In this episode, Rosl Veltmeijer discusses first experiences applying the EU Green Bond Standard in practice with Joop Hessels, Executive Director and Head of Sustainable Markets at ABN-Amro and Jeroen van Herwaarden, fund manager of the Triodos Euro Bond Impact Fund.

The EU Green Bond Standard is a new standard for use-of-proceeds bonds. Like any other bond label, it is a voluntary standard introduced by the European Commission as part of the broader EU Action Plan. Launched in December 2024 with the purpose of stimulating green investments, it has been tested for almost a year now. A good moment to evaluate how it works in practice with two specialists. Joop Hessels looks at the EU GBS from an issuer perspective whereas Jeroen van Herwaarden approaches the topic from the investor angle.

This episode is a follow-up on a previous podcast we did on the EU Taxonomy and the EU Green Bond Standard: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4lOww9NohwzUmIN9wH2faS?si=yKCkdUL3Qv-kkNIXKGt5bw

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In this episode, Rosl Veltmeijer sits down with Matt Goodwin, Head of Sustainable Investing at the Global Child Forum, and Sjoerd Rozing, portfolio manager Future Generations at Triodos Investment Management, to explore the concept of Child Lens Investing from the perspective of online safety for children.

Children are our future - future consumers, workers, innovators and caregivers. Yet, despite their significance, their interests are often overlooked in economic and financial decision-making. Investors play a crucial role in shaping the world that future generations will inherit. By applying a child lens to investing, they can move beyond short-term returns and focus on building a sustainable, inclusive and thriving global economy.

Read more about the concept of Child Lens Investing in this handbook: Investor Handbook Child-Lens Investing

More about Global Child Forum can be found on their website: globalchildforum.org

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In this episode, Karel Nierop explores the intriguing landscape of blended finance with David Kuijper, CEO of The Association of European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI) and Judith Santbergen, Fund Manager of the Hivos-Triodos Fonds, a blended finance instrument avant-la-lettre.

Kuijper explains what blended finance entails and how it is needed to get important transitions going, especially in emerging markets. Santbergen elaborates on Hivos-Triodos Fonds' ability to do smaller transactions, focusing on SMEs in high impact sectors in emerging markets. Tailored to meet investors’ requirements - be it fiduciary or regulatory - blended finance can open new markets and offer diversification.

Despite the difficulties in scaling up, both guests see strong opportunities for blended finance. Given the demographic developments with Europe ageing and declining in population while the global south is young and growing, combined with Europe’s enormous amount of pension savings, there is an urgent need to transition European private capital to emerging markets. Blended finance facilities can help change the direction of private capital flows, for example in sectors where blended finance has proven to work like renewable energy and resilient infrastructure.

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In this episode Karel Nierop sits down with Kayoko Lyons, Director of Investments at the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and Tim Crijns, Portfolio Manager Financial Inclusion at Triodos Investment Management to explore the world of financial inclusion.

Tim explains how microfinance works, why the actual risks are often lower than perceived, and how local economies show strong resilience. Kayoko shares her investment journey, highlighting the crucial role of financial services in economic development and encouraging new investors to be bold, start small and do something. Together, they discuss future trends, the role of technology, and the importance of maintaining a strong impact mission. The episode closes with practical insights into how investors can contribute responsibly to expanding global financial access.

More information about the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart: Welcome to the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus | Bringing Christ's love to the world

More information about the benefits of backing financial services in emerging markets: The benefits of backing financial services in emerging markets

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The geopolitical storm we are in has accelerated a development that was already visible for some years: a fierce backlash on ESG. In this podcast, Rosl Veltmeijer discusses the implications of this backlash with Lewis Johnston, director of policy at ShareAction and Triodos economist Joeri de Wilde. Together they analyse the events and circumstances that led to the ESG backlash and try to answer the question if we are witnessing a structural shift away from ESG investing or only a temporary setback.

Read Joeri's column 'No shift away from sustainability' here: BlackRock never really had sustainable ambitions, more and more citizens do

Find out more about the activities of ShareAction here: ShareAction | Harness the power of investment

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In this episode, Karel Nierop discusses how we can make finance work for nature instead of against with David Diallo, founder of Berlin-based startup goodcarbon, and Mareike Hussels, product development manager for Nature-based Solutions at Triodos Investment Management. The term Nature-based Solutions pops up in the news more and more often but is also still a bit vague for most people. Triodos recently made a commitment to provide at least EUR 500 million in investments, loans and contributions to the Nature-based Solutions sector by the end of 2030 as part of its biodiversity targets. The IPCC ranks certain Nature-based Solutions among the most promising ways to tackle the climate crisis.  

But what are Nature-based Solutions exactly? Why is the IPCC so enthusiastic about them? And do they represent an interesting investment case? These are the questions that are addressed in this podcast.

Read more about Triodos' commitment to the Nature-based Solutions sector here: Triodos Bank nature-based solutions commitment

More about the partnership with goodcarbon can be found here: investment Hivos-Triodos Fonds: goodcarbon

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In this episode, Karel Nierop discusses the challenges and opportunities of an energy system under construction with Ronald Huisman, Professor for Sustainable Energy Finance at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam (amongst others), and Kay van der Kooi, Senior Investment Manager at Triodos Investment Management.

The energy transition in Europe is in full swing. A main component is the electrification of many processes: from transport and heating to highly energy-intensive industrial processes. This means a large buildout of both generation and consumption of electricity. While the process of electrification is taking up speed, the energy system, which was designed with fossil fuels in mind, is squeaking and creaking. Examples include waiting lines for electricity connection in construction projects and negative energy prices during peak electricity production. Will the initial success now threaten to undermine the energy transition?

Interested in learning more about this topic? Read Kay van der Kooi's blog on net congestion here: What’s the hold-up? On the Ins and Outs of Grid Congestion

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In this episode, Rosl Veltmeijer discusses how to achieve meaningful impact by investing in stock listed companies with Dirk Schoenmaker, Professor of Banking and Finance at Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University) and William de Vries, Director Impact Equities and Bonds at Triodos Investment Management.

Impact investing is often associated with direct or private investing but is it also possible to invest with impact in public markets (stock listed investments)? And if so, how can this be realised? Dirk Schoenmaker explains that while financing the changemakers is important, it is essential to also finance established companies that are willing to transition in order to shift the system. William de Vries elaborates on the importance of engagement in achieving impact with listed companies. He also emphasises the added value of collaboration with like minded investors. Important takeaway of the discussion: not all impact can be quantified and attributed but the most important thing is that change actually happens.

Interested to learn more about generating impact by investing is listed equities? Read this article

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This podcast episode focuses on two pieces of European legislation aimed at supporting the low-carbon transition: the EU Taxonomy and the EU Green Bond Standard. Green bonds play an important role in financing the assets needed for the green transition. With the European Green Bond Standard, the EU wants to set a clear standard for green bonds, based on the detailed criteria of the EU taxonomy to define green economic activities.

Portfolio Manager Rosl Veltmeijer discusses the ins and outs of both policies and how they work in practice with Esther Griffioen, Deputy head of Policy and Risk Management at the Dutch State Treasury Agency and Jie Chen, Investment Analyst at Triodos Investment Management - covering both the issuers’ and the investors’ side of green bonds.

More information about the EU Taxonomy for sustainable activities can be found here

More information about the EU Green Bond Standard can be found here

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In this podcast episode, Karel Nierop discusses what's behind the net zero commitments of the financial sector with Quinten Aubineau, Policy Analyst at bank Track, and Sven Renon, Impact Manager at Triodos Bank.

Since the Paris climate agreement, most banks and asset managers have committed themselves to a net zero strategy to be in line with a 1,5-degree global warming scenario. But what does net zero exactly mean? And why is it important for financial institutions to have a net zero strategy in place? Quinten Aubineau explains that having a net zero goal is nice but having a concrete action plan in place to get there is even more important. Sven Renon elaborates on the challenges Triodos Bank is facing on the road to net zero.

More information about Triodos Bank's net zero strategy can be found here

More information about Bank Track can be found here

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