Good Future

Throughout almost 100 episodes of the Good Future podcast we’ve traced the evolution of the sustainable investment sector. But now we’re entering a new era of sustainable finance, where climate risk reporting, impact measurement and climate-tech innovation have become core parts of investment management.

Sustainable investing has matured, and that’s in large part due to a global push to define precisely what it means to be ‘sustainable’, with a huge contribution being made by the development of sustainable finance taxonomies all over the world.

Last month we saw the launch of Australia’s very own Taxonomy, and today we’re joined by the perfect guest to help us make sense of it all., and that’s Linda Romanovska. She helps us understand why it’s important, how we can use it, and how it compares and interacts with other global models.

Linda is a global taxonomy expert, she’s contributed to the development of sustainable finance taxonomies in the EU, South Asia and right here in Australia. At the same time she’s worked as a senior sustainable finance advisor working with boutique consultancies as well as the Big4. And if that’s not enough to keep her busy, she’s also doing a PHD exploring the intersection of nature and sustainable finance.

I learned so much in this episode, and I hope you do too. Linda’s insights are really practical, breaking down the nature of a taxonomy within the global context, highlighting sectors where it has the potential to make an impact, and, how it fits within the broader sustainable finance roadmap in Australia.

Also, we’ve produced a One-page Taxonomy FIELD GUIDE. Outlining the key opportunities of aligning a portfolio with the Australian framework, and how it compares globally.Find it on my website at www.Johntreadgold.com

While you’re there you can find all the show notes for the episode, and you can sign up for my newsletter where I share regular impact insights, plus, you’ll be the first to know about new podcast episodes as they drop.

Enjoy!

This week on the podcast I’m excited to be joined by Hampus Jakobsson, his career to discover climate-tech has been a wild ride so far and he has a great knack for story-telling, so I’m sure you’re going to enjoy this one.

Hampus is based in Sweden, and he started out as an entrepreneur, bouncing from Sony-Ericsson to Blackberry, building software in the early days of mobile phones, and as he grew to appreciate the incredible power of capital to make big changes in the world, he was slowly drawn to investing.

He resisted opportunities to switch to VC for a long time, but eventually he shifted his views, and he ended up working with some of Europe’s most progressive VCs, but in 2019, when he suggested they explore climate-tech investing, they shook their heads, despite having invested in a swag of wildly innovative startups, they couldn’t get their heads around the idea of investing in climate.

Since then, things have changed dramatically, and climate-tech has emerged as one of the fastest growing themes in early-stage investing.

Hampus Jakobsson went on to launch his own VC fund, it’s called Pale Blue Dot, and has so far invested in some 40 startups, across a range of themes and business models.

In this episode Hampus is really generous with his stories and his insights. He explains his methodology and process for identifying those outlier founders that have, not only an audacious business idea to change the world, but also, the tenacity and grit to push past the obstacles and execute on it.

Hampus has had a dizzying career so far, but after listening to this one, I’m sure you’ll agree that he’s just getting started. He has energy, and a sharp intellect and a passion for climate solutions that’s infectious.

So with that said, let’s get to the episode.

You can find all the show notes and links on the website at Johntreadgold.com.

Enjoy the show!

We’ve long heard the arguments for how and why Australia should be a leader in renewable energy and decarbonisation, and finally, in the 2024 budget, we saw the Treasurer take decisive action, and chart a course for Australia to become a clean energy superpower.

Of course we’re not there yet, but on the show today I’m joined by Tim Buckley, an esteemed climate commentator who says the latest batch of government funding is a decent down-payment, on a clean-energy future for Australia.

I’m excited to have Tim Buckley with us today, there’s no-one better to help us decipher the climate outcomes from the latest budget.

Tim is the founder and director of Clean Energy Finance, a think-tank that’s laser-focussed on research and advocacy to accelerate the decarbonisation of the Australian economy.

He’s worked in finance for more than 30 years, and was previously the Australasian Director of the global Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

Early in his career he worked at Macquarie group in equity research, and since then he’s been Head of Equity Research in Singapore at Deutsche Bank, and Managing Director, Head of Equity Research at Citigroup.

You can find all the show notes and links on the website at www.Johntreadgold.com

Plus, that’s where you can sign up to my newsletter, your regular feed of impact investing and climate-finance news, as well as fresh startups and investment deals.

Sign up, and follow along.

Enjoy the show!

Today’s guest is Clara Barby. She’s been a central player in the impact investment sector for decades. Early on she worked at Acumen, she then moved on to Bridges Fund Management, and she’s currently Senior Partner at Just Climate which was spun-out of Generation Investment Management, the sustainable investment firm launched by none other than Al Gore.

Along the way she’s also helped develop standard setting organisations like the Impact Management Project (the IMP) and the global sustainability accounting body, the ISSB.

Clara’s resume really is quite staggering. There were lots of avenues and tangents that we could have gone down, so we really just scratched the surface today.

We speak about the advancements in the world of ‘Climate-impact investing’ in terms of both the climate-tech companies that are creating disruptive new industrial technologies. But we also get really practical as we explore the emissions measurement models they use at JustClimate to look forward, and forecast, the ‘emissions avoidance’ potential of a company.

This moves beyond the typical approach of relying on backward looking measures of scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. It represents important progress in GHG accounting, and has huge potential as a driver of returns as it unearths exciting new leaders in the new climate-led industrial revolution.

You can find all the show notes and links on the website at www.Johntreadgold.com

Plus, that’s where you can sign up to my newsletter, your regular feed of impact investing and climate-finance news, as well as fresh startups and investment deals. Sign up, and follow along.

Enjoy!

On the podcast today I have Anjali Nelson, she’s General Manager of Operations at GreenCollar, an environmental markets developer that’s leading not only Australia, but the world, in developing nature-based solutions to combat both climate change and biodiversity loss.

This is the fourth episode in our series of conversations exploring opportunities to ‘invest in natural capital.’ And it was a great opportunity to unpack the structures and benefits of carbon credits, but more importantly, to hear about how this market based mechanism is evolving, to offer benefits beyond just carbon removal, and steer capital towards the conservation and restoration of biodiversity.

GreenCollar has been a pioneer in the space for a long time now, and they’re not slowing down, developing new products and methodologies like Reef Credits, and the new Nature Plus biodiversity credits.

And of course GreenCollar is the sponsor of this series. I’ve followed the progress of this company since its early days when the team earned the backing of some heavy-weight impact investors. It was a moment that shifted my perspective, showing me that environmental markets are both a vital part of the clean energy transition, but also, a potent business sector, with huge growth potential. They proved me right on both counts, and it’s great to have them on board as a partner.

You can find all the show notes and links on the website at www.Johntreadgold.com.

Plus, that’s where you can sign up to my newsletter, your regular feed of impact investing news, as well as fresh startups and investment deals. Sign up, and follow along!

Enjoy the show!

Today we’re approaching the topic of investing in biodiversity, by speaking to Nigel Sharp, he’s a farmer, but he’s also a businessman and a fund manager. And over the past two decades he’s been a pioneer in the ‘Business of Biodiversity’.

Nigel is a pioneer in this space, the Tiverton investment vehicle has developed a whole range of agricultural projects on land holdings all over Australia, and all with the regeneration of biodiversity at their core.

But that’s not all. He seeded the Dragonfly venture fund, to support early stage climate-tech and regen-ag startups. And, he founded the Odonata Foundation, an environmental charity working to save species from extinction.

Now before we dive into the episode I want say a big thank you to the sponsor of this series, and that’s GreenCollar.

GreenCollar is a developer and innovator of environmental market solutions, they recognise the power of putting a financial value on nature, as an incentive to drive sustainable land management, cleaning up our waterways and avoiding further loss of biodiversity and animal species.

Since launching more than a decade ago, the company has become Australia’s largest developer of nature-based carbon credit projects, and they’re pushing the market forward with schemes like ‘Reef Credits’, which target improved water quality at The Great Barrier Reef.

And their latest innovation is NaturePlus, a new form of biodiversity credits that aim to protect and restore ecosystems around the world. They’re measuring biodiversity outcomes on the ground, with a scientifically rigorous and verifiable methodology, that puts a value on natural capital, to enable investment in the conservation of high value ecosystems.

Reach out to the team at www.GreenCollar.com.au to find out more.

Plus, you can find all the show notes and links on the website at www.johntreadgold.com.

And you can also sign up to the newsletter, to get the notifications on the latest podcast episodes, as well as practical insights about the evolution of impact investing.

Enjoy!

The past decade has seen huge progress in the way companies analyse their exposure to carbon emissions, but far less effort has been put into understanding the complex interactions companies have with nature, and the risks this poses for investors and the health of our environment.

If we’re to have a hope of reaching net-zero, we need to reverse the trends of biodiversity loss and incentivise companies to assess the risks and opportunities around natural-capital.

On the podcast today we have the perfect guest to discuss this topic, I’m joined by Tony Goldner, he’s the CEO of the TNFD, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, an organisation that was established to try and solve this very problem.

The big news is that this week Tony and his team have published the final version of the TNFD Recommendations. It’s a framework that will give companies and investors alike a clear and uniform model for putting nature on the balance sheet.

Tony’s worked at the helm of the TNFD since it was founded two years ago. He’s originally from Australia, he now lives and works in Europe, and he’s had a fascinating career that spans foreign affairs with DFAT, he’s worked in global finance, he’s been a consultant, and now he’s pulling it all together to convene a mix of stakeholders across the globe and across industries.

It really was a thrill to speak to Tony on such a big week for the TNFD, the recommendations have only been live for a few days, and so in this conversation I did my best to offer a broad overview of the final recommendations, and practical actions to help us integrate them.

And of course this episode is part of a broader series that’s exploring how we can shift our economy to be ‘nature-positive’, so be sure to subscribe so you can follow along.

And a company that’s been central to the ‘nature positive’ mission is GreenCollar, which has come on board to be the sponsor of this series.

GreenCollar is a developer and innovator of environmental market solutions, they recognise the power of putting a financial value on nature, as an incentive to drive sustainable land management, cleaning up our waterways and avoiding further loss of biodiversity and animal species.

Since launching more than a decade ago, the company has become Australia’s largest developer of nature-based carbon credit projects, and they’re pushing the market forward with schemes like ‘Reef Credits’, which target improved water quality at The Great Barrier Reef.

And their latest innovation is NaturePlus, a new form of biodiversity credits that aim to protect and restore ecosystems around the world. They’re measuring biodiversity outcomes on the ground, with a scientifically rigorous and verifiable methodology, that puts a value on natural capital, to enable investment in the conservation of high value ecosystems.

Reach out to the team at www.GreenCollar.com.au to find out more.

And, you can find all the show notes and links on the website at www.johntreadgold.com.

And that’s where you’ll also find the Good future newsletter. Your source of insights and updates about the world of impact investing. You’ll stay up to date on trends, you’ll get access to the latest podcast episodes, and you might just get an early lead on the most exciting and high impact companies and funds.

Enjoy the episode!!

On the show today we have Rachel Lowry, she’s Chief Conservation Officer at WWF. In this episode she explains why investors need to care about the growing biodiversity crisis, and the challenges of measuring and conserving natural capital.

It says a lot about the sustainable investment movement that finally, conservationists and financial services are working together. To identify hotspots of risk, and establish sustainable models of capital allocation that can drive positive, measurable outcomes.

Rachel is a passionate environmental advocate, but more than that, she’s focussed on solutions, and in this episode we dig into the practical actions that all investors can take to better align their portfolios with the goals of our economy becoming ‘Nature positive’ by the end of the decade.

This is the first in a series of episodes exploring the concept of ‘natural capital’, and to get us there, we have the support of a new Good Future sponsor, GreenCollar.

GreenCollar is a developer and innovator of environmental market solutions, they recognise the power of putting a financial value on nature, as an incentive to drive sustainable land management, cleaning up our waterways and avoiding further loss of biodiversity and animal species.

Since launching more than a decade ago, the company has become Australia’s largest developer of nature-based carbon credit projects, and they’re pushing the market forward with schemes like ‘Reef Credits’, which target improved water quality at The Great Barrier Reef.

And their latest innovation is NaturePlus, a new form of biodiversity credits that aim to protect and restore ecosystems around the world.

Reach out to the team at GreenCollar.com.au to find out more.

You can find all the show notes and links on the website at johntreadgold.com.

And that’s where you’ll also find the Good future newsletter. Your source of insights and updates about the world of sustainable investing.

You’ll stay up to date on trends, you’ll get access to the latest podcast episodes, and you might just get an early lead on the most exciting and high impact companies and funds.

Enjoy the episode!

We’re moving from theory to practice with Ben Krasnostein and Dr Jodi York from Kilara Capital.

They’re an impact investing powerhouse and today, we’re digging into the models and frameworks they employ, but more importantly, how their impact approach can help to both drive-down greenhouse gas emissions, while also boosting financial returns.

Ben is founder and managing director of the investment management firm, Kilara Capital. He was born and bred in Melbourne, and after a stint in legal practice he found himself drawn towards business, investing and doing deals. He opened the doors to Kilara in 2017.

And Dr Jodi York is Chief Impact Officer, she joined the team in 2020. She’s originally from San Francisco and she found herself in Melbourne via a stint in New Zealand.

These two are the ideal guests for this, the third episode in my podcast series exploring the current inflection point that’s seeing impact measurement and management frameworks harmonise and consolidate and for investors that means it’s now easier than ever to use impact principles when allocating capital.

Kilara has recently published its inaugural impact report, and we’ll dig into the very progressive models they used to compare their impact performance to a global baseline. As well as the impact hurdle that commits the firm to reduce C02e emissions by 15%, with a hit to the firm’s carry if they don’t achieve it.

This was a really great conversation, packed full of practical insights about leading impact practice in Australia.

And to go even deeper on the topic: this episode will be part of my IMM Special Report that’s coming soon, so sign up to my mailing list at www.Johntreadgold.com, so you don’t miss it.

A quick disclaimer, nothing in this podcast is financial advice. Please do seek your own professional advice before making investment decisions.

Enjoy!

In today’s episode we’ve got Sarah Gelfand on the show, she’s Managing Director of BlueMark, an impact verification business that was spun-out of consulting firm Tideline.

She works with the world’s leading impact investors, to verify their impact results across both their management practices and their impact performance. And most recently she authored a report called ‘Raising the Bar’, which attempts to improve the quality of impact reports, which is vital, as there’s more being published than ever.

Sarah has her finger on the pulse of leading practice in impact measurement and management. Her clients are some of the world’s leading impact players, and as a consultant she gets to ‘look under the hood’ of all sorts of investors that are all at different stages of their impact journey.

She offers lots of great insights in this conversation, helping us understand how various impact frameworks fit together, the importance of being guided by a central strategy, as well as her hopes for the emergence of more reliable impact data to help us move beyond rhetoric and to drive better impact performance.

This was the second episode in my series of discussions exploring the current state of Impact Measurement and Management, and how the harmonisation of leading frameworks represents a powerful inflection point.

I’ll pull all of the key insights together into a special report that will be released in due time.

To be sure you don’t miss it, sign up to my newsletter on my website www.johntreadgold.com that's where you’ll find the show notes, as well as more details about me and my business.

Enjoy the episode!