ON-DEMAND WEBINAR
How can asset stewardship bring about a low carbon economy?
16 September, 2021 | 15:00 BST
Since launching in 2017, the CA100+ initiative has grown to today having more than 570 investors, responsible for over $54 trillion in assets under management, as signatories. Designed by investors for investors, the growth of the initiative shows investor awareness of the need to act quickly when it comes to climate and willingness to use their position to ensure the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change.
The issues around divestment have become clear and stewardship is becoming an increasingly important tool to implement change. To cite just one example, the New York State Common Retirement Fund stated that its preference is to get polluters “to address climate risks, set net-zero goals and successfully transition to a low-carbon future. Divestment is a last resort reserved for those companies” (that aren’t making the transition, according to the fund).
This webinar will explore how asset stewardship, when taken further than voting and focuses on engagement, can be an effective mechanism to motivate companies to build strategies that enable climate mitigation and adaptation and therefore bring about a low carbon economy.
Key discussion points:
- What are investors doing to drive a low carbon economy? Further than just using their vote
- What are the main pillars of climate stewardship?
- What about data? How can stewardship players deliver data and results to make them transparent with their LPs?
- Since LPs are demanding transparency around processes, stewardship needs to become a more collaborative approach – how to achieve this?
- How can GPs formally engage their portfolio companies and require them to adopt ESG policies?
- Does active stewardship also extend to approaching those who make the policies that shape markets and the wider investment context?
Sponsored by
Fill in the form to access the webinar recording
SPEAKERS
Bethany Gorham
SVP, Orion Energy Partners
Ms. Gorham is Senior Vice President at Orion Energy Partners where she oversees the firm’s IDEA group, responsible for Investor Development, Engagement and Accountability. Additionally, she is a voting member of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) Committee.
Previously, Bethany served as a Vice President at Energy Impact Partners where she was head of global fundraising, in addition to ESG and Impact Measurement programs. Additionally, she served as founding member of EIP’s Limited Partner ESG Advisory Board.
Prior, Bethany was a Senior Product Manager at S&P Global, where she oversaw renewable energy and ESG business segments for the Market Intelligence Division.
Bruce Duguid
Head of Stewardship, EOS at Federated Hermes
Bruce Duguid is head of stewardship at EOS. As well as overseeing the team of engagement professionals, Bruce leads engagements with environmentally-exposed companies across the oil and gas, mining, and utilities sectors. Prior to joining EOS, he was head of sustainability at the UK Green Investment Bank, where he spent four years working on the project to establish the bank. This followed a variety of corporate strategy roles, including a management consultant position at the Boston Consulting Group.
Christine Chow
Board Member, International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN)
Dr. Christine Chow is responsible for IHS Markit’s Strategic Governance Advisory and ESG Integration. She has 24 years’ experience in investment management, research & consulting, with a focus on ESG, technology and sustainability.
Before joining IHS Markit, she was Global Technology Lead and Head of Federated Hermes EOS in Asia and global emerging markets. Her PhD thesis on responsible investment was short-listed for a United Nations award in Sweden for industry relevance and academic excellence.
Christine Chow was named as one of the top 30 Inspirational Women in the City of London. In 2020, she won the Finance Monthly Women in Finance Award as the Investment Management Leader of the Year (Asia).
Ricardo Bayon
Partner and Co-founder, Encourage Capital
Ricardo Bayon is a Partner and a member of the Board of Directors of Encourage Capital. Ricardo leads the water team and new business and innovation at Encourage and works across several other investment sectors. Ricardo is a member of the Investment Committee of the EKO Green Carbon Fund.
Prior to co-founding EKO in 2007, Ricardo helped found and served as the Managing Director of the Ecosystem Marketplace, a website and information/analysis service covering the emerging environmental markets. In that capacity he co-authored a number of publications on voluntary carbon markets, mitigation banking, and ecosystem services, including The State of Voluntary Carbon Markets 2007: Picking up Steam and Voluntary Carbon Markets: An International Business Guide to What They Are and How They Work, and Conservation and Biodiversity Banking: A Guide to Setting Up and Running Biodiversity Credit Trading System.
Robert Walker
Global Co-Head of Asset Stewardship within State Street Global Advisors (SSGA).
Robert and his colleagues on the Asset Stewardship Team are responsible for developing and implementing SSGA's global proxy voting policies and guidelines across all investment strategies, and managing SSGA's proxy voting activities and issuer engagement on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.
Prior to joining SSGA in 2017, Robert was a Director for Social and Governance research at HSBC Bank plc where he lead coverage on ESG issues.
Previous financial service roles also include head of Governance research for equity broker Kepler Cheuvreux, and Stewardship Services Manager Europe for GO Investment Partners.
Taylor Pullins
Partner, White & Case LLP
Taylor Pullins is a partner in the Global Environmental & Climate Change Practice and the Global Mergers & Acquisitions Practice in the Houston office of White & Case. Taylor represents clients, particularly in the energy industry, in a broad range of environmental, health and safety (EHS) and environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) matters. His transactional practice involves the drafting and negotiating of environmental terms and indemnity provisions in complex business transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, project financings and security offerings. In addition, Taylor assists clients on complex policy and business decisions relating to evolving regulatory and societal expectations around climate change and other ESG matters.