Mark Glancy

Julia Hoggett of LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) closed out Ethical Finance Global 2022 with a fascinating and philosophical reflection on her journey into finance from academia, the nature and purpose of the financial system, particularly the capital markets, and the incredible challenge and opportunity represented by the fight against climate change.

For more details:
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ESG is a growing industry, but it needs to pivot more to creating and measuring impact, rather than simply isolating finance from risk, says veteran impact investor Sir Ronald Cohen, Chair of the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment and founder of Apax Partners.

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“Forgive me father, for I have measured”.

An eclectic conversation between Simon Thompson of The Chartered Banker Institute, Sarah Birrell Ivory of University of Edinburgh Business School and Will Goodhart of CFA UK saw us close out a wonderful day of debate and discussion at Ethical Finance Global 2022.

With no moderator to keep the peace, a freewheeling and entertaining conversation between the trio asked how to translate the day’s good intentions into action.

They pondered whether the ceaseless call for better data is a sin against real activity, how professional education and professional values can produce socially and environmentally aware employees, the need for leaders to listen, and everything in between.

For more details:
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Summit: http://ethicalfinancesummit.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/finance4change
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“Even if we halted all of our fossil fuels tomorrow, we would not stay within 1.5 degrees without halting and reversing nature loss.”, said Joanna Macrae OBE at Ethical Finance Global 2022.

At our recent summit, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs nature finance head explained why nature is so vital in the fight against climate change, setting out the UK government’s commitment to nature finance and pushing for a turning point at the upcoming COP15 summit in Montreal.

For more details:
Web: http://globalethicalfinance.org
Summit: http://ethicalfinancesummit.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/finance4change
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/globalethicalfinance

Financing the protection and restoration of nature has been a consistent theme for us at GEFI, and Ethical Finance Global 2022 was no different. Our panel on nature saw Sarah Breeden of the Bank of England join, after her speech setting out the Bank’s initial response to nature as a financial risk, alongside Kathy Benini of S&P Global, Alessandra Mongiardino, Ph.D. of NatWest Group and Christof Kutscher of Climate Asset Management, with Romie Goedicke of United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) moderating.

The panel discusses the conditions for growing nature markets, with Kathy Benini emphasising the need for prices, benchmarks and good data. Cristof Kutscher described the slow process of nature investing. Not only is nature itself slow, but it is a challenging area, so finance has been slow to come around to it. Nature as an asset does not fall neatly into the buckets that an institutionalised industry like finance creates, so it can fall through the cracks. Alessandra Mongiardino suggested the use of partnerships to overcome knowledge gaps on emerging areas like nature, such as NatWest Group’s partnership with Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL).

For more details:
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The Bank of England presented its initial response to nature as a financial risk at Ethical Finance Global 2022. Building on its work on climate change, the Bank is working to assess nature as a risk and understand how it might be incorporated into future policy, said Executive Director of Financial Stability Sarah Breeden, at the Edinburgh summit.

For more details:
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Our recent Ethical Finance Global 2022 summit saw Natalie Jackson of GEFI and Irina Kurochkina of Aegon Asset Management present on the SDG Financial Products Platform, an programme by GEFI on which Aegon launched their SDG fixed income fund. Learn more at https://www.globalethicalfinance.org/…

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Anshula Kant delivered a fantastic address to Ethical Finance Global 2022, reflecting on both the climate challenge, and the work that The World Bank has done to finance the SDGs. Through the issuance of its bonds, the Bank is able to drive investment into sustainable development.

For more details:
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Summit: http://ethicalfinancesummit.com
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LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/globalethicalfinance

How can finance achieve net zero? James Wilde of Phoenix Group, Eva Cairns of abrdn and Chris Hayward of City of London Corporation joined our Ethical Finance Global 2022 climate change panel, with David Pitt-Watson as moderator.

The panel was focused on fielding questions from the audience, with a number of insightful contributions from those gathered. The session looked at the different initiatives present in the market, the role of metrics and their reflection of reality and the need for deep engagement with companies. In particular, Eva remarked that “you can divest quickly with a low carbon portfolio… but you haven’t actually moved anything in the real world”.

A net zero portfolio can be achieved by excluding high-emission sectors, but as sectors such as cement are likely to be economically useful, this may do nothing to transition towards a clean economy as a whole. James Wilde emphasised the need for a long-term view, and argued for greater collaboration between the constituent parts of a normally competitive sector, in order to address the climate crisis.

Closing the session, Chris Hayward issued a rousing call for politicians and financiers to shed their “short timescales”, reject the ease of saying “let the millennials sort this out” and take responsibility for the crisis.

For more details:
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Summit: http://ethicalfinancesummit.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/finance4change
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Zainal Izlan Zainal Abidin delivered his thoughts on the role of regulators in setting standards that help address the climate emergency, the intertwining of sustainable and Islamic finance in the Malaysian context, and the process of integrating sustainability into finance across Southeast Asia.

We were delighted to hear from Datuk Zainal, who represented Capital Markets Malaysia (CM2) and Securities Commission Malaysia.

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LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/globalethicalfinance

The transition to becoming a net zero society is not just an environmental imperative, but a significant economy opportunity, Michael Matheson MSP told Ethical Finance Global 2022.

He pointed to the work that Scotland has done with both public and private finance, establishing the The Scottish National Investment Bank to drive capital into the economy, and coordinating private finances via the Scottish Taskforce on Green and Sustainable Financial Services, which features institutions such as abrdn, NatWest Group, Baillie Gifford, The University of Edinburgh, Scottish Financial Enterprise and Phoenix Group

For more details:
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Summit: http://ethicalfinancesummit.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/finance4change
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On a very busy day in Westminster, The Rt. Hon. Alok Sharma MP addressed delegates in Edinburgh for Ethical Finance Global 2022 on climate finance after COP26. “Under the UK’s stewardship, 200 countries came together to agree the historic Glasgow climate pact.

COP26 was also the moment private finance recognised the scale of the challenge we are facing and stepped up to meet it.”, said the leader of the UK’s largest ever conference at delegates.

For more details:
Web: http://globalethicalfinance.org
Summit: http://ethicalfinancesummit.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/finance4change
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/globalethicalfinance