RI journalists

Tornero is now a four-time winner of prestigious award

Around 150 asset owners have already signed up to attend the conference on December 4-5.

As the FT noted in a recent editorial: “The depressing reality about climate change is that we could solve the problem, at manageable cost, but are failing to do so. This failure is due to a mixture of blindness and self-deception.” Could the Green New Deal be a wake up call for North American investors? Join us for a debate on how North American investors are assessing and responding to the ambitious scale of the GND and the global energy transition. The Green New Deal is full of implications for investors - the plan would require massive investments and the leveraging of new funding for communities affected by climate change; the repairing and upgrading of crumbling infrastructure to withstand extreme weather and ensuring all legislation related to infrastructure address climate change; and a shift in capital away from fossil fuels into renewable power sources; investment in new manufacturing and industrial capacity to spur growth; and the build out of distributed power grids to provide affordable electricity across the continent. This webinar will consider implications of the Green New Deal for North America’s largest investors, and the risks and opportunities of a strategic approach to climate finance at the continental scale. Speakers: Daniel A. Zarrilli, OneNYC Director and Chief Climate Policy Advisor, NYC Office of the Mayor Lauren Faber O’Connor, Chief Sustainability Officer, Office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti Tanya Müller García, President, Commission for Environment and Energy, International Chamber of Commerce Mexico; former Secretary of Environment, Mexico City Moderator: Paul Verney, Journalist, Responsible Investor

The latest ESG movers and shakers

The latest responsible funds developments

As pressure grows for the integration of ESG factors into company valuation and sustainable and impact investing continues to attract more funds, the call to investors and corporates to address ESG data quality, consistency and accuracy becomes louder. The gap in perspective of investors, corporates and industry practitioners to enable creation of a reliable pool data of ESG data is evident. In this 4 part webinar series, find out about the different perspectives of corporates, investors and actors on addressing the ESG Data quality, consistency and accuracy gap. We will explore their differing views and challenges and discuss solutions and offer best practice examples. ESG data, ratings and indices The first in the webinar series will focus on how ESG data is defined, constructed, communicated, compared and practically used. This webinar is presented in partnership with the Investor Relations Society. Newly appointed CEO, Laura Hayter, will give insight into some of the key findings and views from a recently conducted a survey ESG data and current practices. The Investor Relations Society has over 800 members representing European investor relations professionals. Questions include: What types of data do investors consider to be ESG data? Why is it a challenge for companies to produce ESG data? Is the incorporation of general ESG data from data providers sufficient to resolve long term information gaps ? How are ESG ratings and indices constructed and differ? How do rating and index providers attribute financial performance resulting from ESG practices not always tracked or reported on by companies and is it accounted for in ESG ratings and indices? Speakers: Laura Hayter, CEO, The Investor Relations Society Rakesh Patel, Director, Investor Relations, InterContinental Hotels Group Andy Howard, Head of Sustainable Research, Schroders Sam Sue Ping, Head of Issuer Communications, MSCI Moderator: Helen Wood-Gush, Senior ESG Consultant, Responsible Investor

This RI webinar will take a challenging look at changing approaches to investing in a low-carbon world. The discussion will clarify the debate over strategies that target the green economy or a low-carbon transition. Insurance giant AXA is now calling on companies to issue transition bonds as well as green ones and the EU taxonomy has been expanded to consider both green economic activity and those that enable the transition to net zero emissions. Canada’s Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance recommended the development of transition-linked asset classes to help decarbonise the economy. Can ongoing investor and government support for large fossil fuel producers actually accelerate decarbonisation, or is it time for investors to wind-up the most emissions intensive companies? All of these developments point to a broadening of the sustainable finance policy agenda to include fossil fuels and carbon-intensive industries. Is this sophisticated ‘greenwashing' on the part of investment professionals and policy advisors in countries who have large and influential fossil fuel sectors? Or is the incorporation of high-carbon companies into these strategies an authentic evolution in the way that investors and policymakers support the transition to net zero emissions? Speakers from FTSE Russell, AXA Investment Managers, and Scotiabank will address the question: 'should investors be broadening their investment universes to include the ‘climate transition’ when creating low-carbon investment products?' Speakers: David Harris, Group Head, Sustainable Business, London Stock Exchange Group & Head of Sustainable Investment, FTSE Russell Yo Takatsuki, Head of ESG Research and Active Ownership, AXA IM Peter Johnson, Chair, Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Task Group, Green and Transition Finance Moderator: Sophie Robinson-Tillett, Deputy Editor, Responsible Investor

Plastics play an important role in modern life and economy. However, the associated waste - and the issue of marine plastic litter in particular - presents a mounting challenge for the environment and society. In light of the growing public concern about plastics, and recent policy initiatives, investors with exposure to companies across the plastics value chain are prone to stranded asset risks linked to financial losses and reputational damage in a range of industries impacted by a looming plastics phase-out. Investors have the opportunity to manage these risks if able to identify opportunities in innovative businesses and technologies, and encourage and monitor companies’ management of plastic-related challenges. This webinar will explain how ESG research, data and insights can support responsible investors in considering plastic waste-related risks and opportunities in their investment decisions. In addition, it will give an overview of the current status of the regulatory environment and developments, and explain how ESG data can enable investors to manage risks and source opportunities related to plastics by using the Solactive ISS ESG Beyond Plastic Waste Index. Expert speakers will explore the below topics: What are current problems and challenges caused by plastics and why should the issue rise up the investor agenda? What regulatory and policy initiatives are driving action on plastics? Actioning ESG data: How the Solactive ISS Beyond Plastic Waste Index can help investors identify the leaders in addressing plastic waste and manage plastics-related risks. Investor views: what are investors doing to address the mounting plastic pollution challenge and how can they improve their efforts? Speakers: Ronja Woestheinrich, ESG Analyst, ISS ESG Cornelia Gomez, ESG Director, PAI Partners Hernando Cortina, Head of Index Strategy, ISS ESG Conrad MacKerron, Senior Vice President, As You Sow Moderator: Elza Holmstedt Pell, Events Leader, Responsible Investor

The latest ESG movers and shakers

The latest responsible funds news