Sustainability Currents

The changing regulatory landscape, energy policy and backlash against ESG are some of the key developments affecting both public and private companies over the past few years. On this episode of ESG Currents, BI analyst Shaheen Contractor is joined by Charlotte Peyraud and Rob Teigman, the co-heads of Sustainability Advisory Services at Houlihan Lokey, to discuss the energy transition and ESG landscape through the lens of an adviser. They also outline key takeaways from advising and supporting board members.

This episode was recorded on May 2.

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“In a long-term investing framework, high quality, high conviction, fundamental, mission-driven businesses that provide society with what it really needs will outperform,” says Colin le Duc, a founding partner at Generation Investment Management. Founded in 2004, Generation is a pure-play sustainable investment manager, and according to its website, “It is all we do. It is all we will ever do.” On this episode of the Bloomberg Intelligence ESG Currents podcast, le Duc joins Eric Kane, BI’s director of ESG research to discuss the evolution of sustainable investing, the need to institutionalize impact investing, net-positive companies, his view that sustainable investing is hard, essential and insufficient, and much more.

The episode was recorded on May 15.

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Partanna Global is on a mission to change the way the world builds by creating concrete that’s carbon negative. In today’s episode of Bloomberg Intelligence’s ESG Currents podcast, Partanna Co-Founder and CEO Rick Fox joins Chris Ratti, BI’s senior ESG credit analyst, to discuss combating the climate crisis with a winning mindset, the company’s innovations, carbon credits and next steps for change.

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Who can take a boardroom, sprinkle it with climate goals? On this week’s episode of the ESG Currents Podcast, Bloomberg Intelligence Senior ESG Analyst Rob Du Boff speaks with one such candy man, former President & CEO of Mars Incorporated Grant Reid. At the privately held multinational manufacturer of candy and other foods, Reid used the levers of corporate governance to drive sustainability outcomes. He talks about enabling sustainability through compensation policies, corporate strategy and executive leadership.

For more insights, register here for BI ESG’s June 4 virtual conference, COP 28.5: Looking Back on Dubai, Looking Ahead to Baku.

This episode was recorded on April 22, 2024.

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Finance plays a critical role in addressing climate change, but the current approach is seen as insufficient. In this episode of the Bloomberg Intelligence ESG Currents podcast, Executive Vice President and Head of CDPQ Global and Global Head of Sustainability Marc-André Blanchard joins Eric Kane, BI’s director of ESG research, at the Bloomberg Sustainable Finance Forum in Toronto to discuss how sustainable finance should be done differently. They also talk about sustainability at CDPQ, the role of engagement, the importance of blended finance, incentives vs. penalties and the need to use all the tools at our disposal to address the climate challenge. Register here for BI ESG’s June 4 virtual conference, COP 28.5: Looking Back on Dubai, Looking Ahead to Baku.

This episode was recorded on May 7. 

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Technology’s role in decarbonization is evolving, with many developments still in the making. In this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Shaheen Contractor, Bloomberg Intelligence’s senior ESG analyst, interviews Daniel Hanna, head of Sustainable Finance at Barclays, Kelly Becker, president of Schneider Electric UK & Ireland, Mikkel Bülow-Lehnsby, co-founder and chairman of Urban Partners and Chris Dodwell, global head of Policy & Advocacy at Impax Asset Management, at the Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summit in London. They discuss how climate tech can be deployed and the risks and opportunities ahead. 

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In her new book “H Is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z,” Elizabeth Kolbert writes that “to say amazing work is being done to combat climate change and to say that almost no progress has been made is not a contradiction. It’s a simple statement of fact.” In this episode of ESG Currents, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author joins Bloomberg Intelligence Director of ESG Research Eric Kane to talk about this paradox, why she was drawn to writing about climate change and biodiversity, the timeline of earth’s history, whether we can reach net zero when we keep inventing new ways to consume energy and much more.

This episode was recorded on April 22.

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The New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF) is working to reach net-zero carbon emissions in its investment portfolio by 2040. To achieve this goal, NYSIF focuses on four tenants: internal and external engagement, investment and divestment. In this episode of ESG Currents, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Eric Kane and Shaheen Contractor talk with Rajith Sebastian, Head of ESG and Sustainable Investing for NYSIF about the fund’s approach to net zero, minimizing risk and maximizing impact, the need for more intentionally impactful and evidence-based investment products and more.This episode was recorded on April 3. 

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As ESG has shifted from a niche investment strategy to the mainstream, it has become a hot-button political issue among top-level state and national officials. That includes laws banning ESG on one side of the aisle and mandating exclusionary screens on the other, and the trend may accelerate heading into the US elections. On this week’s episode of ESG Currents, BI Senior ESG Analyst Rob Du Boff is joined by Ropes & Gray partners Michael Littenberg, Josh Lichtenstein and Rob Skinner, who have extensive experience representing corporate and asset-management clients facing legal, compliance and regulatory issues around ESG. 

This episode was recorded on April 10.

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Climate opportunities extend beyond clean-energy fuels and into a broad diffusion of business models, including areas such as efficiency and infrastructure. Join Senior BI analysts Shaheen Contractor and Andrew Stevenson as they speak with Sarah Wilson, managing director and head of climate strategy at Nuveen, to discuss the state of play in ESG asset gathering, strategies that are gaining steam and datasets to help portfolio managers make better ESG-related investment decisions.

This episode was recorded on April 2.

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