Webinars

How will investors respond to green fiscal policy and a new wave of central bank action on climate targets? Join us to find out. Following the G20 Osaka Summit, RI is bringing together global central banking leaders to consider how ESG and climate risk integration into central banking and monetary policy across G20 member states could influence the investment decision-making of global investors. As fiscal policy makers and macroprudential regulators within the Network for Greening the Financial System get down to business, investors are waking up to the potential for climate-aligned monetary policy that could nudge economies towards alignment with the 2 degree targets committed to in the Paris Agreement. From the integration of climate risk management into the work of supervisory authorities to the incorporation of sustainability criteria into central banks’ portfolio management functions for the world’s largest treasuries, many G20 central banks are moving faster than the investment community. This webinar is a chance for the global investment community to better understand what’s in store and to discuss investor responses to the greening of central bank balance sheets. Speakers: Henner Asche, Deputy Director General Markets, Deutsche Bundesbank Richard Lacaille, Global Chief Investment Officer, State Street Global Advisors Sini Matikainen, Senior Analyst, Bank of England Moderator: Dr. Paola D’Orazio, Chair of Macroeconomics, Faculty of Economics and Management, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Low-carbon and multifactor investing have registered rapid growth in recent years but their combination in a single strategy represents a challenge as popular factors tilt portfolios towards carbon-related assets and carbon-intensive activities. In this webinar, Responsible Investor will hear from Frédéric Ducoulombier, ESG Director of Scientific Beta about a portfolio construction that is consistent with the support of the transition to a low carbon economy, materially reduces exposure to transition risks and protects scientifically validated sources of financial performance: ESG incorporation philosophy protecting against greenwashing and datamining. Decarbonisation approaches incentivising the transition and reducing asset stranding and carbon intensity risks. Construction steps delivering Low Carbon multi-smart factor indices with high resilience to transition risks and outperformance relative to market indices. Join the webinar and put your questions to the smart beta investment specialist. Speakers: Frédéric Ducoulombier, ESG Director, Scientific Beta Tony Hay, Publisher, Responsible Investor

From pioneering Clean Energy Bond programs to flexing their stewardship muscle on key social issues during the proxy season, public sector pensions are waking up to their influence in the capital markets. This unique webinar will explore the market power of public sector pension funds in accelerating the energy transition, enhancing corporate governance standards at the world’s largest corporations, and in addressing key social issues holding back economic growth - inequality and systematic under-investment in human capital development, clean energy and transport infrastructure. Join us to learn how state and municipal treasurers are responding to key ESG themes, and how public pension funds are assessing the reality of sustainable investing. Find out who is leading the way, and what lessons have been learned en route to more robust ESG integration and long-term value creation. SPEAKERS ● Tobias Read, Oregon State Treasurer ● Randy Rice, General Treasurer of the State of Rhode Island ● Millicent Budhai, Director of Corporate Governance, NYC Comptroller's Office Moderator: Paul Verney, Journalist, Responsible Investor

Blended finance and the SDGs: examining how public and private capital can work together for positive societal and financial outcomes The OECD defines blended finance as “the strategic use of development finance for the mobilization of additional finance towards the SDGs in developing countries.” This RI webinar will drill down into key areas of the blended finance discussion. If achieving the SDGs requires a massive infrastructure build-out to provide clean water and sanitation (SDG6), affordable and clean energy (SDG7), and health centres and hospitals in urban and rural areas (SDG3), how can the blended finance of public and private money actually do this, and through what structures/terms? Expert speakers will present case studies on the integration of blended finance structures into existing investment strategies and explain how it can yield a positive return both for investors and communities. Speakers Sharon Spiegel, Chief, Policy Analysis & Development Branch, Financing for Sustainable Development Office, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Mafalda Duarte, Director, Climate Investment Funds Ladé Araba, Managing Director, Africa Region, Convergence Jennifer Pryce, President and CEO, Calvert Impact Capital Moderated by Vibeka Mair, Responsible Investor

Join Responsible Investor and FTSE Russell for an interactive webinar on green real estate! Climate change poses clear and material risks to real estate assets with the potential to impact return profiles. Real estate investing has historically lacked the appropriate tools to allow investors to assess their exposure to climate risk and to integrate it effectively in their investment strategies. To help address this gap, FTSE Russell developed the FTSE EPRA Nareit Green Indexes to allow investors to identify real estate companies with strong sustainability performance. These indexes are a sustainability-focused extension to the FTSE EPRA Nareit Global Real Estate Index Series, a leading series of listed real estate benchmarks with approximately US$341billion of assets tracking this series.* Data as of December 31, 2017 as reported on April 2, 2018 by eVestment for institutional assets, Morningstar for retail mutual funds, insurance products, and ETFs, and additional passive assets directly collected by FTSE Russell. · Listed Real Estate market trends in Developed markets, specifically Europe and North America · Facing the sustainable real estate challenge – what is important to know · The world’s largest asset class – addressing the investment data gaps · Real Estate Indexes have the ‘green’ light - case for integrating sustainability considerations in Real Estate benchmarks · Building for a green economy future – where to from here · Q&A from the audience Speakers include: Ali Zaidi, Director of Research & Indexes, European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) Calvin Schnure, Senior Vice President, Research & Economic Analysis, National Association of REITs (Nareit) Jaakko Kooroshy, Head of Innovation and Standards, Sustainable Investment, FTSE Russell Moderated by Tony Hay, Publisher, Responsible Investor

Three years ago, the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a global call to action for positive change. Ever since, the global investment community has become increasingly eager to achieve some kind of “SDG alignment”. Near the anniversary of the establishment of the SDGs, this RI/ISS-ESG webinar provides an overview of how impact investing connects to the SDGs, and how investors are measuring effectiveness. What drives investors to choose the SDGs as a framework for investing and how are they approaching this? What tools are available to identify and measure companies’ contributing to the SDGs? Should SDG investments be focusing on products & services or on companies’ operations? What are the challenges to investing in the SDGs? Are the SDG even investable in mainstream investment, given the fact that many of the SDGs and targeting problems in emerging markets that are probably rather solved by modest projects rather than large listed corporates? Is there a risk of SDG-washing and sticking SDG labels on existing mainstream investments? How can this be prevented? Speakers Ladislas Smia, Co-head of Responsible Investment Research, Mirova Piet Klop, Senior Advisor Responsible Investment, PGGM Jennifer Signori, Senior Vice President, ESG and Impact Investing, Neuberger Berman Julia Hakke, Head of Responsible Investment Sales, ISS ESG Moderater: Vibeka Mair, Senior Reporter, Responsible Investor

How can investors think about sustainability in their wider corporate bond portfolios, and how are regulators and other public bodies beginning to address climate risk in bond markets? In this webinar, our experts discuss the current efforts being made to integrate ESG into the asset class and some of the lessons learnt so far. Speakers: Tomas Morsing, Head of Quant Strategies, Swedish pension fund AP2 Carmen Nuzzo, Senior Consultant, ESG in Credit Ratings Initiative, PRI Lev Dynkin, MD, Head of the Quantitative Portfolio Strategy Group, Barclays Research Moderated by Sophie Robinson-Tillett, Deputy Editor, Responsible Investor Further Readings: https://www.investmentbank.barclays.com/our-insights/ESG-investing-yields-positive-returns-in-select-bond-markets.html?icid=ESG2_RIwebinar

Lending books are arguably where the rubber hits the road for originating sustainable projects, but how do banks and other lenders identify ESG risks in loan books, and stimulate opportunities to lend to sustainable projects? In this sessions, our experts will discuss a number of initiatives that have been started to address mortgage lending, price adjustments and assessing risk exposure. Speakers confirmed: Jakob Thomä, Director, 2° Investing Initiative Florence Palandri, Climate Finance Analyst, 2° Investing Initiative Roland Mees, Director of Sustainable Finance, ING Bank Luca Bertalot, Secretary General of European Mortgage Federation, European Covered Bond Council Moderated by Sophie Robinson-Tillett, Deputy Editor, Responsible Investor

A growing number of investors are screening out companies from lending portfolios because of exposure to climate change and other sustainability risks, but sovereign portfolios are often not assessed in the same way. This webinar looks at why: how serious are the sovereign default risks arising from ESG, how can they be quantified, and do investors have a responsibility to engage with governments on policy through bond buying? Speakers confirmed: Gabriel Torres, Vice President & Senior Credit Officer for Sovereigns, Moody's Lupin Rahman, Head of Emerging Market Sovereign Credit, PIMCO Bob Buhr, Honorary Research Fellow, Imperial College Business School Moderated by Sophie Robinson-Tillett, Deputy Editor, Responsible Investor

One of the most significant recommendations being pursued in the EU’s Action Plan is ‘to introduce a common sustainable finance taxonomy to ensure market consistency and clarity’. In what way would it work? How can such a taxonomy be both flexible and have integrity for identifying activities, assets and revenue segments that deliver on key sustainability goals? How could the EU and its Member States apply relevant rules, and who would regulate them? What would that mean outside of the EU? This webinar will answer these issues and many more, and let you pose your own questions on the Taxonomy. Speakers: Martin Spolc, Head of Unit, Capital Markets Union, DG Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union at the European Commission (EC), Nathan Fabian, Chief Responsible Investment Officer, Rapporteur of the Taxonomy Group, PRI Moderator: Sophie Robinson-Tillett, Deputy Editor, Responsible Investor