ON DEMAND WEBINAR
The low-risk appetite of institutional investors is the biggest barrier to bridging the renewable energy finance gap
Based on the IEA’s Current Policies Scenario, around US$7.7t is currently committed to renewables, but US$12.9t is required under the Sustainable Development Scenario. Clearly, there is a huge clean energy investment gap that needs to be addressed in order to meet climate targets. At the same time, investors worldwide are facing increased pressure to step up when it comes to environmental considerations and are looking for ways to deploy large amounts of capital to sustainable activities.
So what’s missing?
Institutional investors are able to move markets like no other because of their ability to invest huge amounts of capital but according to a 2020 IRENA report (which focused on pension plans, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, and foundations and endowments), only 20% have invested renewables (indirectly through funds) in the past two decades and only 1% directly in projects.
Is addressing and adjusting their risk appetite the missing piece of the puzzle to filling the clean energy investment gap? Or is it the lack of in-house skills to manage scale and liquidity issues associated with direct investments? It the lack of a widely understood common ESG framework and benchmark? Or is the most critical challenge governmental and regulatory barriers and inadequacies? Or could it be something else?
Hear from industry experts as they delve into the nitty-gritty of the biggest hurdles to closing the renewable energy investment gap.
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SPEAKERS
Chrissy Benson
Managing Director at Orion Energy Partners
Chrissy is a Managing Director responsible for originating, evaluating, executing, and monitoring investments. Chrissy’s passion for the energy industry is fueled by her educational and professional experiences, as well as the strong relationships built over two decades.
Before joining Orion, Chrissy spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs. At Goldman Sachs, Chrissy solved complex client risk and financing challenges with creative customized solutions. She was a Managing Director in the Financing Group on the Structured Finance and Risk Management team in the Investment Banking Division. She was responsible for the firm's commodity structured finance efforts within Investment Banking, where she originated and executed structured commodity financing and hedging transactions across the natural resources sector (oil & gas, refining, metals & mining, and renewable fuels).
Greg Schmidt
Senior Vice President, Cubico Sustainable Investments
Greg is presently responsible for leading Cubico’s renewable energy investments and transaction execution efforts in the US and Canada. He has over 10 years of experience in principal energy investing including transactions on six continents and technologies ranging from conventional thermal to the first integrated on-shore wind farm and battery storage project in Europe. Previously, he was a Vice President at GE Energy Financial Services focused on global energy and infrastructure equity investments. Greg has earned a BS in Environmental Engineering and his MBA from Cornell University, as well as an MS in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Mark Campanale
Founder and Executive Chair, Carbon Tracker
Mark is the founder of the Carbon Tracker Initiative and conceived the ‘unburnable carbon’ thesis. Prior to forming Carbon Tracker, Mark had twenty years experience in sustainable financial markets. Mark is a co-founder of some of the first responsible investment fund at Jupiter Asset Management, NPI, AMP Capital, and Henderson Global Investors. Mark served on the World Business Council for Sustainable Development working group on capital markets leading up to the 1992 Earth Summit; was a Member of the Steering Committee of UNEP Financial Sector Initiative (1999-2003) and continues to advise a number of investment funds. Mark was a founder director of the UK Sustainable and Responsible Investment Forum (UKSIF), 1990-2006, is a member of the Advisory Council of SASB (Sustainable Accounting Standards Board) and ImpactBase.org and the UNEP-WRI working group on greenhouse gas emissions and the financial sector
Lasitha Perera
Co-Founder, Development Guarantee Group
Lasitha Perera is Co-Founder of the Development Guarantee Group, which works with the public and private sectors to develop guarantee solutions that can effectively mobilise private sector capital towards funding development and sustainability challenges. Lasitha is presently developing The Green Guarantee Company which will focus on using credit enhancement in the global green bond market to increase the flow of capital into developing countries to help close the climate finance gap.
Prior to founding the Development Guarantee Group, Lasitha was Chief Executive Officer at GuarantCo from 2017 and was with the company from 2009 as Chief Investment Officer and Executive Director responsible for GuarantCo’s investment activities globally.
Moderator
Andrea Buetler
Director Energy Transition Sales Asia Pacific, Worley
Andrea is leading Energy Transition Sales for Worley in Asia Pacific. She engages with established and emerging energy and resource companies taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Andrea has built her career in the renewables sector, with a focus on emerging economies in Asia. Holding a Master’s degree in International Relations from the Graduate Institute in Geneva, she’s been focusing on emerging markets, technologies and development economies. She is passionate about bridging the gap towards more cleaner economies through project and technology enablement. Prior to joining the Worley Group, Andrea held various roles for technology companies and professional service providers, as management consultant, strategist and market developer.