Tim Gocher’s adventures in Nepal started 20 years ago when he left his job in London’s financial markets. Gocher is founder and CEO of Dolma Fund Management, the first international private equity firm to focus on empowering Nepal’s startups. Under Tim’s strategic leadership, Dolma has successfully raised over $100Million in two funds and created over 15,000 jobs in Nepal and other developing countries. Tim has pioneered renewable energy investment throughout Asia. He is also founder and chairman of Dolma Foundation, a charity focused on fostering education-related changes in Nepal.

My guest on today’s program is Marie Clara BUELLINGEN, Head of Sustainable Finance Americas for Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking, one of the largest foreign banking organizations in North America. She is charged with solving the challenges of making public and private capital work together to scale clean energy solutions in the required timelines. The Societe Generale sustainable finance team develops ESG strategies and programs that meet with key stakeholder expectations and best practices such as TCFD, SASB, GRI, UNPRI and the CDP. We talk about approaches to clean energy technology solutions that she has seen work across multiple sectors of the global economy.

It’s Climate Week 2024 in New York, and all eyes are on the decarbonization and climate transition trend, with climate mitigation investing often taking center stage. But as the physical effects of climate change on people and the global economy continue to escalate, it’s increasingly obvious that investments in climate adaptation and resilience are also critical. And insurance, particularly the insurability of assets across different regions is rapidly becoming one of the most exciting avenues for meeting this need. Three investment experts from Schroders join us on today’s program to discuss what’s happening, including climate and crop insurance industries, insurance linked securities, and private market opportunities. Irene Lauro, an Economist at Schroders, focuses on climate issues; Christophe Etienne, is a Senior Natural Catastrophe Specialist on the Insurance Linked Securities team at Schroders Capital; and Martin E. Diaz Plata is Head of Private Equity Investments at Blue Orchard, an Impact investment manager owned by Schroders that runs the only private equity strategy in the world solely dedicated to climate insurance.

The sustainable finance markets in Latin America are developing rapidly, and Sandra Carrillo Hoyos has led more than 50 projects funded by multilateral banks and focused on renewable energy, construction, water management, cement, mining, and forestry. Carrillo Hoyos is an ESG & Sustainable Finance Consulting Partner with ERM, which has been working in the global sustainability markets for decades, and on today’s program she talks with us about the opportunities for scaling the sustainable finance markets in Latin American Countries and connecting climate mitigation ambitions with the employment and social gaps in these economies.

The insurance industry, one of the largest money management and investment sectors of the global economy, allocates trillions of dollars across the capital markets every year. Axis, a global specialty insurer and reinsurer, underwrites insurable risks across multiple economic sectors. Joe Dutton, Energy Innovation Lead at Axis, talks with us about their recently launched Lloyd’s syndicate that is underwriting the risks and opportunities of the energy transition.

In today’s episode we’re going to learn how Shariah investment compliance aligns with ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) principles, and the unique benefits this integration offers to investors and startups. My guest is Rina Neoh, Managing Partner at Ficus Capital and Secretary General for the ESG Association of Malaysia. Established in 2018, Ficus Capital is the world’s first ESG-Islamic Venture Capital management company. The firm offers investors in-house Shariah financial structuring and an ESG Islamic framework integrated with the investment and monitoring process of its portfolios.

Insurance carriers are the second largest money management group and one of the most impactful regulatory industries on earth. How is Premiums for the Planet, a membership-based collective action movement, motivating this industry to incorporate more sustainable investment strategies? Join Founder and CEO Brad Stevenson as we discuss how the collective’s companies are challenging the investment practices of their insurance carriers to support the climate adaptation efforts of the collective.

In 2023 Terra Alpha Investments financed 82% less carbon emissions, 88% less water usage and 35% less waste generation through the firm’s investment portfolio. Tim Dunn is Founder and CIO of this firm that invests in forward thinking companies that are profitably leading the transition toward a sustainable global economy. Terra Alpha engages directly with portfolio companies through proxy voting, thematic campaigns and company-specific interaction. Last year the firm also included its Diversity, Equity and Income data disclosure expectations of companies in their initial engagement letter and had 92 active engagements with portfolio companies. Terra Alpha’s ultimate goal is enabling a sustainable planet for society, which the firm does through portfolio construction, corporate engagement and thought leadership.

Private equity, blended finance, new regulations like the SFDR, lack of infrastructure, government instability: these are just some of the challenges investors face in financing and executing impact projects in emerging markets. My guest today, Paul Hailey, Head of Impact and ESG at responsAbility Investments AG, walks us through how the company’s projects in South America and North Africa are achieving competitive returns while making significant impacts on climate mitigation, healthcare, education, manufacturing, financial inclusion and quality jobs for the younger generation. Since its inception in 2003, responsAbility has deployed over USD 15 billion in impact investments and currently manages USD 5.0 billion in assets.

As companies and investors continue to navigate the 3D-reset themes of decarbonization, deglobalization and demographic change, Schroders believes that it is important to consider the practical investment implications of these broad trends. In 2024, Schroders sees investors transitioning from simply thinking of ESG risk management and integration to an increasing focus on sustainable opportunities and themes to harness for value creation.
To shed more light on this rich and exciting investment area, we have three portfolio managers with us today. Chris Damm is an Assistant PM on the US Multi-Sector Fixed Income Team at Schroders; Valerie Harrington is a Fund Manager at BlueOrchard, an Impact Investment manager owned by Schroders and Uzo Ekwue is a Fund Manager on the Global Thematic and UK Equity teams at Schroders.

James Kench is Head of Insurance at Kita, the company that insures carbon. He is a global finance, (re)insurance & climate risk executive with a career spanning Europe, Asia & the Americas. Carbon insurance provided by Kita unlocks financing and de-risks projects in the carbon markets, a source of investment opportunity and potential liability when not insured. Carbon insurance contracts issued by Kita are backed by leading re-insurance companies like Lloyd’s of London. They swap the uncertainty of future losses with the certainty of insurance premiums to insure transfer of contracts, unsustainable business models and the cost of doing business. Carbon insurance can cover risk assessment, management and risk taking and James joins me today to discuss how Kita improves financing and lowers the cost of capital in the carbon markets.

Bair Financial Planning has been offering investment and lifestyle financial advisory services to clients for 20 years! Initially focused on the LGBTQ community in San Diego, CA, Marci Bair broadened the scope of her firm's life planning and asset management advice when Victor Orozco joined the firm a decade ago. They now have clientele across multiple family generations and offers sustainable and ESG investment strategies as well as more traditional portfolio diversificaiton, and sometimes both to generations within the same family. We discussed the ever-changing list of acronyms and definitions in the asset management industry, all of which are finally about the same objectives of long term financial security that matches and compliments the lifestyle choices of their clients. Marci and Victor are actively growing their firm and adapting the services provided to their clients to meet today's financial needs and tomorrow's aspirational goals.

Courtney Thomas is a passionate advocate for social and economic justice. In her role as Senior Policy Analyst at HOPE Policy Institute, Courtney coordinates and leads public policy efforts to advance economic opportunities for working families in the Deep South. She uses research, outreach and advocacy to advance fair and equitable public policies that center on the experiences of black, brown and indigenous communities of color. Her research interests include fair lending, fair housing and transportation equity policies, where federal and state decisions can impact the allocation of resources and facilitate an environment to ensure that all people prosper.

Craig Coulter has 12 years of experience with EY delivering strategy and advisory services to clients large and small with a focus on the environment and sustainability. In Episode 259 of The Sustainable Finance Podcast (SFP) he and I discuss his passion for building businesses, organizations and teams that incorporate sustainability to make it business as usual. Craig is currently responsible for Sustainability Services and Strategies in the advanced manufacturing and mobility sectors, paying special attention to decarbonization in manufacturing, sustainability in supply chains and procurement compliance. Craig excels at combining technical know-how with go-to-market strategic vision, so don't miss his perspective in this SFP episode.

In 2023, FuelCell Energy commenced operations of the company’s Tri-gen system for Toyota North America at the Port of Long Beach, California, where neighboring communities have been significantly impacted by decades of emissions from the ships, trucks, locomotives, and cargo-handling equipment. Betsy Schaefer, FuelCell Energy’s Chief Marketing & Sustainability Officer joins me for this SFP episode to discuss how the Tri-gen system produces renewable electricity, renewable hydrogen, and water from directed biogas. This will allow a reduction of air pollution in the neighboring communities and will avoid more than 9,000 tons of CO2 emissions from the power grid and more than six tons of grid Nitrogen Oxide gas each year. FuelCell Energy sees sustainability as an essential part of the company’s business strategy. And Betsy joins me today to give us more details about the firm’s sustainability strategy.

Investors and asset managers need quality data that they can compare across companies, industries, and indexes. The critical need for convergence and harmonization of ESG frameworks and metrics globally is the topic of today’s program. Laura Callaghan, Associate Director of ESG Services at Novata, is going to take us behind the scenes into the Service team’s important role in moving Novata beyond the sustainable investment industry perception that this is just a technology platform. We will explore the ESG convergence initiatives and frameworks that are key for market transparency, and what barriers exist in achieving this convergence.

Alison Taylor, Clinical Professor at NYU Stern School of Business and one of the world’s most compelling experts on business ethics, has a new book, and after having read it, I recommend it to every executive, entrepreneur and student I speak to. In Higher Ground, with laser focus and insight, she lays out the reasons why businesses can no longer treat ethics as “a legal and reputational defense mechanism.” In our conversation today she walks us through her blueprint for how leaders can navigate our incredibly complex, messy, and volatile global business, social and political environment. Taylor, who has spent decades advising large multinationals on sustainability issues, organizational culture, and various forms of business model risk, tells us how we can rethink and reshape our practices.

Today’s SFP guest believes that in the future energy will be clean, resilient, abundant, and free. Harnessing that energy will allow us to preserve wild places and protect the magic of our natural world, while propelling us to the far reaches of our solar system and beyond. Nick Davis, CEO at GridMarket.com, believes that we all have a role to play in the giant leaps that AI and energy abundance will produce for humanity. Nick also believes that harnessing the power of GridMarket’s subscription service in partnership with companies like GRP/Wegmanm will redefine clean energy projects, embracing state-of-the-art technology and AI to pinpoint, optimize, and execute renewable energy solutions with unmatched precision.

Andrea Longton is an award-winning author and professional social justice investor. She has raised over 1 billion dollars for social justice investments in the United States and has advised on another 1.5 billion dollars worldwide. Andrea’s new book is titled The Social Justice Investor: Advance Your Values while Building Wealth and will be released this month on April 23rd. Her professional experience includes positions at Opportunity Finance Network, Freddie Mac, Capital Impact Partners, which is now Momentus Capital, and Delphos International. Andrea holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation from the CFA Institute and has worked in structured finance investments, capital markets and change management.

Today’s podcast guest loves to speak with investors and asset managers interested in the sustainable food space. Shila Wattamwar, Founder and CEO of Radiant Global Advisory, is an adviser to companies that are optimizing logistics, reducing supply chain costs and emissions and fostering community engagement as sustainability goals they expect will produce greater ROI and profitability and help them become preferred companies to work for in their industry. She is a Fast Company Impact Council member and a contributing writer on sustainability themes. In a recent article Shila highlighted her framework that maps activities to positive actions, rather than just the issues we face, with the intention of making daily sustainability-focused action more tangible for consumers as well as investors and asset managers.

Tee Ganbold is Co-Founder and CEO at Improvability AI, the Generative AI improvement engine for sustainability. She was Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of Clear AI, optimizing supply chains for sustainability utilizing knowledge graphs. Improvability AI enables companies to enhance their sustainability focus and increase profits through the power of AI automation - intuitive AI agents and applications that automate tasks and workflows to lower costs in the business model and supply chains. Clients use the Improvability AI RAG Platform to automate reporting, insights and research based on their private data and documents. They also work with Improvability AI to create their own platforms for clients or teams.

Sustainable Impact investing is at an inflection point in 2024, so where do Radhika Shroff and her Nuveen Private Equity team see value in this type of investing? Their investment thesis is rooted in addressing two critical and inextricably linked problems — inequality and climate change. They believe these problems create attractive impact investment opportunities outside of traditional developed markets that offer investors stability, competitive returns and liquidity for the right asset manager. Climate change knows no boundaries and will impact communities with varying levels of resilience. Nuveen also believes that by targeting the emerging low-income consumer segment, and providing that consumer with goods and services that mitigate carbon emissions and build resilience, they will select companies best positioned to grow and lead in the decades to come.

Many claim that ESG is dead. Our SFP guest today said that “ESG is broken” at NYC Climate Week last year. But ESG teams need ESG software in the same way that finance teams need finance software. Makes sense, but where should businesses start on this software adoption journey? Today followers of the SFP are going to hear from Marjella Lecourt-Alma, CEO and Co-Founder of Datamaran about “Smart ESG”, how it differs from other approaches and what are the benefits for businesses of different sizes and industries? Datamaran is the only software analytics firm in the world that can monitor external risks and opportunities (incl ESG) in real-time. The development of their patented technology is expert-led and fully transparent. Marjella and the Datamaran team believe that companies who care about their success - in an ever evolving world - incorporate material ESG risks and opportunities from the top down.

Amina Zakhnouf is an Investment Officer at the Fund for Innovation in Development (FID), which is hosted by the French government to fight poverty and promote sustainable economic growth. Zakhnouf supported the creation of the Hellenic Development Bank in Greece and backed the Tunisian government’s effort to create a favorable investment ecosystem for start-ups. Amina is also a Co-Founder of “I’m Committed to Africa” (JMA), a public policy incubator launched in 2020 with the mission of giving youth a seat at the table when it comes to Euro-African policy making.