The Sustainable Finance Podcast

EMERGE Capital Management recently launched a suite of sustainability-focused, diversified equity ETF portfolios to open new doors for high caliber, diverse investment managers who are often underserved in the industry. Jane Liou Li of Zevin Asset Management has joined EMPWR, a select group of women portfolio managers chosen to manage the EMERGE ETF strategies. Li and Zevin Asset Management sub-ad...

In today’s program we’re exploring the changing needs and behavior of NextGen investors. According to my guest, Deborah Yang, these younger investors are using investment apps that integrate sustainability data and analytics into the portfolio ownership and management process. Yang, CEO and Co-Founder of Daizy.com, a sustainability insight app for Conscious Investing, is going to tell us how their...

Investment capital to fund hydrogen clean energy development is being raised in record amounts in the private and public markets this year, with both the supply and demand sides of proposed hydrogen energy solutions dependent on the development of hydrogen hubs.  Dr. Venera Anderson, a global Strategy Advisor and Author on Sustainability and Climate issues, an “Illuminem’s Energy Voice” and a memb...

Institutional investors from around the world joined Ceres last August in launching the Valuing Water Finance Initiative, a new effort to engage 72 companies with a high water footprint to value and act on water as a financial risk and drive the necessary large-scale change to better protect water systems. Kirsten James, Senior Program Director of Water at Ceres is my guest for this episode of the...

If there was any doubt that we’ve entered a new era for corporate boards, the 2021 proxy voting season dispelled it. Activist Investors focused on accelerating the transition to clean energy and BlackRock voted against 255 directors during the 2021 proxy year. Dr. Katrin Gulden Le Marie is my guest today. She consults with companies on CSR, ESG and Impact Investment initiatives and advises boards...

My guest today on the Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP) is bringing her 15 years of experience in startups and her current Venture Consultant role with Blue Ivy Ventures to her new role for The Great Nepali Diaspora’s mission. Preeti Adhikary is Founder of the Diaspora, and on a personal mission to share ideas, pool resources and collaborate with other Diaspora members living in the U.S. and other...

Schroders, a member of the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, is expanding its US-based sustainability team. Marina Severinovsky, Head of Sustainability NA at Schroders recently introduced me to Whitney Sweeney, who has joined Schroders’ global sustainable investment team in the role of Investment Director, Sustainability. Sweeney is my guest for today’s episode of the Sustainable Finance Podcast...

Imagine we are investors, searching through the portfolio strategies offered by our employer’s pension plan for the most sustainable combination of risk and reward in balance with our deeply held personal values. Mindy Lubber, CEO and President at Ceres and my guest for today’s podcast episode, is asking us to also imagine that the government, or somebody who wants to use its power, has decided th...

Luma Saqqaf is the CEO of Ajyal Sustainability Consulting, advising corporates, financial institutions, funds and asset managers as well as counseling regulators and financial markets in MENA countries on sustainable finance issues. Saqqaf is returning the SFP today to discuss expectations for what will be accomplished at COP27 next month. Her Sustainability Consulting draws on three decades at th...

My guest today on the Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP) managed the world’s first Frontier markets fund and launched one of the earliest onshore China strategies in the United States. Asha Mehta is a market maker, investment pioneer, and author of "POWER OF CAPITAL: An Adventure Capitalist’s Journey to a Sustainable Future", which is available at Amazon online now. I’ve had the privilege to previe...

How can a blockchain based system, supported with IoT (internet of things) devices, improve climate-aligned finance? My guest today, Bill Kentrup, is Co-founder and Head of Origination at Allinfra. We’re going to discuss Allinfra’s renewable energy partners and the digital and financial products they create on the Allinfra Climate platform. For example, Genesis 1.0 is exploring green bond tokeniza...

OS-Climate is developing open data and open source analytics that companies, markets, and governments need for climate alignment. OS- Climate, a part of the non-profit Linux Foundation, is building the technical equivalent of a public utility to scale and accelerate sustainable business, finance, investment, and regulation. In today’s episode we will hear from Truman Semans, OS climate’s founder a...

Dubai Green Fund (DGF) is the funding pillar of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy for 2050, which has set some ambitious goals for the next 30 years. These include goals for Net Zero Emissions and establishing Dubai as a hub for ESG and Green Economy investment in the MENA region. Joost Smulders is Chief Investment Officer at DGF and my guest today on The Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP). We’re goi...

My guest today develops circular economy models and metrics to push for material impact in ESG measurements of e-waste, food systems, extractive resources, and mobility. Eugenio Liu consults with NGOs, development agencies, venture capital, and impact investment firms. Today we’re asking the questions: “What is the Circular Economy and why is it important?” And “What are the Circular Economy’s big...

Silver Leaf Partners provides guidance to corporate clients, institutional asset managers and investors regarding ESG and Impact investment strategies. My guest today is Michael J. Scanlon, a partner at AiCE Group under Silver Leaf Partners. His team is currently raising capital for a Global Macro-LatAm fund and a multi-billion US Long / Short fund. These portfolios include low-carbon investment o...

The total derivative notional outstanding for U.S. banks is close to $200 trillion and the top 5 largest banks control ~95% of this systemically important market. However, to date, the climate risk implications of this market have been unexplored. My guests today are experts in climate risk management for financial institutions and the co-authors of a first-of-its kind report on derivatives and cl...

The Ngalia people of Western Australia’s Central Deserts region have 23,000 square kilometers of exclusive possession Native Titled land, making them potentially the largest landowners in Australia, yet they live in poverty. In today’s Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP) episode I’m speaking with Kado Muir, a cultural leader and traditional owner among the Ngalia people. Muir and other indigenous le...

Luma Saqqaf, the CEO of Ajyal Sustainability Consulting, has spent three decades at the forefront of Islamic finance, sustainability and entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa, also known as the MENA region. She is a regular adviser to regulators in MENA including the Dubai Financial Market. In today’s program we discuss the impacts of climate change and the hosting of COP27 and COP2...

Aurelio Oliveira, Enel Americas’ CFO, is excited about bringing clean energy power to millions of additional customers in South and Central America. When Enel Americas’ Integrated Annual Report for 2021 was published, the company had 10.9 GW of Net installed renewable energy generating capacity. Oliveira and I discuss Enel Americas’ current and future plans under the firm’s sustainable value creat...

An unprecedented $400B is now on the table for federal climate adaptation. How is the money going to be allocated throughout the banking system? Are banks and companies they underwrite ready to make this transition? Who stands to benefit the most? On September 28th in New York City, Ceres is bringing together leading bankers, investors, and regulators for Financing a Net Zero Economy, an event foc...

My guest today, Sam King, is Co-founder and CTO at Briink, a German technology company using AI and Machine Learning to support the adoption of the EU Taxonomy and the transition to a low-carbon economy. Listen in as Sam tells us how the taxonomy is going to regulate reporting for companies in the EU and the US, and how AI can speed up the adoption of climate regulations.

“The Story you tell today will decide the future.” This is the motto that guides today’s guest, Laura Taylor, President and CEO at Silverline Communications, a national agency that delivers strategic marketing and communications to a diverse portfolio of clients in climate, cleantech and ESG. Silverline is the oldest woman-owned climate tech PR agency in the US. Taylor, who’s been ahead of the cur...

How can systems thinking be applied to the global food supply? My guest today, Lauren Baker, is Deputy Director, Global Alliance for the Future of Food, a unique coalition of global philanthropic foundation members. We discuss her inspiring project, Beacons of Hope, which showcases global initiatives that are working to achieve sustainable, equitable, and resilient food systems.  

H/L Ventures is forging a new way to build companies with a unique approach that combines Daily Active Engagement with every portfolio company and a focus on investing in growth, impact, and diversity, with a strong preference for diverse founding teams. Oliver Libby, who co-founded H/L Ventures in 2009, and I talk about creating impact through a hands-on approach to business modeling for early st...

Wendy Nystrom Lloyd is the founder of Basher Productions, LLC, and she’s on a mission to help people find their solution to pollution. Wendy is an expert in pollution and environmental risk management and a certified construction risk insurance specialist (CRIS). I was recently a guest on Environmental Social Justice (ESJ), the webinar program Wendy created and produces. On today’s program we talk...