Investors for Purpose: the investment ecosystem

We are all part of the complex structures of nature, and we are all affected by changes to the ecosystems around us. With the rapid onset of climate change worsening natural disasters and causing the displacement of millions of people around the world, it is vital that we understand nature risks and ways in which we can protect our habitats for future generations.

In this episode of the Investors for Purpose Podcast, we are joined by Tony Goldner, CEO of TNFD. We discuss how we can use language to describe nature in more understandable and applicable terms, what nature risk really is, and the practical steps TNFD are taking to increase awareness of these risks across the investment landscape.

People-related issues are often the most overlooked aspect of sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG). Yet they underly everything we do as an investment industry. 

In this episode of the Investors for Purpose Podcast, we are joined by Pippa Rudling and Freddie Woolfe from Jupiter Asset Management, who are our Ecosystem Partners for our People Value work. Through various real-world case studies and practical examples, we explore how we can align people value, business value and investment outcomes. We cover a range of different topics – from financial inclusion to inequality, health and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) – and explore the huge investment opportunity set that positive practices across all theme themes can deliver. 

Place-based investing is one of the six Ecosystem Themes we structure our work around at Investors for Purpose.  It looks at how we can invest in a way that supports and engages with local communities, improving their ‘places’, while still making an appropriate financial risk-adjusted return. 

In this episode of the Investors for Purpose podcast, we are joined by our Founder and Chair, Karen Shackleton, who leads our Place Lens workstream. We discuss what exactly we mean by place and why this theme is getting so much focus, as well as the challenges and opportunities that come with place-based investing.

Investors often have multiple goals when it comes to what they invest their money in. On the one hand, they have clear financial goals to target a certain level of risk-adjusted returns, but they often also have additional goals on top of that, depending on their circumstances, goals around getting capital to where it is needed in the real economy.

In this episode of the Investors for Purpose Podcast, we are joined by Georgie Nelson and Karen Hill from Aberdeen Investments, one of our Ecosystem Collaborators for our place-based investing work at Investors for Purpose. We discuss how we can invest in a way that brings these two goals together, working with local communities directly to do so. We explore different opportunities across different asset classes, delve into real life case studies and consider what ongoing engagement looks like for these types of investments.

People are at the heart of everything we do in the investment industry. Our long-term goals are all about supporting people, who are the ultimate beneficiaries of pension schemes, insurance companies or foundations. Our economy can only function because of the work that people deliver. The way we value people is therefore crucial to the success of our long-term investments. 

In this episode of the Investors for Purpose, we are joined by our People Value lead at Investors for Purpose, Bonnie Smith, to get into what People Value looks like in practice and how investors can think about this. We discuss how this intersects with the current cultural and political climate, as well as the range of different topics covered by this Theme.

Investors are increasingly recognising their intersection with the systems around them, whether that’s the financial system, political and regulatory system, or even the social and environmental system we all exist within. This is particularly true for large, long-term investors, often deemed to be ‘universal owners’. For these investors, systemic risks pose some of the biggest challenges to their financial stability over the long term.  Addressing these risks is not as straightforward as simply selecting certain stocks and diversifying away from others.  Systemic risks require systemic stewardship

In this episode of the Investors for Purpose podcast we speak to Will Farrell, who co-leads climate stewardship at Federated Hermes, all about how systemic stewardship works in practice. We discuss why this is getting so much more focus now, how to resource it, the kind of skills needed for effective systemic stewardship and much more! 

Geopolitical turmoil in Iran has highlighted so many issues to us on both a human and an investor level, particularly around topics like humanity, safety and compassion. The conflict has also highlighted another important issue: energy security and our reliance on overseas energy.  The conversation around clean energy transition is now not just happening in the context of sustainability and climate risk management – it is seen as a key national security issue. 

In this episode of the Investors for Purpose Podcast with guest Tom Williams from Downing, we get down to the facts in what energy transition looks like, as well as what kind of resources we have and need. We discuss the politics behind this, how the UK is looking to position itself and what this all means for investors. We focus on what the evidence and data tells us, and how we can use this to bust some of the myths and false narratives out there.

There are many challenges we face in today’s world that pose serious challenges to the future of our economy – issues like climate change, biodiversity loss and social inequality.  Given the scale of these challenges, governments and philanthropy cannot solve them alone – private investors need to be part of the solution too.

In this episode of the Investors for Purpose podcast, we speak to Sir Ronald Cohen, a pioneer in social impact investing, about this. We discuss how the landscape for impact investing has evolved, the power of impact accounting and data to align returns (doing well) with positive impact (doing good), and the exciting moment we face as we sit on the cusp of an impact revolution.   

The landscape around sustainable investing is rapidly changing. While some investors, especially in the US, are rolling back their commitments, European and UK investors remain just as committed to tackling sustainability issues, such as climate change. The real question for these investors is – what actions can they take to drive forward real-world outcomes? 

In this episode of the Investors for Purpose podcast, we speak to Jane Wadia and Edward Lees from BNP Paribas, about the conversation they are having with their clients on this and the actions that can be taken to address climate change. We cover lots of different areas – from the opportunity set in listed markets, to the pros and cons of benchmarks, to how we can make stewardship as effective as possible.

The UK punches above its weight when it comes to unicorns, startup companies valued at over $1 billion. Many of these companies are doing exciting and important work needed to drive forward climate transition. Although there are a number of overseas institutional investors which allocate to this kind of venture capital, a very small number of UK pension funds are currently investing in UK clean technology startups. 

In this episode of the Investors for Purpose Podcast, we are joined by Beverley Gower-Jones and Lauren Juiiff from the Clean Growth Fund to talk about why that is, bust some myths, and share a message of optimism and hope for the potential for some big win-win-win investments.