The Sustainable Finance Podcast

Anyone working in finance needs to stay current with what’s happening with climate finance and regulation because it affects the entire industry. And consolidation is happening within the climate reporting frameworks. Stacy Swann, the CEO of Climate Finance Advisors, my guest today, walks us through how banking and investment companies can use the data produced by climate assessment tools to bette...

Alight is the leading Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) provider for corporate solar power deployment in the Nordics. Founder and CEO Harald Overholm spent years in the U.S. studying the technology and funding of the solar industry and in 2022 is helping companies across Europe switch to solar power that’s 80% cheaper than it was a decade ago. Overholm believes entrepreneurs in the power sector and g...

In November 2021 the Schwab Ariel ESG ETF began trading on the NYSE under the symbol SAEF. Malik Sievers, Head of ESG strategy at Schwab Asset Management talks about their first-ever proprietary ESG ETF and its collaboration with Ariel Investments, LLC, the fund’s sub-adviser and a pioneer in ESG and value-based investing. The ETF market is growing rapidly in the U.S, with almost $3.9 trillion inv...

My guest today, Dr. Rupini Deepa Rajagopalan, was tasked with launching the ESG office in 2018 at Berenberg Wealth and Asset Management. Berenberg is one of the oldest banks in the world, founded in 1590. As Head of ESG Office, Rupini has been working with its asset management teams to integrate ESG strategies throughout their client portfolios and its funds. We also talk about key takeaways from...

A recent Gartner survey reports a huge increase in spending on information security and risk technology: from 6.4% in 2020 to 12.4% in 2021, with spending reaching $150 billion. Joining us today is Penelope Bise, Chief Cybersecurity Expert at ImpactVest. Bise has an important message, especially for smaller financial services firms, who are even more at risk from phishing by malicious hackers. She...

On the program today Campos, Head of Sustainable Investment for the Americas at FTSE Russell, gives key takeaways from the 2021 edition of the Global Asset Owner Sustainability Survey. This survey comprises institutional asset owners, most managing 10B+ in assets. In 2021, 84% of the respondents said they are implementing or evaluating sustainable investment considerations compared to 53% in 2018....

Too often investors focus only on the E and the G in ESG investing: the environmental and governance factors. But what about the S factor, and why should investors and advisors care? Joining us today is Bonnie-Lyn de Bartok, Founder, CEO, Director of The S Factor Co., and she’s going to tell us why, and how machine learning and big data can help investors reduce risk and improve performance. I’ve...

MSCI has just come out with its new Climate Search and ESG Rating Tool that gives investors and advisors access to data on two of the most important climate issues: temperature rise and decarbonization targets. Bruce Kahn is Executive Director and Climate Solutions Specialist at MSCI and teaches Sustainable Finance at Columbia University. Kahn joins us today to explain how this new tool will measu...

Climate Change is a Mega Trend that is reshaping economies and markets, perhaps for decades to come. Casey Clark, Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Global Head of ESG Investments at Rockefeller Asset Management, calls this the Climate Change Flow Through Effect, which he believes is positively impacting stock prices. Clark talks about how this mega trend is affecting public policy, consumer pref...

HEVO’s new commercial partnership with Oakridge National Laboratories will revolutionize wireless EV charging. Jeremy McCool, Founder and CEO of HEVO, a pioneer in EV wireless charging, software, and services, describes how this new partnership gives HEVO access to Department of Energy EV charging technologies, accelerating the development of faster charging times, vehicle to grid access, and dyna...

Climate experts are telling us that Planet Earth is in “code red.” My guest today, Jeff Gitterman, Co-Founding Partner and creator of Sustainable, Impact, and ESG Investing Services at Gitterman Wealth Management, explains what code red means for the financial markets. What Gitterman calls “The Great Repricing,” is catalyzing asset repricing across all regions, asset classes, and sectors. Gitterma...

How can investors participate in a whole-economy transition in developing markets while achieving robust returns? My guest today is Shami Nissan, Head of Sustainability at Actis, a leading global investor in sustainable infrastructure, and in 2019, the second largest renewable energy installer in the world. We discuss exciting investor opportunities in renewables, digital infrastructure, and real...

The building industry is transforming as energy efficiency, lower maintenance costs, and green technologies create safer, healthier, more productive work environments. My guest today, Trenton Allen, Managing Director & CEO of Sustainable Capital Advisors, explains how Public and private partnerships are driving $300 billion in sustainable urban infrastructure opportunities over the next 5 years. A...

Asset managers and advisors looking to integrate scenario analysis into their ESG portfolios, benchmarks, and indexes can now use Entelligent’s Smart Climate Technology. Entelligent is the first to develop and be granted a US patent for using scenario analysis in a technology that assesses climate-related risks. My guest today, Pooja Khosla, Executive VP of Client & Product Development at Entellig...

Today’s podcast is about hydrogen--what many of the largest industrial companies believe is the future of energy. In October 2021, HY24, the largest investment platform dedicated to financing clean hydrogen energy, was launched by a joint venture between Ardian and Five T Hydrogen. Amir Sharifi, the CIO of HY24 and the energy transition lead at Ardian, explains how the €500bn CAPEX commitment from...

One hundred million Americans are contributing to 401(k) retirement plans, but few know that many of these plans invest in fossil fuels, deforestation, private prisons and other companies that may not be aligned with their values. My guest on today’s program, Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, explains that many companies who sponsor 401(k) plans are contradicting their own stated sustainability goa...

How concerned do you think U.S. investors are about how the companies they invest in behave? Listen to today’s program to find out the results of Schroders’ annual Investor Study. My guest is Sarah Bratton Hughes, Global Head of Sustainability Solutions at Schroders. We discuss how climate change, corporate accountability, and social issues in the workplace are driving changes in how investors, bo...

After years of expectations, investors are finally pouring money into Green Bonds. Why is this happening now? On today’s program I talk to an expert in green fixed income asset management. Samantha Palm is Portfolio Managerof the Parnassus Fixed Income Fund. Parnassus Investments has been a pioneer in green fixed income investing since 1992. We talk about how investors and asset managers can choos...

On today’s episode we’re talking about how you can save 10-20% on transportation costs while investing in green infrastructure. My guest is Tyler Wood, Director of ESG and Sustainability at Gravitas Infinitum, a company that builds and acquires companies and projects that address critical problems like waste plastic, CO2 emissions, and bad water. Wood and I discuss the $1 trillion infrastructure b...

Is it time for financial advisors and asset managers to review modern portfolio theory (MPT)? The nature of our markets has changed dramatically since MPT became the standard for portfolio diversification. How will the rise of institutional investing, AI and machine learning, and the inclusion of ESG analytics affect the CFA certification and education platform? My guest today, Matt Orsagh, is Sen...

Federated Hermes, with $600B in assets, is one of the largest sustainable asset managers in the industry. Dr. Sotiria Anagnostou shares with listeners how their Responsible Investing Office has implemented a sophisticated in-house ESG data analytics and engagement strategy. Based on more than 20 years of experience, Federated Hermes has honed their approach. Their global stewardship team with cros...

If you’re an asset manager or investor, how would you like to be able to go through the roughly 150 million studies out there, and compare them with each other to target specific ESG data? My guest, Patrick Uribe, is the CEO of Util, a FinTech startup that uses Artificial Intelligence and machine learning to map and measure the impact of every company in the world on over 2,000 sustainability them...

The ETF that Zhang manages and subadvises for, ECOZ, won the best new ESG ETF for 2020. We talk about how ECOZ’s carbon footprint is 85% lower than the S&P 500 Index. Zhang looks for companies that are focused on economic policy, corporate demand for clean energy, and significantly lower technology costs. These factors drive what Zhang calls the new industrial revolution, with the goal of a net ze...

Saturna Capital’s Sustainable Equity Fund had an impressive Average Annual Total Return of 16.4% for the three-year period ending May 28, 2021, a 1.5% annualized outperformance versus the S&P Global 1200 index for the same three-year period. Carten and I talk about their stock selection process, which looks for consistently profitable, financially strong companies with low ESG risk factors. Carten...

Fifty-four percent of social media users use social media to research products and services. On today’s program Evan Zall, Owner and President of Longview Strategies, and I talk about marketing your sustainable investing practice, including how to use digital media under the new SEC guideline. We cover the main challenges asset managers and financial advisors face when they start integrating ESG s...