Sustainable connections

Mark Lee talks with ERM leaders ‌Sabine Hoefnagel, ‌Linden Edgell and ‌James Stacey about their reflections from the COP29 climate talks in Baku and what the event means for businesses in terms of moving forward with climate strategy and implementation.

Their conversation covers:  

• What was anticipated going into Baku 
• Progress in hard-to-abate sectors and carbon markets  
• The role of private finance and transition plans  
• Nature and adaptation plans  
• Progress on renewables  
• Looking ahead towards COP30 in Brazil 

Mark Lee talks to Vamsi Alla, Managing Director in J.P. Morgan's Corporate Advisory and Sustainable Solutions team, and Pradipta Parhi, an Executive Director in J.P. Morgan’s Climate Technology, Innovation and Strategic Investment team, about their new report with ERM exploring the critical challenges and opportunities surrounding water resilience in the US.

Their conversation covers:

·       Water insights from COP16 

·       Company water resilience issues in the US

·       Managing water risks and opportunities

·       Water at COP29

Related links:

The Future of Water Resilience in the U.S.

Mark Lee talks to Ben Madden, Chief Technology Officer at Hydrogen investment fund HYCAP, and Patrick Huber, Head of Project Finance at green hydrogen developer MorGen Energy, about the challenges and opportunities in hydrogen ecosystem development, including hydrogen generation, transport infrastructure and accessing new markets for hydrogen.

Their conversation covers:

• Financing hydrogen ecosystems
• How to identify viable hydrogen projects
• Current European policy incentives for hydrogen
• Engaging with communities on hydrogen infrastructure development
• How to accelerate hydrogen ecosystems

Mark Lee talks to members of the NatureTech Alliance, including Salesforce, NatureMetrics and Planet, about their new report exploring how nature tech solutions can help companies to navigate a path towards nature positive. They also discuss the outcomes of the United Nations COP16 biodiversity conference.

Their conversation covers:

• COP16 outcomes and implications for business
• How to combine global and local nature data for business decision making
• Strategies to overcome data fragmentation
• Navigating the shift towards outcome-based metrics
• Using nature tech to improve corporate disclosure

Related links:

The Nature Tech Revolution: The tools to move from ‘do no harm’ to ‘nature-positive'

Mark Lee talks to John Elkington, founder of Volans, about his latest book ‘Tickling Sharks: How We Sold Business on Sustainability’. They look back at how corporate sustainability has evolved over the past 50 years, anticipate how it will progress in the future and debate the most effective ways to engage business leaders on sustainability.

Their conversation covers:

-          How sustainability became a C-Suite issue

-          The future of corporate sustainability strategy and disclosure

-          How to engage senior leaders on sustainability

Related links

10 Tips on Tickling Sharks: #1 - by John Elkington (substack.com)

Mark Lee talks to ERM leaders and experts across climate markets, social performance and nature, about how Climate Week NYC 2024 shaped the global business sustainability agenda. They also discuss implications and expectations for the upcoming United Nations COP16 biodiversity and COP29 climate change conferences later this year. 

Their conversation covers: 

• How to build trust in the voluntary carbon markets 
• The role of social performance in the low carbon transition 
• Integrating nature data into business strategy  
• How to measure and tackle inequality 
• What companies can expect at COP16 and COP29  

Mark Lee talks to Dominic Barton, Chair at Rio Tinto, and Louise Pearce, Global Industry Lead for Mining and Metals at ERM, about the role of mining in the low-carbon energy transition.  

Their conversation covers:

-      Rio Tinto’s environmental and social strategy

-      Decarbonizing mining and metals

-      How to increase metals and critical minerals supply

-      Derisking mining to attract investment

In our nineteenth episode, Mark Lee talks to Eli Aheto, Managing Director on the BeyondNetZero team at General Atlantic, and Manuela Fumarola, Consulting Director at ERM, about how private equity funds can take advantage of new opportunities to scale climate investment. 

Their conversation covers:

• Scaling investment in climate tech that offers cost savings to customers
• Opportunities for climate investment in the agricultural sector
• Measuring the impact of climate private equity investment
• Climate private equity exit strategies 

In our eighteenth episode, Mark Lee talks to Kevin Hagen, Interim CEO at the Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA), and Nikki Payne, North America Renewable Energy Lead at ERM, about the current pace and trajectory of renewable energy procurement and development in the US. 

Their conversation covers: 

• Company strategies for procuring renewable energy 
• How to manage the rising cost of clean energy procurement
• Challenges and solutions for updating the US grid
• Scaling US offshore wind development
• Stakeholder management best practice in energy and grid development

In our seventeenth episode, Mark Lee talks to Coy Garrison, Partner at international law firm, Steptoe, and Beth Wyke, Partner, Corporate Assurance at ERM CVS, about how companies can prepare for the new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) climate disclosure rules. 

Their conversation covers:

• Reporting boundaries and scope of the SEC climate rules
• Interoperability of the SEC rules and other disclosure regulations worldwide
• How to approach climate and wider sustainability assurance
• Potential impacts of legal challenges to the SEC rules