ESG Talks

In this special episode of ESG Talks, KBRA’s Chief ESG and Ratings Policy Officer, Pat Welch, and KBRA’s Chief Strategist, Van Hesser, speak on all things ESG and give an overview on current trends in credit markets on the Bermuda Royal Gazette (RG) Business Podcast with Shivani Seth. RG Business is a podcast that examines global business in Bermuda, the industries and sectors that lead its economy, and the impact it has globally. KBRA recently hosted an ESG and Credit Market Lunch in Bermuda on Oct. 12 where similar topics were covered.

In this episode of ESG Talks, Karen Daly, Senior Managing Director and head of KBRA’s Public Finance Team interviews Lia Cairone, the first Director of Sustainability & Resiliency at the NYC Mayor's Office of Management and Budget, and Louise Yeung, the first Chief Climate Officer to serve at the City’s Office of the Comptroller. Karen, Lia, and Louise discuss the risks that climate change poses to NYC and how city agencies are working to mitigate the City’s climate risk exposure while investing in sustainability, resiliency, and adaptation measures.

In this episode of ESG Talks, Peter Giacone, Senior Managing Director and head of KBRA’s Insurance team interviews Dr. Ryan Truchelut, Co-founder, President, and Chief Meteorologist of WeatherTiger. WeatherTiger provides customized seasonal weather forecasts and full-spectrum decision support for commodity, weather risk, public safety, and retail markets with a proprietary technology fusing meteorological insights and the power of Big Data. In Ryan’s eleven years as a lead professional meteorologist, he has provided mission-critical forecast guidance and consulting to satisfied clients across the full spectrum of agricultural markets, including producers, processors, end-users, and traders. Ryan’s comprehensive knowledge of client needs and deep background in mid- and long-range forecasting, quantification of extreme event risk, and innovative product development are at the forefront of the field and inform every WeatherTiger forecast.

In this episode of ESG Talks, Karen Daly, Senior Managing Director and head of KBRA’s Public Finance Team interviews Kim Bizor Tolbert, Deputy City Manager of Dallas and Liz Cedillo-Pereira, Assistant City Manager. Kim provides executive leadership to the Office of Risk Management, Aviation, Dallas Water Utilities, Human Resources, Communications, Outreach, & Marketing, Office of Homeless Solutions, and the Small Business Center. As Assistant City Manager, Liz provides executive leadership to the Dallas Public Library, Office of Arts & Culture, Office of Community Care, Office of Environmental Quality & Sustainability, Office of Equity & Inclusion, and Ethics. Karen, Kim, and Liz discuss city initiatives aimed at improving equity and inclusion for Dallas’ diverse population.

In this episode of ESG Talks, Jim Nadler, KBRA’s President and CEO interviews economist, Rob Johnson. Rob is the Co-founder and President of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET). Founded in the wake of the financial crisis in 2009, INET is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization devoted to developing and sharing the ideas that can repair our broken economy and create a more equal, prosperous, and just society. To meet current and future challenges, INET conducts and commissions research, convenes forums for exchanging ideas, develops curricula, and nurtures a global community of young scholars. Jim and Rob discuss how the work and research that INET does overlaps with ESG issues.

In this episode of ESG Talks, Joan Feldbaum-Vidra, Senior Managing Director and Head of KBRA’s Sovereigns ratings team, sits down with Mike Spence, an internationally recognized economist focused on economic growth and development, dynamic competition, and the economics of information. In 2001, Mike was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his tremendous contributions to the analysis of markets with asymmetric information and the field of economics in general. Joan and Mike discuss the economics of the energy transition and the implications for global economic growth.

In this special episode of ESG Talks, Jim Nadler, KBRA’s CEO and President, and Kate Kennedy, Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of KBRA’s Business Development Group discuss the importance of ESG on the Royal Gazette (RG) Business Podcast with Shivani Seth. RG Business is a podcast that examines global business in Bermuda, the industries and sectors that lead its economy, and the impact it has globally. In this episode of the Navigate Series, learn about how KBRA has changed the landscape of rating analysis and the firm’s comprehensive strategy for ESG.

In this episode of ESG Talks, Karen Daly, the head of KBRA’s Public Finance team, interviews Dr. Stanislav Shmelev, an ecological economist and Director of Environment Europe. Environment Europe is a think tank and research center focused on macroeconomic sustainability, sustainable cities, renewable energy, ecosystems and biodiversity and sustainable waste management.

Dr. Shmelev has experience in teaching, research, consultancy and international project management through work with prominent universities, international organizations and businesses. The main areas of his specialization include ecological economics, economics of the European Union, financial management, sustainability assessment, multi-criteria decision aid, ecological-economic modelling at international, national and regional levels, sustainable urban and regional development, issues of environmental policy in sustainable energy and waste management.

In the first episode of season 5 of ESG Talks, Pat Welch, KBRA’s Chief ESG and Ratings Policy Officer interviews Bill Curry, president and CEO of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), Peter Schlosser, Vice President and Vice Provost of Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University (ASU), and Kenro Kusumi, Dean of Natural Sciences at ASU. In October 2021, BIOS and ASU announced a strategic partnership to elevate awareness around the critical role that the ocean plays in climate mitigation. Pat, Bill, Peter, and Kenro discuss the research that BIOS and ASU do to explore the world’s oceans and address the global and environmental challenges we face as climate change grows more extreme. The group also discusses highlights of the Bermuda Climate Summit hosted by the Bermuda Development Agency and sponsored by KBRA.

In the final episode of season 4 of ESG Talks, Emilie Nadler, an Associate Director on KBRA’s ESG team interviews Mike Brotschol, Managing Director at KBRA Analytics and Co-Head of KBRA Credit Profile (KCP), a subscription based CMBS surveillance platform. Mike’s team recently enhanced the KCP product offering with various environmental and social metrics on commercial real estate properties. Mike and Emilie highlight investor interest in ESG data and how KCP is aiding in the investment decision making process.