Innovations in Sustainable Finance

In this episode of Innovations in Sustainable Finance, I welcome back Tom Gosling to discuss the question: what can investors actually do about climate change? The conversation centers on Tom's new report, which explores how the investor role is changing as the climate conversation moves from ambition and headlines to realism, constraints, and policy. My three key takeaways The environment has cha...

In this episode, I talk about the EU’s omnibus package with Copenhagen Business School Professor Andreas Rasche. The omnibus is a legislative package that aims to simplify several European sustainability directives all at once and has far-reaching implications for the European economy. It is a chance to adjust regulation that has rightly been criticized for being too complex and confusing, but the...

In this episode, I return to the topic of blended finance with Nadia Nikolova, a managing director at Allianz Global Investors. She explains how blended finance projects get off the ground and shares her own journey into the field. Along the way, she provides many fascinating anecdotes and insights, especially for those considering a career in blended finance. My favourite insights were: The three...

In this episode, I speak with Mac Zellem – a former budget director of the State of New Hampshire - about financing innovation. We explore how public finance can shape the future, why regulations can be both a hurdle and a help, and what Germany might need to get right in its planned fiscal stimulus. It turned out to be a longer conversation, mainly because I found it to become more and more inter...

In this episode, I speak with Paul Smeets, a professor of philanthropy and sustainable finance at the University of Amsterdam, and Dan Stein, founder of Giving Green, a research organization that helps donors maximize their climate impact. Together, we explored the intersection of individual actions, systemic change, and effective giving to address climate change.  My favorite takeaways from...

In this episode, I speak with Annu Nieminen, CEO of Upright, a Finnish technology startup with an automated method to quantify companies' net impact on people, planet, society, and knowledge. Upright combines machine learning and natural language processing to analyze scientific data and company activities, providing an impact profile for companies worldwide. My favorite takeaways from the convers...

In this episode, I speak with Alex Edmans, a professor of Finance at London Business School. Many of you in the audience will have heard of Alex before. We traced his evolution of thought regarding sustainable finance, covering his extensive body of work, including the book “Grow the Pie,” his academic papers, op-eds, and TED Talks, including his most recent paper: Sustainable Investing: Evidence...

In this episode, I speak with Fridtjof Detzner, co-founder of the climate venture capital fund Planet A, based in Berlin. Fridtjof had early success with an internet company, went on an eye-opening trip to Asia, and came back determined to boost innovation in all climate-relevant sectors and technologies. My favorite insights of this conversation were: Climate tech investing is  not  nar...

In this episode, I speak with Liam McGroarty, Strategic Development Manager at UEFA, about the social impacts of football. We discuss how the beautiful game improves lives and how investing in football could have substantial positive impacts. Fun fact: Liam started out as a priest but turned his professional efforts towards the “biggest religion” and is passionate about the power of sports. &...

In this episode, I speak with Bertrand Gacon, Co-Founder and CEO at  Impaakt . Impaakt is an impact assessment platform that crowdsources information from hundreds of contributors and thousands of reviewers. My favorite insights from this conversation were: I can highly recommend to try out the platform. You can explore company profiles, follow discussions, and put in your personal view of wh...

In this episode, I had the pleasure of talking to Christoph Gosdenoz, partner and chairman of FairCapital. FairCapital is an impact investor based in Switzerland that specializes in financing solutions for Fairtrade cooperatives in the global south. My favorite insights from this conversation were:  It’s the specific design and timing rather than just the interest rate that determines whether...

In this episode, I sit down with Sam Vionnet, the author of Impact Thinking, subtitled “Learn critical thinking skills to make better decisions that create societal value”.   The book is based on 15 years of experience in consulting with multinational corporations, NGOs, and investors. Sam reveals that there are a lot of beliefs that don’t stand up to scrutiny. Rather than blindly following n...

Can you imagine voting yourself on who should sit on the board of a company you are invested in? Perhaps on your cell-phone?   In this episode, I discuss with Georgia Stewart, Co-founder and CEO of Tumelo, how their technology democratizes shareholder voting and explore the opportunities and risks that direct shareholder voting presents in the context of sustainable finance.  ...

In this episode, I had a conversation with Philippe van der Beck, who wrote a fascinating paper (work in progress) titled "Flow-driven ESG returns". The paper highlights that investing $1 in sustainable mutual funds can increase the value of green firms by 40 cents. This raises questions about whether ESG investing really has an impact. Philippe explains in detail how he arrived at this statement....

Did you know that the University of St. Gallen in collaboration with Solarify offers the opportunity to invest into solar panels on their gym rooftop? In this episode, I talk to Aurel Schmid, founder of Solarify. Together we dive into the finance and impact behind crowd-founded solar panels and discover how small scale investor can have an impact towards green energy. We find out what makes the so...

In this episode, I talk to Lena Hörnlein, a senior manager at B-Capital Partners. Our discussion revolves around the interaction between sustainable finance regulations, including SFDR, and the operational landscape of a fund exclusively centered on energy transition assets. Lena provides a detailed explanation of how the regulation works. Interestingly, Lena's fund has opted for Article 8 as oppo...

In this episode, I talk to Christine Chow about active ownership. Christine explains what it is, its dos and dont's, and what investors can bring to the table that companies do not know yet. We explore the tension that the best kind of active ownership is the most difficult to make visible, come up with an idea for professional certification, and Christine explains that being good at engaging is l...

Did you know that most large European corporations compensate executives for reaching ESG targets? Is that a good thing, and how should this be done? I discuss these fascinating questions with Tom Gosling, perhaps the world's most experienced expert regarding ESG compensation. I learned a lot in this episode! Some (but not all) of my favorite insights: Even if ESG targets contribute to long-t...

I talk with Per Einar Ellefsen, CEO and founder of Amundsen IM, a fund that specializes in the European primary equity market. We have a long conversation about the role of ESG factors in the IPO process, from the angle of risk assessment, investment performance, and impact. Along the way, we talk about a lot of interesting companies: Azelis, Verallia, Visma, Eurogroup Laminations, and EDP Renewab...

In this episode, Stephanie and I delve into sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs) to explore their potential benefits and risks. SLBs have grown to a USD 280 billion market and represent an exciting alternative to green bonds in the sustainable debt market. When issuing an SLB, companies pledge to reach a sustainability performance target as part of the contract. If the company does not reach the tar...

In this episode, I talk to Jan Anton van Zanten, a sustainable investing expert at Robeco. We discuss Robeco's open-source SDG scores, a unique approach to measuring companies' sustainability performance. We also delve into the importance of understanding the impact of companies on society and the environment, and how engaging with companies can drive positive change. Finally, we touch on Robeco's...

In this episode, I talk with Philipp Aeby, founder and CEO of RepRisk , an ESG data provider. We discuss how innovations in artificial intelligence have changed the way RepRisk processes data. We then move on to the role of transparency, how it can help to improve business conduct globally, as well as about the transparency of RepRisk’s own data generating process. Links to some of the things we t...

I ask Harald Walkate why he thinks blended finance is like music. Harald knows about finance, he has 25 years of experience, having worked at Natixis Investment Managers and Aegon Asset Management. He also knows about music, he plays the piano really well. Harald explains how blended finance works, and how it transforms the idea of "sustainable finance" into "financing sustainability". Along the w...

Sustainable Finance has become an important phenomenon in financial markets but is still a new field. That means, there are new things happening every day. It is important to keep innovating in this field, and to critically evaluate what is going on. In this podcast, Julian Kölbel discusses ideas in sustainable finance. New ideas, good ideas, even dangerous ideas. He invites guests who are doing s...