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In this intimate conversation, Paul Polman, SDG ambassador and chair of IMAGINE, discusses the importance of leaders accelerating corporate responsibility efforts.[vc_quotes layout=”accordion” quotes=”%5B%7B%22name%22%3A%22Paul%20Polman%22%2C%22job_role%22%3A%22Chair%2C%20IMAGINE%20(The%20Netherlands)%22%2C%22content%22%3A%22%22%2C%22image%22%3A%2233608%22%2C%22linkedin%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fpaulpolman%2F%22%7D%5D” title=”Speaker” el_class=””][vc_quotes layout=”accordion” quotes=”%5B%7B%22name%22%3A%22Colin%20Tate%22%2C%22job_role%22%3A%22Chief%20executive%2C%20Conexus%20Financial%20(Australia)%22%2C%22content%22%3A%22Tate%20has%20been%20an%20investment%20industry%20media%20publisher%20and%20conference%20producer%20since%201996.%20In%20his%20media%20career%2C%20Tate%20has%20launched%20and%20overseen%20dozens%20of%20print%20and%5Cnelectronic%20publications.%20He%20is%20the%20chief%20executive%20and%20major%20shareholder%20of%20Conexus%20Financial%2C%20which%20was%20formed%20in%202005%2C%20and%20is%20headquartered%20in%20Sydney%2C%20Australia.%5CnThe%20company%20stages%20more%20than%2020%20conferences%20and%20events%20each%20year%20%E2%80%93%5Cnin%20cities%20which%20have%20included%20London%2C%20New%20York%2C%20San%20Francisco%2C%20Los%20Angeles%2C%20Amsterdam%2C%20Beijing%2C%20Sydney%20and%20Melbourne%20%E2%80%93%20and%20publishes%20three%20media%20brands%2C%5Cnincluding%20the%20global%20website%20and%20strategy%20newsletter%20for%20global%5Cninstitutional%20investors%20conexust1f.flywheelstaging.com.%20One%20of%20the%20company%E2%80%99s%20signature%20events%20is%20the%20bi-annual%20Fiduciary%20Investors%20Symposium.%20Conexus%20Financial%E2%80%99s%5Cnevents%20aim%20to%20place%20the%20responsibilities%20of%20investors%20in%20wider%20societal%2C%20and%20political%20contexts%2C%20as%20well%20as%20promote%20the%20long-term%20stability%20of%20markets%20and%20sustainable%5Cnretirement%20incomes.%20Tate%20served%20for%20seven%20years%20on%20the%20board%20of%20Australia%E2%80%99s%20most%20high%20profile%20homeless%20charity%2C%20The%20Wayside%20Chapel%3B%20and%20he%20has%20underwritten%20the%5Cnwelfare%20of%2060%2C000%20people%20in%2028%20villages%20throughout%20Uganda%20via%20The%20Hunger%20Project.%22%2C%22image%22%3A%2233547%22%2C%22linkedin%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Famanda-white-101a7515%2F%3ForiginalSubdomain%3Dau%22%7D%5D” title=”Moderator” el_class=””][vc_empty_space height=”10px”]
Key takeaways
The SDGs will fail if we don’t create a more inclusive world.
Although we know what needs to be done we are not able collectively to behave at the scale and speed needed to fix known issues.
We only treasure what we measure. The progress in the area of measurement has been too slow.
Achieving the SDGs is hard work. The problem is that we do not have enough leaders in business and finance prepared to place self-interest to one side and focus on the greater good.
The successful company of the future will not focus on being ‘less bad’, it will focus on doing ‘more good’.
‘The world really is in trouble. There are no healthy people on an unhealthy planet.’
Humanity will pay the price if we do not address structural issues.
If issues of unemployment persist, social cohesion issues will escalate. We need to create better and more resilient jobs by investing in R&D and education.
If we all know what needs to be done why is our collective behaviour not reflecting this?
Business and politics alike suffer from short-term goals and assessments.
We need to put a price on scarce resources and social risk.
We cannot rely on governments to bring about the required system change.
The SDGs are the biggest business opportunity in the world.
Seek out your investors, don’t respond to them passively.
‘You don’t have to eat the elephant in one bite’ – have a ten year business model that addresses known social issues.
‘The companies that don’t place sustainability at the forefront of their strategy will be relegated to the graveyard of dinosaurs.’
One of the most important, upcoming challenges at CalSTRS is how the fund should evaluate Chinese investments from a human capital and environmental standpoint, says Chris Ailman, chief investment officer at the giant pension fund.
What policies for greening
the crisis response
and economic recovery?
Lessons learned from past
green stimulus measures
and implications for the
COVID-19 crisis
The Harvard endowment is about half way through its transition to external investment management and will work with its service providers to implement the university’s new directive, to position the portfolio in line with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The COVID-19 crisis is likely to have dramatic consequences for progress on climate change. Imminent fiscal recovery packages could entrench or partly displace the current fossil-fuel-intensive economic system.
Asset allocation plays such a fundamental role to determining long-term returns that ignoring these sustainability issues – where the impacts affect economies, businesses and society over decades – just does not make sense.
How can investors be a catalyst for change and have an active voice in a sustainable recovery? This episode explores the role of investors and how they can collaborate for effective collective action. It includes the work of one of the leaders in sustainable investing and the biggest pension fund in Europe, APG. It invites investors to have an active voice in a sustainable recovery.
There is a lack of understanding in investment decision-making about how big the climate crisis is which could lead to investments and risks being mis-directed, according to Professor Cameron Hepburn, Professor of Environmental Economics at Oxford University.
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