finance practitioners make when trying to get their target market interested in a new analytics tool, thought leadership blog, podcast platform or investment portfolio strategy. Vanessa and I were speakers at the FPA National Conference last December in Seattle.

Hystar AS, the Norwegian high-tech hydrogen company, recently announced a series B funding round of USD26 million to rapidly scale-up to full operations with an automated GW-capacity production line by 2025. CEO Fredrik Mowill says the company’s PEM electrolyzers produce green hydrogen from water electrolysis using less energy than existing technologies, and enable a substantial increase in hydrogen production output. In today’s SFP episode Mowill will explain how Hystar makes the world’s most efficient PEM electrolyzers for green hydrogen production, an important source of energy for the Net Zero carbon transition.

Green Scooter works at the cutting edge of the latest trends in renewable energy and urban transportation. The company manufactures a unique range of electric scooters designed for both commuter and cargo use. Welcome to our Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP) conversation about South Africa’s first all-electric e-hailing platform and related online food delivery marketplace. And join me in welcoming Fezile Dhlamini, the Founder and CEO of Scooter to today’s episode. Fezile assures me that Green Scooter’s 3-wheeler EVs are just the entry point of this growing market in Africa for Africa. We’re going to hear about his plan from day one, which has been to start a company that creates employment and builds Africa’s transport technology skills for the future.

My guest in today’s podcast program is the Managing Partner of the Zero Emissions Fund and for two decades has been a mentor and board advisor to green technology startups. Claudia Marcusson serves on investment boards of impact VCs and is a limited partner herself. Marcusson has worked for more than twenty years in financial services across the globe and lectures at the National University of Singapore on green technology for senior executives and C-level suites. In today’s conversation we’re focusing on her role with the Zero Emissions Fund and Accelerator. See the Attachments tab at the BrightTalk link for details on the National University of Singapore course Claudia Marcusson will be offering on "Green Technology in the Digital Economy for Leaders", July 28, 31 2023

Hy24 recently announced the closing of the world’s largest clean Hydrogen infrastructure fund at EUR 2 billion AUM. The Fund is focused on scaling proven hydrogen technologies for mature infrastructure assets and aims to play a major role in decarbonizing the global economy. Alejandro Perellon, Head of the Americas at Hy24, is my podcast guest today and we’ll talk about how the portfolio will be diversified across geographies and value chains to scale up the clean hydrogen economy. We will also touch on how the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act will impact the development of hydrogen energy infrastructure in the U.S. going forward.

Rachel Robasciotti and Adasina Social Capital believe in bold, decisive action to make large scale, systemic change throughout the financial system. This requires the interlocking of four levers: People, Investments, Campaigns and Education. Adasina works with community social justice organizations to define the criteria that guide the firm’s investments. Robasciotti then mobilizes other investors to partner through campaigns that amplify the voices of impacted populations throughout the financial system. Community-sourced impact data sets the standard for how companies and governments are measured in relation to racial, gender, economic, and climate justice. Investors then seek both financial and social returns by investing in public companies that are accountable to the well-being of the people and planet they impact.

Weather Trade Net creates data analysis tools powered by weather data for operational business purposes. Founder and CEO Elena Maksimovich launched the online platform to differentiate, quantify and report on the financial vulnerability induced by weather volatility in changing climate scenarios. The platform’s research regarding weather shock resilience and climate change adaptation projects demonstrates bankable investment opportunities. And Weather Trade Net’s proprietary Climate Risk Indices are adapted to business needs in the context of TCFD reporting, climate risk audit and parametric insurance underwriting. Maksimovich joins me in today’s podcast episode to explain how Weather Trade Net works.

Hughey Newsome is in transition, out of public service as CFO of Wayne County, Michigan and into the role of CFO at Piston Group, a private investment platform founded in 1996 by auto industry magnate and NBA champion Vinnie Johnson. Newsome is on a mission within the automotive sector to grow EV demand to critical mass through the investment and profitability needed to dominate industry production and infrastructure. In this episode of the Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP) we will hear from Hughey Newsome about the broad continuum of sustainable finance acceptance, from early adopters to industry laggards and how current and pending public policy can encourage laggards and reward leaders.

Bruce Kahn, Ph.D. has recently joined Shelton Capital Management to bolster the firm’s Sustainable Investment and ESG expertise. In today’s podcast episode we’re going to begin our conversation with the green industrial transformation that is making corporations more resource use efficient related to water, land, energy and labor. Kahn’s extensive background in sustainable investment management includes industry leaders MSCI, Sustainable Insight Capital Management and Deutsche Asset Management. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s Sustainability Management program, The Earth Institute.

Soji Sanyaolu, Co-Founder of AirSmat, recently announced a partnership with Sterling Bank in Nigeria that enables farmers to increase their output by leveraging quality farm data and AI-generated recommendations. Using drone and satellite technology with soil-level and IoT sensors AirSmat is transforming the way farmers and other stakeholders in the value chain collect, manage and interpret this data. This eliminates guesswork and drives day-to-day operations decisions with precision. In today’s episode Sanyaolu explains how accurate farm data enables banks and insurance companies in the value chain to make decisions that support farm financing and profitability.

Since 2010, today’s guest on the podcast has worked in Dubai, United Arab Emirates as a woman general counsel in an era of business disruption. Through this position with a UAE family-owned luxury conglomerate she was introduced to angel investing. Currently, Ghada Qaisi Audi lives in San Francisco and is a founding team member at TARO ISHIDA, a women’s footwear luxury goods startup, whose high-quality products provide longevity and Circular Economy investments into the future. We’re going to discuss her experience as a sustainability-focused female founder, and why innovating and addressing an unmet need in the market is always a good business case.

Sustainability at Bayer means helping people thrive while reducing the company’s ecological footprint. Klaus Kunz is responsible for ESG strategy at all three Bayer Divisions, Crop Science, Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Health. He believes that addressing food security, climate change and loss of biodiversity are the most material challenges in sustainable agriculture today. His work requires brutal transparency and detailed disclosure of related ESG measures at Bayer, the health and nutrition conglomerate. Our conversation in today’s episode of The Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP) begins and ends with Kunz’s focus on transparency. Open the Attachments tab at the SFP BrightTALK channel link for more details about Bayer's Transparency and Sustainable Agriculture initiatives.

DFD Partners is on a mission is to provide asset managers the most innovative, data driven distribution platform in the industry. Devon Drew, Founder & CEO of DFD Partners understands that diversity in gender, background, asset class and generation drives inclusion. That’s why the firm is dedicated to providing their platform services to those asset managers who may not have the tools and resources to effectively scale. With more than 16 years in the Asset & Wealth management industry, Drew has raised over $30 billion dollars in client AUM. His career with top industry organizations has given him the knowledge and experience to launch DFD Partners.

Yamika Ketu is lead author of The Ceres Responsible Policy Engagement Analysis 2022, which benchmarks S&P 100 companies against the tactics they must adopt to assess climate-related business risks. A 2020 Ceres Blueprint calls for these companies to practice the “risk-aware and responsible” Paris-aligned advocacy their investors increasingly demand. Ketu and Steven Rothstein, Managing Director of the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, are joining me in this SFP episode to discuss steps that companies can take to insure their efforts are calibrated to the risks that climate change poses to their business model. See the BrightTALK Attachments tab for a link to the "Ceres Responsible Engagement Analysis 2022".

In 2022 the top reason for implementing sustainable investment among institutional investors continued to be mitigating long-term investment risk. A marketplace that features advanced climate and sustainability standards will have improved or more stable long-term returns, according to almost three-quarters (72%) of asset owners that took part in FTSE Russell’s 2022 Global Asset Owner Survey. Sylvain Chateau, the Global Head of Sustainable Investment Product Management at LSEG, FTSE Russell’s parent company, says these investors agree that successful approaches to sustainability mean they need to take a long-term view in order to manage their investment strategies well. Details of the 2022 FTSE Russell Sustainable Investment Global Survey are linked at the SFP BrightTALK channel attachments tab for this SFP Episode 198.

Ardian recently announced the final closing for its US$2.1bn Americas infrastructure fund – Ardian Americas Infrastructure Fund V (AAIF V). Its team, including Co-Head Mark Voccola, has deployed more than US$1bn in investments across the energy, renewables and transportation sectors. Ardian is a pioneering manager in decarbonizing infrastructure assets in line with global climate change agreements and a major renewable energy portfolio is part of this commitment. Ardian is also introducing energy efficiency policies across all of its portfolio companies. In a recent press release about the team’s funding success to date Mark said, “The market opportunity for high-quality, mid-market infrastructure assets is compelling, and even more so with the powerful tailwinds from the Inflation Reduction Act.”

Founder Peter Fusaro will host the 2023 WSGS, which is just around the corner on March 13 & 14, 2023. The 22nd anniversary of this annual event will convene in person after two years of COVID induced digital formatting. 40 plus speakers across 8 summit sessions over 2 days will join sponsors and summit attendees at this Nexus of Finance and Technology forum. In today’s SFP episode Peter Fusaro joins me for a sneak preview of what we can expect to learn from the leading practitioners in sustainability and how we can continue to build a sustainable finance system for responsible investing and the changing role of business.

Today’s Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP) guest spoke recently at The World Climate Summit 2022 on how finance can help high emitting industries decarbonize. Claire Dorrian is Head of Sustainable Finance, Capital Markets and Post Trade at the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). She joins me to talk about why the London Stock Exchange recently launched a solution for the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) and how it will work. Foresight Sustainable Forestry (FSF) is the first fund to be eligible based on its forestry and afforestation portfolio that will follow the UK Woodland Carbon Code certification. SFP followers can view docs at the BrightTalk Attachments Tab related to the VCM Framework launch at LSEG.

Net Zero emissions by 2050 is the new North Star of environmental impact ambition for major corporations, governments and investors. In order to achieve this goal major corporate players across all sectors of the global economy must be held accountable. My guest today is Pratima Divgi, Head of Capital Markets, CDP North America. She leads engagement with the financial sector to measure and manage the climate and environmental impact of companies and guide them in deploying more sustainable practices. We discuss CDP’s efforts to help corporations generate structured data that helps them to assess, analyze and benchmark trends into the making of financial decisions. Then, using the Task Force for Climate Related Financial Decisions (TCFD) scenario analysis, companies can determine their readiness on climate and environmental strategies. This data is shared with 700 financial institutions that review how companies in a sector are preparing for the Net Zero economic journey.

A new rule proposed by the Biden Administration would require large federal contractors to publicly disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and other climate change risks, as well as set science-based emissions reduction targets. At $630 billion in annual spending the U.S. Government is the largest purchaser of goods and services in the world! Climate advisors Sarah O’Brien, CEO, Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council; Steven Rothstein, Managing Director, Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets and John Kostyack, Ceres Consultant are joining me for this discussion. We will highlight details of this proposed rule and share with our listeners how they can submit public comments on the proposal through the Jan. 13th deadline. Find links for the proposed rule and public comment details at the SFP BrightTALK attachments tab.

EMERGE Capital Management recently launched a suite of sustainability-focused, diversified equity ETF portfolios to open new doors for high caliber, diverse investment managers who are often underserved in the industry. Jane Liou Li of Zevin Asset Management has joined EMPWR, a select group of women portfolio managers chosen to manage the EMERGE ETF strategies. Li and Zevin Asset Management sub-advise for the EMPWR Sustainable Global Core Equity ETF. We’re talking today about how these firms collaborate to achieve EMERGE’s mission of highlighting these talented women fund managers through the EMPWR ETF strategies. For more details on the EMPWR ETF strategies see the docs linked below.

In today’s program we’re exploring the changing needs and behavior of NextGen investors. According to my guest, Deborah Yang, these younger investors are using investment apps that integrate sustainability data and analytics into the portfolio ownership and management process. Yang, CEO and Co-Founder of Daizy.com, a sustainability insight app for Conscious Investing, is going to tell us how their app works, including using AI for more accurate and current data analysis.

Investment capital to fund hydrogen clean energy development is being raised in record amounts in the private and public markets this year, with both the supply and demand sides of proposed hydrogen energy solutions dependent on the development of hydrogen hubs.  Dr. Venera Anderson, a global Strategy Advisor and Author on Sustainability and Climate issues, an “Illuminem’s Energy Voice” and a member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council is my guest today on The Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP) and a recognized expert in “Women in Green Hydrogen”. In today’s SFP episode we review her recently published study promoting the development of coastal green hydrogen hubs as part of the U.S. clean hydrogen energy infrastructure. We also discuss the green hydrogen hub concept as a key to creating the U.S. clean energy economy. See the Attachments tab of this SFP BrightTALK channel episode for links to Dr. Anderson's articles and research related to the U.S. green hydrogen energy future.

Institutional investors from around the world joined Ceres last August in launching the Valuing Water Finance Initiative, a new effort to engage 72 companies with a high water footprint to value and act on water as a financial risk and drive the necessary large-scale change to better protect water systems. Kirsten James, Senior Program Director of Water at Ceres is my guest for this episode of the Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP). James joins me to discuss this investor-led initiative aimed at moving companies to respond to the global water crisis. Signatories to this initiative include financial institutions such as pension funds, mainstream asset owners and socially responsible investors. The Attachments tab for this SFP Episode contains links to several publications regarding Ceres' engagement with companies about the global water crisis.

If there was any doubt that we’ve entered a new era for corporate boards, the 2021 proxy voting season dispelled it. Activist Investors focused on accelerating the transition to clean energy and BlackRock voted against 255 directors during the 2021 proxy year. Dr. Katrin Gulden Le Marie is my guest today. She consults with companies on CSR, ESG and Impact Investment initiatives and advises boards of directors on their climate readiness and board diversity. She is also a board member of the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on ESG and we’re discussing several challenges that aging boards face in today’s episode. Use the Attachments tab for this episode to access the following: The BCS-INSEAD Board ESG Pulse Check

My guest today on the Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP) is bringing her 15 years of experience in startups and her current Venture Consultant role with Blue Ivy Ventures to her new role for The Great Nepali Diaspora’s mission. Preeti Adhikary is Founder of the Diaspora, and on a personal mission to share ideas, pool resources and collaborate with other Diaspora members living in the U.S. and other countries abroad. We’re going to discuss her big, audacious goal for the Diaspora and learn how members can connect with their roots and contribute to one another’s lives.

Schroders, a member of the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, is expanding its US-based sustainability team. Marina Severinovsky, Head of Sustainability NA at Schroders recently introduced me to Whitney Sweeney, who has joined Schroders’ global sustainable investment team in the role of Investment Director, Sustainability. Sweeney is my guest for today’s episode of the Sustainable Finance Podcast. We’re talking about her focus on building partnerships across several distribution channels and managing sustainable investment education and training for advisors and other investment professionals based on a review of the results from the Schroders’ annual Global Investor Study.

Imagine we are investors, searching through the portfolio strategies offered by our employer’s pension plan for the most sustainable combination of risk and reward in balance with our deeply held personal values. Mindy Lubber, CEO and President at Ceres and my guest for today’s podcast episode, is asking us to also imagine that the government, or somebody who wants to use its power, has decided that we shouldn’t make those more sustainable investments — or even that we couldn’t. These policies are currently taking many forms in multiple states in the U.S. Lubber and I will discuss this backlash against the growing level of investment in addressing the challenges of the climate crisis, and in taking advantage of the business opportunities to solve these challenges through the companies we choose for investment.

Luma Saqqaf is the CEO of Ajyal Sustainability Consulting, advising corporates, financial institutions, funds and asset managers as well as counseling regulators and financial markets in MENA countries on sustainable finance issues. Saqqaf is returning the SFP today to discuss expectations for what will be accomplished at COP27 next month. Her Sustainability Consulting draws on three decades at the forefront of finance, Islamic finance, sustainability and entrepreneurship in MENA and Europe.

My guest today on the Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP) managed the world’s first Frontier markets fund and launched one of the earliest onshore China strategies in the United States. Asha Mehta is a market maker, investment pioneer, and author of "POWER OF CAPITAL: An Adventure Capitalist’s Journey to a Sustainable Future", which is available at Amazon online now. I’ve had the privilege to preview this book in which Asha, who is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Global Delta Capital, focuses on Emerging & Frontier Markets and Sustainable Investing. In today’s episode Asha will share her views on evolving emerging markets and provide her insights into current geopolitics. Our conversation will examine the changes gripping the world today and why the average person and investor should care.

How can a blockchain based system, supported with IoT (internet of things) devices, improve climate-aligned finance? My guest today, Bill Kentrup, is Co-founder and Head of Origination at Allinfra. We’re going to discuss Allinfra’s renewable energy partners and the digital and financial products they create on the Allinfra Climate platform. For example, Genesis 1.0 is exploring green bond tokenization and Genesis 2.0 is looking at how blockchain and smart contracts can deliver and transfer digitized carbon credits.

OS-Climate is developing open data and open source analytics that companies, markets, and governments need for climate alignment. OS- Climate, a part of the non-profit Linux Foundation, is building the technical equivalent of a public utility to scale and accelerate sustainable business, finance, investment, and regulation. In today’s episode we will hear from Truman Semans, OS climate’s founder and CEO, about the unique function of the OS-C platform relative to other mega initiatives for collecting data, using artificial intelligence for predictive scenario analysis, and gauging the climate impact of companies and financial institutions.

Dubai Green Fund (DGF) is the funding pillar of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy for 2050, which has set some ambitious goals for the next 30 years. These include goals for Net Zero Emissions and establishing Dubai as a hub for ESG and Green Economy investment in the MENA region. Joost Smulders is Chief Investment Officer at DGF and my guest today on The Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP). We’re going to talk about why the Dubai Government, anchored by Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA), has launched this impact investment firm.

My guest today develops circular economy models and metrics to push for material impact in ESG measurements of e-waste, food systems, extractive resources, and mobility. Eugenio Liu consults with NGOs, development agencies, venture capital, and impact investment firms. Today we’re asking the questions: “What is the Circular Economy and why is it important?” And “What are the Circular Economy’s biggest challenges and difficulties?”

Silver Leaf Partners provides guidance to corporate clients, institutional asset managers and investors regarding ESG and Impact investment strategies. My guest today is Michael J. Scanlon, a partner at AiCE Group under Silver Leaf Partners. His team is currently raising capital for a Global Macro-LatAm fund and a multi-billion US Long / Short fund. These portfolios include low-carbon investment opportunities that draw on the firm’s ESG and Impact expertise. Silver Leaf also collaborates with third-party partners to implement ESG / Impact portfolio frameworks.

The total derivative notional outstanding for U.S. banks is close to $200 trillion and the top 5 largest banks control ~95% of this systemically important market. However, to date, the climate risk implications of this market have been unexplored. My guests today are experts in climate risk management for financial institutions and the co-authors of a first-of-its kind report on derivatives and climate risk. Jim Scott is Senior Advisor for Financial Institutions Engagement at Ceres Accelerator for Capital Markets, and Blair Bateson is Director, at Ceres Company Network.

The Ngalia people of Western Australia’s Central Deserts region have 23,000 square kilometers of exclusive possession Native Titled land, making them potentially the largest landowners in Australia, yet they live in poverty. In today’s Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP) episode I’m speaking with Kado Muir, a cultural leader and traditional owner among the Ngalia people. Muir and other indigenous leaders are mobilizing the transition into a new industrial age, where data sovereignty, renewable energy, Net Zero Emissions and Nature Based solutions are sustainable investment opportunities and sources of capital for new and emerging economies.

Luma Saqqaf, the CEO of Ajyal Sustainability Consulting, has spent three decades at the forefront of Islamic finance, sustainability and entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa, also known as the MENA region. She is a regular adviser to regulators in MENA including the Dubai Financial Market. In today’s program we discuss the impacts of climate change and the hosting of COP27 and COP28 in the MENA region, as well as the development of sustainable finance trends there.

Aurelio Oliveira, Enel Americas’ CFO, is excited about bringing clean energy power to millions of additional customers in South and Central America. When Enel Americas’ Integrated Annual Report for 2021 was published, the company had 10.9 GW of Net installed renewable energy generating capacity. Oliveira and I discuss Enel Americas’ current and future plans under the firm’s sustainable value creation model. The company’s mission, according to this model includes being open to energy access for more people, new energy technologies and uses and new forms of energy management.

An unprecedented $400B is now on the table for federal climate adaptation. How is the money going to be allocated throughout the banking system? Are banks and companies they underwrite ready to make this transition? Who stands to benefit the most? On September 28th in New York City, Ceres is bringing together leading bankers, investors, and regulators for Financing a Net Zero Economy, an event focusing on this exciting time in climate transition planning. Dan Saccardi, Program Director of the Ceres Company Network, joins me today to discuss the hot topics the panels of experts will be covering: Green financing, client engagement, just transition, and robust disclosures. I'm excited to be talking to Dan today because Ceres is leading the charge on working with the financial sector to address these climate change challenges.

My guest today, Sam King, is Co-founder and CTO at Briink, a German technology company using AI and Machine Learning to support the adoption of the EU Taxonomy and the transition to a low-carbon economy. Listen in as Sam tells us how the taxonomy is going to regulate reporting for companies in the EU and the US, and how AI can speed up the adoption of climate regulations.

“The Story you tell today will decide the future.” This is the motto that guides today’s guest, Laura Taylor, President and CEO at Silverline Communications, a national agency that delivers strategic marketing and communications to a diverse portfolio of clients in climate, cleantech and ESG. Silverline is the oldest woman-owned climate tech PR agency in the US. Taylor, who’s been ahead of the curve for 14 years, explains how Silverline is helping venture capital firms refine their messaging to accelerate the growth of climate technologies.

How can systems thinking be applied to the global food supply? My guest today, Lauren Baker, is Deputy Director, Global Alliance for the Future of Food, a unique coalition of global philanthropic foundation members. We discuss her inspiring project, Beacons of Hope, which showcases global initiatives that are working to achieve sustainable, equitable, and resilient food systems.  

H/L Ventures is forging a new way to build companies with a unique approach that combines Daily Active Engagement with every portfolio company and a focus on investing in growth, impact, and diversity, with a strong preference for diverse founding teams. Oliver Libby, who co-founded H/L Ventures in 2009, and I talk about creating impact through a hands-on approach to business modeling for early stage private companies that blends the best of venture studio and investment firm on one platform to help grow companies from early stage to exit.

Wendy Nystrom Lloyd is the founder of Basher Productions, LLC, and she’s on a mission to help people find their solution to pollution. Wendy is an expert in pollution and environmental risk management and a certified construction risk insurance specialist (CRIS). I was recently a guest on Environmental Social Justice (ESJ), the webinar program Wendy created and produces. On today’s program we talk about opportunities to collaborate in educating investors and their advisors about these important issues.

For advisors, the sometimes overwhelming amount of information on implementing sustainable investing can be daunting. My guest today, Gabe Rissman, is going to tell us about a streamlined method for finding out what clients care about and personalizing how to talk about it. Rissman is Co-Founder and President of YourStake, which received the top ESG / SRI portfolio analysis and reporting tool rating in the T3/Inside Information advisor software survey in May 2022. And in June YourStake was nominated as a finalist for the WealthManagement.com #wealthies awards as an Industry Disruptor and Top Technology Provider.

William Burckart is the CEO of The Investment Integration Project (TIIP), a consulting firm that develops turnkey solutions to help investors manage systemic risks and opportunities in Sustainable and ESG Investing. Burckart co-authored "21st Century Investing: Redirecting Financial Strategies to Drive Systems Change" in 2021 with sustainable investing pioneer Steve Lydenberg, and  was a guest speaker for the 2021 edition of RIA Channel‘s “ESG Practice Playbook”, where we discussed the value and importance of collaboration in sustainable investment.

Net Zero emissions by 2050 is the new North Star for major corporations, governments and investors. In order to achieve this goal, corporate players across all sectors of the global economy must be held accountable. My guest today is Pratima Divgi, Head of Capital Markets, CDP North America. She leads engagement with the financial sector to measure and manage the climate and environmental impact of companies and guide them in deploying more sustainable practices. We discuss CDP’s efforts to help corporations generate structured data that helps them to assess, analyze and benchmark trends into the making of financial decisions. Then, using the Task Force for Climate Related Financial Decisions (TCFD) scenario analysis, companies can determine their readiness on climate and environmental strategies. This data is shared with 700 financial institutions that review how companies in a sector are preparing for the Net Zero economic journey.

Today I’m speaking with Dewi John, Head of UK & Ireland Research at Refinitiv Lipper about how global ESG investment fund flows are shifting away from high growth strategies and into equity income strategies. We also talk about how investors in the UK and EU prioritize ESG and sustainability issues by comparison with US investors. And how the valuation of global companies with high ESG rankings is being impacted by popular sustainable investing themes and methodologies. At the same time, SFDR in the EU, SDR in the UK, and the SEC in the US are working toward alignment of global regulatory infrastructure over time.

My podcast guest today is Sam Adams, CEO and Founder of Vert Asset Management. Sam is on a mission to help advisors invest sustainably for their clients. Adams and I talk about the book he has co-authored with Larry Swedroe, Your Essential Guide to Sustainable Investing. Each of the co-authors has brought their unique perspective to the issues and topics they address in this writing partnership. Adams and Swedroe bring clarity to the ratings, acronyms and fund offerings, giving investors a clear plan for making sustainable investing choices.

The world’s largest asset owners own approximately $61 trillion in institutional assets worldwide. They are exposed to the whole economy in good times and bad times, and they unequivocally support stakeholder capitalism. Michael Ferrari is Chief Science Officer & Chief Data Scientist at Engine No. 1, an activist shareholder of major corporations like Exxon Mobil. Today we are discussing why Engine No. 1 is asking companies to move beyond business as usual and focus on the material Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues that impact business performance,  profitability and society over the long term.

According to Choir, the finance world has been listening to the same voices for far too long. FinanceChoir has developed the industry’s first diversity certification for financial conferences, with the goal of amplifying the voices of financial professionals who are women, non-binary people, and people of color. Co-founder Liv Gagnon is with us today to talk about how this certification can help your company or organization stay relevant, reach more people, and publicize your conference’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Gagnon explains the process, which includes a thorough assessment of your most recent conference, calculates your Choir Score™, and provides you with tailored and actionable guidance.

My guest today is Wendy Diamond, International Social Entrepreneur and Impact Investor, Best Selling Author of 10 books, TV Personality, and as she calls herself, a Do Gooder supporting the Underdog. She has Three Guinness World Records, and has appeared on Oprah, The Today Show, and Bloomberg, and has been a keynote speaker at the United Nations, Harvard University and Davos. Today we’re going to be talking about some of the disruptive technologies she invests in, like Renewable Energy, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Fintech and Virtual Reality, as well as Women's Entrepreneurship Day Organization (WEDO), a non-governmental volunteer organization she founded. Women's Entrepreneurship Day Organization is celebrated in 144 countries and universities and colleges worldwide with the mission to empower Women in business and alleviate poverty.  We’re thrilled to have her join us today.

Americans have $1 trillion invested in employer-sponsored retirement plans. Yet many people making payroll deduction contributions to these plans are not aware of the Sustainable and ESG-focused investment options available in these plans. My guest today, Michael Rhim, is working to solve this problem. He’s the Principal at PRM Consulting Group and Lead Author of the IEN’s Guide to Sustainable Retirements. Rhim has more than 30 years experience as the practice leader for defined contribution retirement plans at PRM and is a regular contributor and advisor to the IEN’s Sustainable Retirements Initiative.

Sonia Kowal, today’s podcast guest, made the following statement in a LinkedIn article in 2021, “ESG research and integration is part of an investment process to try and improve investment returns. It is not necessarily tied to values, ethics, morality, or mission.” But Kowal, who has been President of Zevin Asset Management since 2009, knows that values and ethics were central to the development of socially responsible investing. Kowal talks to us about the mission of Zevin Asset Management, which is a 100% employee-owned, majority women-owned firm, and the legacy of the company’s founder, Robert Zevin, who was a pioneer in sustainable investing. A philosophy that is obviously working because the company has a 20-plus-year performance track record that has been tested over a variety of market conditions.  

The Securities and Exchange Commission just proposed a draft rule that will require companies to report their GHG emissions, and is welcoming public comments on the draft (by May 20). This is a great opportunity for investors and their financial advisors to share their thoughts and concerns about corporate sustainability with the SEC. Today’s podcast guest is Steven Rothstein, Managing Director of the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, who is here to offer our listeners his perspective on how this proposed rule will support investors and their advisors in evaluating companies’ GHG emissions reporting.

In today’s program we’re going to learn why small to midsize companies across all sectors need to nail down their SEC compliance frameworks or risk being left behind as major corporations  with bigger budgets and more staff take the advantage. Nidhi Chadda is the Founder and CEO of Enzo Advisors, a female-founded, minority-owned advisory firm that helps companies build best-in-class ESG business models. In our conversation Chadda leads listeners through the various stages of compliance. Chadda is a member of the Forbes Business Council with over 20 years of experience in the world of corporate finance. I’m very glad we’ve been able to get on her busy schedule for today’s conversation.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set targets in 2015 for ending poverty and hunger, improving education, and protecting the environment at a global scale. Since then investors, asset managers and financial advisors have been working to identify the impact of publicly traded companies’ products and services on all 17 SDGs. My podcast guest today is Patrick Uribe, CEO of Util, the fintech company which recently launched a new sustainability analytics platform that allows users to explore and compare the SDG impacts of almost 50,000 listed companies as well as mutual funds and EFTs in order to screen investments and generate portfolio reports.

Novata is a technology platform that’s pioneering a unique approach to ESG measurement, data collection, benchmarking and reporting in the private markets. This public benefit corporation recently closed a $21 million Series A Funding Round supported by the consortium of leading institutions in social justice, financial data and private market advisory that created it. On today’s program I’m speaking with Lorraine Spradley Wilson, Chief Impact Officer and Head of ESG at Novata, about why 2022 is the year to pursue more transparent ESG data measurement and reporting in the private markets.

It’s time to progress the ESG conversation with US investors, according to Marina Severinovsky, the Head of Sustainability, North America at Schroders. Severinovsky is on the program today with an important message for our listeners – policy, regulation, corporate action, and investor interest are all aligning to support the expansion of ESG in the US. Listen in to find out Schroders’ take on why engaging US investors to benefit from these trends requires a shift towards aligning with their priorities on climate transition and social impact, and a more pragmatic and investment-led focus on mitigating risks and uncovering opportunities.

In my conversation today, Ron Albahary, Laird Norton Wealth Management’s CIO tells the story of how their clients set the stage for the firm’s initiative to spotlight social issues. Laird Norton’s clients include multigenerational family offices, foundations, and nonprofits. Since 2021 Laird Norton has been partnering with Calvert Research and Management and Parametric to create investment solutions that meet their clients objectives for working with global leaders in responsible investment and portfolio customization. Albahary and I focus on two thematic portfolio strategies: Empowerment and Community Health and Wellness.

If you’re in financial services, you need to belong to the right digital communications platforms. But these platforms present a host of challenges, like lack of privacy and fragmentation across multiple tools. Let alone the fact that the business doesn’t own the data. All of these challenges limit your connectivity, efficiency, and control. My podcast guest today is Denise Hayman-Loa, Co-Founder of Carii & Connective.Network. After just seven years, the firm was awarded Best Digital Community Building Platform of 2022 by Acquisition International Magazine. Hayman-Loa worked for 29 years in Financial Services on client relationships, risk management and technology. So I’m excited to get her perspective on how businesses and organizations can use digital communication tools to enhance and amplify messaging for their clients.

In May 2020, the world witnessed the horrific death of George Floyd, shocking Americans into confronting the racial injustice experienced by Black Americans daily. This event forced a re-evaluation of our most fundamental beliefs about racial justice and institutions and became a catalyst for change. As You Sow, the nation’s leading non-profit in shareholder advocacy, created the Racial Justice Initiative, which provides a complete corporate profile on racial equity issues for companies in the Russell 1000 Index. My guest today is Olivia Knight, Racial Justice Initiative Manager at As You Sow. Knight explains how As You Sow uses the scorecard to  engage companies on policy changes and to file shareholder resolutions.

Here is some disturbing data from the Harvard Business Review. Startups with female only founders receive less than 3% of global VC funding. And female founders and employees own only 11% of total startup equity versus 89% for men. Also disturbing according to the study is that most investors believe that entrepreneurial talent is evenly distributed by  gender! So what’s happening to opportunity for women? My guest today, Vicky Lay is mission driven to change these percentages. She’s Partner and Head of Impact Investments at Artesian Alternative Investments. Artesian is a global alternative investment management firm specializing in public and private debt, venture capital, and impact investment strategies. Lay launched the $100 millon Artesian Female Leaders VC Fund on November 29, 2021.

In Q1 of 2020, Dynamo Energy Hub Co-Founders responded to the pandemic by pivoting their business model and expanding the digital programming component. How did they do it and did it work? Dynamo Co-Founder and President Kristin Barbato is on the program today to talk about this successful transformation. Barbato and I discuss their growth from 2 to 10 energy innovation networking communities (Dynamo Hubs) this year alone as well as how this expansion is influencing Build Edison’s, Barbato’s consulting company, work of scaling innovative cleantech companies.

What should we be expecting in the ESG investment landscape during 2022? To answer that question I have Anuj Shah on the program today. I can’t think of anyone more qualified to discuss the top ESG Trends for 2022. Shah is a Partner at Close Group Consulting, which, since their founding in 2017, has worked on the design and implementation of ESG integration mandates for asset managers and owners with a combined AUM of $1.7tn. Tune in for our conversation about their recently published ESG Trends Report, The List.

Between 2015 and 2020 investor demand doubled the number of sustainable mutual funds and ETFs that are available in the U.S. The trend continued in 2021, with Envestnet reporting higher growth rates for asset flows into sustainability focused products. My guest on the program today is Brett Wayman, Senior Director of Sustainable Investing at Envestnet, and we talk about the dramatic increase of advisors on the platform who are using sustainable strategies. That’s 35,000 advisors (45%) working with 800,000 clients. And we discuss why more advisors need to understand why Sustainable Investing is so valuable to the advisor/client relationship.

One of my favorite future-focused sustainable investing conferences starts on March 28. The Wall Street Green Summit has been attracting low-carbon economy entrepreneurs and sustainable finance professionals for 20 years. I’m always surprised and inspired by the roundup of the best and most thought provoking clean energy technologies innovations. And it’s a great opportunity to network with peers and consider investment opportunities. In today’s program I talk with founder Peter Fusaro about the 21st WSG Summit, including this year’s program Agenda and who’s on the speaker line up. We also discuss the difference between compliance and voluntary carbon markets.

2,000 large global public companies with $100 trillion of assets under management are committed to meeting net-zero emissions targets agreed to at COP 26. But, a lack of corporate disclosure and ESG data consistency is limiting the amount of assets deployed to sustainable business activities, like managing climate risk for example. Arabesque, a global provider of ESG data, is leading the way in solving this dilemma. Today I’m talking with Georg Kell, Chairman of the Board at Arabesque, about their ESG Book, a new analytics platform that brings together a global alliance of stakeholders focused on shaping the future of ESG data. An exciting topic for our listeners because companies can make their ESG data more accessible, comparable, and transparent, and all of this at no cost!

Today’s program is about an unusual bank, so be prepared to expand your understanding of the role banks can play in growing sustainable investing. In fact, Amalgamated has been providing Socially Responsible banking and investment to the public for almost 100 years. It was founded by the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union Amalgamated for those traditionally excluded from the banking system. And as of 2021 Amalgamated has $57 billion in custody and investment assets under management. On the program today I’m talking with Cynthia Dalagelis, SVP and Director of ESG Investments at Amalgamated Bank, about their ESG Responsifunds partnership with Invesco to offer a suite of funds that are leaders in social equity, gender equality and climate change. And we also talk about how Amalgamated is working to address the world’s most urgent challenges and bring about systemic long term change.

Anyone working in finance needs to stay current with what’s happening with climate finance and regulation because it affects the entire industry. And consolidation is happening within the climate reporting frameworks. Stacy Swann, the CEO of Climate Finance Advisors, my guest today, walks us through how banking and investment companies can use the data produced by climate assessment tools to better understand their own ESG data for company benchmarking and resilience planning as well as corporate governance, risk assessment, and sustainable business development.

Alight is the leading Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) provider for corporate solar power deployment in the Nordics. Founder and CEO Harald Overholm spent years in the U.S. studying the technology and funding of the solar industry and in 2022 is helping companies across Europe switch to solar power that’s 80% cheaper than it was a decade ago. Overholm believes entrepreneurs in the power sector and global capital markets can work together to grow solar from 3% of power capacity today to 50% globally during the next 3 to 4 decades. PPA capital financing and distributed grid technologies will facilitate this dramatic growth.

In November 2021 the Schwab Ariel ESG ETF began trading on the NYSE under the symbol SAEF. Malik Sievers, Head of ESG strategy at Schwab Asset Management talks about their first-ever proprietary ESG ETF and its collaboration with Ariel Investments, LLC, the fund’s sub-adviser and a pioneer in ESG and value-based investing. The ETF market is growing rapidly in the U.S, with almost $3.9 trillion invested as of June 2021. Sievers and I talk about opportunities in 2022 to launch additional proprietary ESG funds as well as the 20-year partnership between Schwab Asset Management and Ariel Investments that promotes financial literacy across middle-class Black American communities.

My guest today, Dr. Rupini Deepa Rajagopalan, was tasked with launching the ESG office in 2018 at Berenberg Wealth and Asset Management. Berenberg is one of the oldest banks in the world, founded in 1590. As Head of ESG Office, Rupini has been working with its asset management teams to integrate ESG strategies throughout their client portfolios and its funds. We also talk about key takeaways from their 2021 ESG Survey (112 respondents, primarily from UK and Germany and included a mix of asset managers, family offices, charities and private investors) and particularly how the engagement process with companies reveals key ESG metrics that can be difficult to determine without rigorous active management.

A recent Gartner survey reports a huge increase in spending on information security and risk technology: from 6.4% in 2020 to 12.4% in 2021, with spending reaching $150 billion. Joining us today is Penelope Bise, Chief Cybersecurity Expert at ImpactVest. Bise has an important message, especially for smaller financial services firms, who are even more at risk from phishing by malicious hackers. She explains that increased remote work because of the Covid-19 pandemic is heightening the risk because when workers are remote they tend to be less careful of cybersecurity, and the “Black Hats” are getting more sophisticated. Listen in while Bise gives tips to make sure you build in the right kinds of security systems and your employees adhere to the best protocols when working globally and while using other devices, like mobile phones.

On the program today Campos, Head of Sustainable Investment for the Americas at FTSE Russell, gives key takeaways from the 2021 edition of the Global Asset Owner Sustainability Survey. This survey comprises institutional asset owners, most managing 10B+ in assets. In 2021, 84% of the respondents said they are implementing or evaluating sustainable investment considerations compared to 53% in 2018. In 2020, ESG asset allocation reached $35 trillion, and is expected to grow to $50 trillion by 2025. The two biggest drivers for institutional asset owners in 2021 were mitigating long term investment risk and avoiding reputational risk, particularly in the European and Asian markets. In the US, the biggest driver is better risk adjusted performance.

Too often investors focus only on the E and the G in ESG investing: the environmental and governance factors. But what about the S factor, and why should investors and advisors care? Joining us today is Bonnie-Lyn de Bartok, Founder, CEO, Director of The S Factor Co., and she’s going to tell us why, and how machine learning and big data can help investors reduce risk and improve performance. I’ve known de Bartok for several years now, and to say that she’s a leader in sustainable finance is an understatement. Here are just some of her accomplishments in 2021: She won first place in UBS's Future of Finance Challenge; was selected a Global AIFINTECH100 Top 100 Innovator of the Year; is one of Canada’s Top Women in Fintech; and founded one of the Top 14 Social Impact Investing Startups in Canada.

MSCI has just come out with its new Climate Search and ESG Rating Tool that gives investors and advisors access to data on two of the most important climate issues: temperature rise and decarbonization targets. Bruce Kahn is Executive Director and Climate Solutions Specialist at MSCI and teaches Sustainable Finance at Columbia University. Kahn joins us today to explain how this new tool will measure whether a company will stay within its portion of the shared carbon budget, which has been established by the Paris Agreement and modeled by TCFD. The Climate Search and ESG Rating Tool is doing this for over 2,900 companies, giving investors a much more nuanced look at climate risk within their portfolios.

Climate Change is a Mega Trend that is reshaping economies and markets, perhaps for decades to come. Casey Clark, Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Global Head of ESG Investments at Rockefeller Asset Management, calls this the Climate Change Flow Through Effect, which he believes is positively impacting stock prices. Clark talks about how this mega trend is affecting public policy, consumer preferences, and technological advances. He highlights the impact on stock performance as seen in FTSE’s Environmental Opportunity Index, which has outperformed the traditional FTSE Global All Cap Index by 4.6% annualized over the past five years, as of August 31, 2021.

HEVO’s new commercial partnership with Oakridge National Laboratories will revolutionize wireless EV charging. Jeremy McCool, Founder and CEO of HEVO, a pioneer in EV wireless charging, software, and services, describes how this new partnership gives HEVO access to Department of Energy EV charging technologies, accelerating the development of faster charging times, vehicle to grid access, and dynamic inroad lane charging. We also talk about how $350B of CAPEX pledged by automakers will increase manufacturing capacity as well as reduce barriers to ownership. Consumers will be able to purchase an EV through a subscription model, thereby reducing upfront costs and democratizing adoption of EV mobility.

Climate experts are telling us that Planet Earth is in “code red.” My guest today, Jeff Gitterman, Co-Founding Partner and creator of Sustainable, Impact, and ESG Investing Services at Gitterman Wealth Management, explains what code red means for the financial markets. What Gitterman calls “The Great Repricing,” is catalyzing asset repricing across all regions, asset classes, and sectors. Gitterman, an expert in climate related portfolio strategies, walks us through the investment opportunities related to this repricing and the transition to a low-carbon economy.

How can investors participate in a whole-economy transition in developing markets while achieving robust returns? My guest today is Shami Nissan, Head of Sustainability at Actis, a leading global investor in sustainable infrastructure, and in 2019, the second largest renewable energy installer in the world. We discuss exciting investor opportunities in renewables, digital infrastructure, and real estate. Nissan explains how a whole-economy approach is achieving successful financial performance as well as social and environmental impact, leading to repeat investor participation in their latest and largest energy fund.

The building industry is transforming as energy efficiency, lower maintenance costs, and green technologies create safer, healthier, more productive work environments. My guest today, Trenton Allen, Managing Director & CEO of Sustainable Capital Advisors, explains how Public and private partnerships are driving $300 billion in sustainable urban infrastructure opportunities over the next 5 years. Allen has recently been appointed to the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, which provides advice and recommendations to the U.S. Secretary of Energy. He and I talk about the incredible impact this kind of development will have in driving economic development across the U.S., like providing thousands of jobs in sustainable construction and retrofits as well as maintenance and operations. Allen explains some of the financial mechanisms that are used, like tax credits, cash in lieu of grants, and direct capital investment. Tags: Energy Infrastructure, Public-Private Partnerships, Energy Efficiency, Green Building

Asset managers and advisors looking to integrate scenario analysis into their ESG portfolios, benchmarks, and indexes can now use Entelligent’s Smart Climate Technology. Entelligent is the first to develop and be granted a US patent for using scenario analysis in a technology that assesses climate-related risks. My guest today, Pooja Khosla, Executive VP of Client & Product Development at Entelligent, walks us through scenarios for carbon taxes, renewable energy subsidies, company alignment with net zero, and regulatory reporting and compliance with TCFD and the EU taxonomy and the Principles for Responsible Investment.

Today’s podcast is about hydrogen--what many of the largest industrial companies believe is the future of energy. In October 2021, HY24, the largest investment platform dedicated to financing clean hydrogen energy, was launched by a joint venture between Ardian and Five T Hydrogen. Amir Sharifi, the CIO of HY24 and the energy transition lead at Ardian, explains how the €500bn CAPEX commitment from large industrial companies as well as the €80bn in government subsidies is driving the development of clean hydrogen. Sharifi explains that his team is mobilizing €1.5bn for its first private investment fund in the EU, Asia, and the Americas, with the goal of achieving €15bn by 2027.

One hundred million Americans are contributing to 401(k) retirement plans, but few know that many of these plans invest in fossil fuels, deforestation, private prisons and other companies that may not be aligned with their values. My guest on today’s program, Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, explains that many companies who sponsor 401(k) plans are contradicting their own stated sustainability goals. For example, companies like Apple, Disney, Microsoft, and Visa all have ambitious ESG targets, but the investment choices in their plans often include major GHG polluters and companies that are burning down the Amazon rainforest. Behar and I also talk about As You Sow’s exciting new programs: “As You Vote,” for proxy voting, and the “Activate Network,” that works with financial advisors to empower shareholders.

How concerned do you think U.S. investors are about how the companies they invest in behave? Listen to today’s program to find out the results of Schroders’ annual Investor Study. My guest is Sarah Bratton Hughes, Global Head of Sustainability Solutions at Schroders. We discuss how climate change, corporate accountability, and social issues in the workplace are driving changes in how investors, both individual and institutional, are making portfolio allocation decisions.

After years of expectations, investors are finally pouring money into Green Bonds. Why is this happening now? On today’s program I talk to an expert in green fixed income asset management. Samantha Palm is Portfolio Managerof the Parnassus Fixed Income Fund. Parnassus Investments has been a pioneer in green fixed income investing since 1992. We talk about how investors and asset managers can choose the best corporate green bonds while avoiding greenwashing and the lack of transparency by issuers.

On today’s episode we’re talking about how you can save 10-20% on transportation costs while investing in green infrastructure. My guest is Tyler Wood, Director of ESG and Sustainability at Gravitas Infinitum, a company that builds and acquires companies and projects that address critical problems like waste plastic, CO2 emissions, and bad water. Wood and I discuss the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that was just passed by the Senate that allocates $1.4B to EV subscription programs. We talk about what this means to the future of low carbon transportation and the use of proceeds from green bonds to fund T4L as well as other Gravitas Infinitum projects.

Is it time for financial advisors and asset managers to review modern portfolio theory (MPT)? The nature of our markets has changed dramatically since MPT became the standard for portfolio diversification. How will the rise of institutional investing, AI and machine learning, and the inclusion of ESG analytics affect the CFA certification and education platform? My guest today, Matt Orsagh, is Senior Director of Capital Markets Policy at the CFA Institute, and he spends his time figuring out answers to these questions. As the Institute’s global ESG, sustainable, and climate change expert, Matt is the perfect person to walk us through how these issues might affect the certification process.

Federated Hermes, with $600B in assets, is one of the largest sustainable asset managers in the industry. Dr. Sotiria Anagnostou shares with listeners how their Responsible Investing Office has implemented a sophisticated in-house ESG data analytics and engagement strategy. Based on more than 20 years of experience, Federated Hermes has honed their approach. Their global stewardship team with cross-disciplinary expertise digs deep into the complexity of each company’s entire business model. This process generates more robust analytics than is typically possible using outside vendors or a checklist approach. Sotiria also explains how the second part of the strategy, company engagement, improves investment outcomes as well as building company relationships.

If you’re an asset manager or investor, how would you like to be able to go through the roughly 150 million studies out there, and compare them with each other to target specific ESG data? My guest, Patrick Uribe, is the CEO of Util, a FinTech startup that uses Artificial Intelligence and machine learning to map and measure the impact of every company in the world on over 2,000 sustainability themes. We talk about how having access to this amount of data gives investors a clear picture of a company’s revenue stream: the entire financial and non-financial ecosystem. While AI and machine learning favor large companies right now, Uribe believes that over time both these technologies will improve the timeliness and quality of data for smaller companies as well.

The ETF that Zhang manages and subadvises for, ECOZ, won the best new ESG ETF for 2020. We talk about how ECOZ’s carbon footprint is 85% lower than the S&P 500 Index. Zhang looks for companies that are focused on economic policy, corporate demand for clean energy, and significantly lower technology costs. These factors drive what Zhang calls the new industrial revolution, with the goal of a net zero carbon economy. We also discuss Zhang’s work as a co-founder of Women in ETFs, an organization with 7,000 members worldwide, that helps women advance from analyst positions to portfolio managers.

Saturna Capital’s Sustainable Equity Fund had an impressive Average Annual Total Return of 16.4% for the three-year period ending May 28, 2021, a 1.5% annualized outperformance versus the S&P Global 1200 index for the same three-year period. Carten and I talk about their stock selection process, which looks for consistently profitable, financially strong companies with low ESG risk factors. Carten promotes corporate gender equality, and we discuss her advocacy work with investment industry boards. Carten and I also talk about Saturna’s history with managing assets for the Islamic community in the U.S., which prioritizes personal and family values, leading to Saturna’s focus on long-term value investing.

Fifty-four percent of social media users use social media to research products and services. On today’s program Evan Zall, Owner and President of Longview Strategies, and I talk about marketing your sustainable investing practice, including how to use digital media under the new SEC guideline. We cover the main challenges asset managers and financial advisors face when they start integrating ESG strategies, like how to talk to clients about these strategies and how to incorporate ESG into your existing marketing plan. See the attached website link for Longview Strategies https://www.paulellisconsulting.com/peconsult/wp-content/uploads/Evan-Zall-Longview-Strategies-MP3-podcast.mp3

As climate risk management takes center stage for US financial regulators, how can investors, corporations, governments, and policymakers use climate risk analytics and software to manage the risks and opportunities from climate change adaptation. Stacy Swann, CEO of Climate Finance Advisors, talks to me about why “translators” are needed to interpret the forward-looking climate data tools being used today by the financial institutions leading the charge to a low-carbon economy, and particularly the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures) framework, the current industry standard to understand climate-related financial risks.

Shehriyar Antia, Vice President, Head of Thematic Research at PGIM, walks us through their recently published Megatrends Report. How do institutional investors understand climate change risk repricing? How do fixed income investors deal with available data that is estimated rather than reported? How can equity investors turn climate risk into opportunity? Join us for an in-depth discussion of the ways climate change is affecting the investment landscape.

Seeds is an exciting new Technology platform that financial advisors can use with clients to help them align their values with their investments. Zach Conway, Founder and CEO of Seeds and Managing Director of Conway Wealth talks about how Seeds works and how it developed through his firm’s focus on balancing life and money. He launched Seeds with a $5B RIA, and has recently partnered with Just Capital and Alliance Bernstein. We talk about how the interest in ESG investing from financial advisors has reached an inflection point, and new technologies are needed to facilitate client engagement.

Preeti Sinha, Executive Secretary at United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), talks about their newest innovative programs, like the UNCDF 500. This initiative will support 500 companies in the LDCs (Least Developed Countries), focusing on women’s economic development, climate change, and biodiversity. And their newly launched partnership with 100 Women in Finance, which has 20,000 members worldwide, will support women leaders in African economies as well as mentor young women to become future leaders. We discuss how these and other UNCDF initiatives in collaboration with official lenders make long-term sustainable finance available to developing countries by extending maturities on lending programs.

William Burckart, President at The Investment Integration Project (TIIP), talks about 21st Century Investing: Redirecting Financial Strategies to Drive System Change, the new book he co-authored with Steve Lydenberg, one of the pioneers of sustainable investing. Burckart explains that the nature of risks threatening today’s investor portfolios are fundamentally destabilizing. These challenges are new and encompass social and environmental issues that are systemic and threaten long-term investment returns across all asset classes in ways that traditional risk management cannot cope with. We talk about how system-level investing responds to these challenges. See the Attachments tab for details on research and publications mentioned in the podcast conversation.

Enviva is the largest supplier of sustainable wood biomass in the world. Jens Wolf, Vice President and General Manager at Enviva Europe, explains how the U.S. has a promising opportunity to provide low-carbon renewable energy and heat solutions to enable the transition to a net zero economy, as targeted by the E.U. and U.K. Today, bioenergy is the largest renewable energy source in the E.U., with the U.S. having the potential to meet 65% of the sustainable wood pellet demand, representing an approximate trade value of $1.6B. The low-carbon profile of sustainable wood biomass allows energy and heat producers to reduce their carbon emissions footprint by more than 85% on a lifecycle basis (compared to coal) creating an opportunity for investors and policymakers to transition to a green economy.

The clean water challenge: Only 3 percent of water on earth is fresh and potable for healthy human consumption, and 70% of this is used for agricultural production. Paul talks to John Simon about how Total Impact Capital is using blended finance to fund social enterprises with expertise in achieving several of the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals, including #6: Clean Water and Sanitation for all by 2030. For example, investors funded water delivery franchises in East Africa and supported water cooperatives in Central America to deliver cost effective, full-time access to clean water.

Ardian, a global PE firm with European roots, manages US$110BN. Since Ardian started their ESG platform, they have completed 130 ESG roadmaps for companies in their portfolio, using their Sustainable Buyout Investment approach. Candice Brenet, Managing Director and Head of Sustainability and Digital Transformation talks about how their process has reduced both emissions and employee absenteeism by 50% at one of London’s major airports.

Hughes discusses their process for ESG integration, which includes Schroders Sustainability Accreditation, enabling clients to distinguish how ESG factors are considered across the firm’s products. The second phase of their process will include impactIQ, a platform encompassing the firm’s proprietary tools. impactIQ will enable Schroders to identify companies that build businesses that can adapt to social and environmental pressures in order to reduce risks and increase returns.

Ringger brings 25 years of experience as a pioneer in sustainable finance to his new company, Globalance. The company is designed to be an interactive platform for investors to assess current portfolios against other models and indexes. Ringger talks about how investors can use the Globalance Footprint, an analytic tool that provides economic, social, and environmental impact information about investments in the 6,000 companies that Globalance covers. The Globalance World Portfolio is another tool that allows investors to compare the climate impact of their portfolios against industry standard investment indexes like the S&P 500.

Lutz describes the new US Diversity Index, the first of its kind for US companies and directors that includes ethnicity along with gender. We also discuss the launch of the Governance QualityScore (GQS) Index family, designed to help investors identify large and mid-cap companies with strong board structure and shareholder rights as well as those aligned with UN Global Compact principles. In addition, we talk about ISS ESG’s role working with institutional investors to explore climate-related risks through a suite of possible solutions. Open the Attachments tab to read Lutz's recent article at ISS ESG: Conversations on Climate.

Ellis, together with Nikolay Djibankov, leads the Matterhorn Group at William Blair, a full-service wealth advisory group developing and executing sophisticated financial and philanthropic plans for individuals, businesses, and nonprofit institutions. Ellis and I talk about their two portfolios: The Gender Parity Strategy and the The Matterhorn/Refinitiv Diversity & Inclusion Strategy. Ellis explains how the companies they own incorporate a diversity and inclusion social contract into stakeholder engagement. According to Ellis these companies will be the winners in performance and customer loyalty and attract a high quality workforce. Ellis also belongs to the Thirty Percent Coalition and working groups at Intentional Endowment Network, and US SIF to advocate for diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

As the key developer of the sustainable investing framework for Aegon Asset Management, Rich focuses on how to invest alongside sustainable megatrends in fixed income. We talk about the huge issuance of labeled bonds ($444B in 2020): green bonds, social bonds, and sustainable bonds. Rich shares a practical approach to identifying sustainable megatrends and opportunities across the fixed income spectrum. We also discuss how sustainability can help identify opportunities to uncover upside return potential and avoid downside risk by investing in companies that are sustainable leaders and improvers. Visit the Attachments tab for a Bio and Profile on James Rich, as well as the 2020 Aegon Sustainable Fixed Income, Sustainability Report.

After eight years doing development work in the public sector as a U.S. Federal Government Boren Scholar, and four years in the private banking industry focused on ESG and SRI, Williams has recently launched ImpactVest, dedicated to private equity impact strategies that use the GIIN (Global Impact Investing Network) tenets. Williams shares the startling statistic that only 4% of impact funds are currently invested in Africa. We talk about the lack of private capital allocation to impact strategies in both developed and developing economies, particularly regarding gender equality, climate risk, and access to financial services.

Jake Moeller, Senior Investment Consultant at Square Mile, talks about the dramatic increase in assets under management going into sustainable and responsible investment strategies globally since 2016, with 30%+ AUM in both the U.S. and Europe incorporating ESG analysis. Moeller and I discuss how Europe continues to be 5+ years ahead of the U.S. in enacting regulatory policies related to greenhouse gas reductions and achieving net zero carbon emissions. He explains how these policies are influencing corporate business models and the cost of capital today.

According to Essayas, the Covid-19 pandemic and the growing number of storms, fires, and other environmental disasters have affected every aspect of ESG analytics across all sectors of the economy. What will this mean over the next few years? Join us for this discussion as Essays explains that ESG metrics will be more dynamic, with more collaboration across data and analytics platforms leading to more standardized ESG methodologies.

Four Twenty Seven promotes climate adaptation and resilient investment through the integration of climate science into business and policy decisions, particularly their climate risk scores for listed securities, risk assessments for real estate, and intelligence services for scenario analysis. In our conversation Mazzacurati also talks about the increasing number of carbon neutrality declarations from corporate and government sectors. For example, she walks us through how corporations in the manufacturing sector are applying scenario analysis to opportunities for breakthrough technologies, and how China and the EU can do the same for credit rating risk. Mazzacurati was named among the Top 100 People in Finance for 2019. Her full bio is included in the Attachments tab of this program.

After many years in the asset management industry, Kirshman launched Impact Metropolis as a social network and video hosting site dedicated to the sustainable and impact investing community. According to Kirshman, as sustainable investing becomes more mainstream, collaboration and sharing of information is being impacted. Kirshman describes how Impact Metropolis is both aggregating resources across the sector and providing a platform where individuals and businesses, both new to impact investing and seasoned professionals, can network, promote their services, and connect with others in the field.

Pina walks us through the cutting edge technology that converts food waste into industrial grade organic fertilizer for soil-less and vertical farms. The technology is carbon negative and has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6-12,000 metric tons CO2e per year while increasing produce yields by 20% to 30%. The implications for urban agriculture are extraordinary, and offer an exciting growth opportunity for sustainable finance professionals. Check out her website for more information.

Marsh & McClennan, the world's leading professional services firm in the areas of risk, strategy and people, offers sustainable finance capabilities across all four businesses (Marsh, Mercer, Oliver Wyman and Guy Carpenter). In our podcast, Bernhardt talks about how the sustainable finance revolution is impacting asset valuations related to physical and transition climate risk as well as workplace social issues like systemic racism. An important topic given that ESG concerns impact more than $80 trillion in global assets under management. Alex Bernhardt can be reached at Alex.Bernhardt@oliverwyman.com.