The Greener Way

Emilie O’Neill is co-head of ESG at fund manager Perennial Better Futures. In this episode, we talk about what drives her as an analyst and how she looks at decarbonization, diversity and other key ESG issues and how they impact on the Better Futures Trust. Perennial Better Futures is a boutique investment business owned by Perennial Partners. It includes the Perennial Better Future Trust and the associated active ETF, the eInvest Better Future Fund (IMPQ) and also manages ESG initiatives across the Perennial group.

In this episode brought to you by First Sentier Investors, we’ll be discussing how environmental, social and governance issues play in credit strategies.

We speak with First Sentier Investors senior portfolio manager, global credit Craig Morabito and Active Super head of responsible investment Moya Yip about how and why ESG materiality matters in credit portfolios and how active investors can use their available tools to engage with issuers.

For more information on First Sentier Investors, visit https://www.firstsentierinvestors.com.au/ and to subscribe to FS Sustainability, visit www.fssustainability.com.au.

In this episode, we speak with Dr Patrice Newell, First Nations author, environmentalist and co-founder of Kwala, a responsible investing app that offers investors access to Australian and international companies with high environmental, social, health or technological attributes.

Newell explains the ethical ethos behind Kwala and how her life experiences led to her wanting to develop an ethical investment app that improves access to wealth for Australian.

Kristy Graham is the executive officer of the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative, which was established in 2021 as the permanent body to oversee the implementation of the delivery of the Australian Sustainable Finance Institute roadmap.

The ASFI roadmap consists of 37 recommendations structured around four pillars - embedding sustainability into leadership; integrating sustainability into practice; enabling resilience for all Australians; and building sustainable finance markets.

ASFI is currently working on developing a sustainable finance taxonomy for Australia to help drive further investment and capital allocation towards greening Australia’s economy.

FS Sustainability is pleased to be a media partner for the ASFI Summit on 28 October. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit https://www.asfi.org.au/summit.

In this episode, we speak with AXA Investment Managers Core Investment CIO Ecaterina Bigos, who weighs in on the current state of the global green bond market. Ecaterina talks to the burgeoning $1 trillion green bond market and how green finance will play a critical role in building sustainable economies.

Earlier this year, EY published Enough: A review of corporate sustainability, in a world running out of time. The report calls for a total rethink of corporate sustainability, including posing questions to companies on breaking the cycle of incrementalism.

EY Oceania chief sustainability officer Mathew Nelson joins to explain why keeping on with the status quo on sustainability is no longer fit for purpose, why Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard’s billion-dollar donation is good, but not a universal solution, and why the TV show the Good Place is a model for sustainability.

In this episode we speak with Yolanda Beattie, founder of the Future IM/Pact initiative, which is aimed at increasing the diversity of talent coming into investment management industry. Progress in recruiting more diverse people into investment management- particularly women – has been made in recent years, mainly in mid-level roles, but more work is needed.

Beattie has noted that the twin trends of continued consolidation of superannuation fund and the growing internal investment teams at those funds presents an opportunity for the superannuation fund industry to collectively break down structural barriers to gender parity in the industry.

Beattie talks about how her innovative program partners with major super funds and investment managers including recent signatories UniSuper, Aware Super, Pinnacle Investment Management and TDM Growth Partners are working to develop the next generation of diverse talent.

In this episode, we speak with Terence Jeyaretnam, EY’s APAC leader and partner for climate change and sustainability. Terence explains how a career that started as an environmental engineer led him to develop his expertise in working with corporate operations in how to measure and manage environmental, social and climate risks and opportunities. He also explains how his personal interests in systems level changes have led him to directorships with Global Citizen, Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand and Amnesty International.

To subscribe to FS Sustainability, visit www.fssustainability.com.au

Janus Henderson sustainability analyst Amarachi Seery explains why companies should make sure that their product design teams are as inclusive as their target customer base, and how a career start in construction gives her an edge as a sustainability finance professional.

To subscribe to FS Sustainability, visit www.fssustainability.com.au

In this episode, we speak with Viola Lutz, head of ISS ESG climate solutions. Viola discusses how ISS ESG approaches climate risk and climate solutions, why quantitative ESG ratings alone aren’t a silver bullet and why we have to use a variety of weapons to get to net zero.

Full disclosure: ISS owns both ISS ESG and Rainmaker Information, publisher of this podcast.

To subscribe to FS Sustainability, visit www.fssustainability.com.au