IFA Talk

Today was Cities, Regions and Built Environment Day in Glasgow, with presentations on building materials, urban development and sponge cities. We spoke to Angus Parker who is the Global Equity Portfolio Manager at HSBC Asset Management, to get his insight on the days developments. 

Following the announcement of an unexpected US-China declaration that vowed to boost climate co-operation, Alok Sharma still admitted today, “we are not there yet on the most critical issues.”

However Angus, like our previous guest Randeep, remains optimistic about the outcomes of COP26. 

Today we spoke to Randeep Somel who is the Portfolio Manager for M&G's Climate Solutions Fund.

It is transport day at COP26, and with many major announcements in this area of 'hard to abate emissions.'  Randeep gives us a rundown on the pledges on transport and what John Kerry has been saying about coal and carbon taxes. 

Randeep's work on M&G's Climate Solutions Fund gives him a real insight into how certain innovations are making a big impact and why there are many reasons to see Cop26, and the global battle against climate change, positively. 

Today Climate Action Tracker launched staunch criticism of the COP26 summit, saying there was a credibility gap. This led to outcries from across the board, notably Ed Milliband accused the government of 'greenwashing Glasgow'.

We spoke to Jeremy Lawson about this. Jeremy is the Chief Economist and Head of the abrdn Research Institute, where he is primarily responsible for abrdn's climate scenario analysis. 

Jeremy also shares his analysis of what innovation in climate change really means, and criticises some of the pledges that we have spoken about on the podcast previously. 

 

 

Today is Adaptation, Loss, and Damage day at COP26, and we have the esteemed Sarah Bratton-Hughes to tell us what this really means and how climate adaptation will impact the world of finance. 

 

Sarah is Global Head of Sustainability Solutions at Schroders, where she works with Schroders' clients globally to assess and implement their sustainability needs and ambitions.

Today we spoke to Dan Somers about renewable energy and the role of Impact Investing has in solving the challenges of global warming.

At Cop 26 today at least 23 countries made new commitments to phase out coal power, including five of the world’s top 20 coal power-using countries.

Boundary Capital is an EIS Impact Investment fund with a mission of bettering 100 million lives, and invests heavily in renewable energy themes. 

Today Mark Carney made the momentous announcement that the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) will commit to the accelerating the decarbonization of the global economy. 

Louisiana Salge, Senior sustainability specialist at EQ investors, helps us unpack what exactly the commitment from the group, representing over $130trn of capital, means for the financial industry. 

Louisiana doesn't shy away from scrutiny of the group either, asking tough questions around double accounting and greenwashing.  

We also touched on the announced the formation of the International Sustainability Standards Board, and how this may look in practice. 

 

 

In our second day round up we talk to Jonathon Spanos, who heads up Venture Investment for Vala Capital. 

 

Jonathon touches on much of the big news of the day, namely the pledges to the reduction of Methane and ending deforestation. 

 

Digging into Jonathon's expertise our conversation led into the role of tech transparency in achieving the aim of deforestation and climate neutral supply chains. 

Moreover we discussed the important role of innovative tech focussed companies in achieving many of the lofty pledges made by world leaders. 

In the first of Financial Insight's Daily Cop briefings Vince Smith-Hughes, Director Specialist for Business Support at Pru UK, gives us the run down on what to expect from the next two weeks, and what the early signals are for the adviser industry. 

 

 

In this absorbing episode of Financial Insight, Andrew Smith an esteemed Blue Economy advocate details why the Blue Economy is so appealing to investors, and what exactly it is. 

 

Andrew is the founder and CEO of Deja Blue Consulting, and has worked tirelessly with the United Nations and FANBEST to promote the Blue Economy and its potential for both impact and returns. 

 

 

In this fascinating discussion Henry Boucher, Partner of Sarasin, discusses Greenwashing in the ESG investment industry. 

Following the Paris Climate Agreement, private investment has been placed front and centre to help solve the climate crisis - but are investors doing everything they might be to help?

Henry started his career in fund management in 1983. He is Chairman of the Sarasin & Partners Investment Strategy Group, Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Fund Strategist for the specialist thematic Food and Agriculture Opportunities strategy.