Climate risk has certain features that stretch the imaginations and toolkits of investors, meaning a new framework that includes systems thinking is necessary to branch out from the narrow measurement and management of risk predicated on modern portfolio theory, says Roger Urwin.
New Zealand Super’s new chief executive Jo Townsend inherits an organisation with a strong culture but facing some challenges posed by rapid growth. An internal project aims to reduce complexity and focus on simplicity for a fund already rated by WTW as operating at global best practice levels.
The funds that use TPA added 1.8 per cent pa for 10 years above those using SAA in a recent Thinking Ahead Institute study of 26 asset owners. And the systems-thinking TPA approach, with the benefits of dynamism and joined-upness, will help asset owners in an environment of increasing complexity.
Climate change is the mother of all super-wicked problems, according to Roger Urwin, who argues that being joined-up will help asset owners with the holistic thinking and cross-agency coordination needed to tackle the complexity.
Many asset owners have net zero commitments in place, but few of these targets are being met with implementation. In the opening session of Sustainability in Practice at the University of Oxford, delegates discuss how investors should get realistic about net zero.
The net-zero investing journey passed a milestone this May, having already ticked one third of the way towards 2030 goals and one twelfth of the way to 2050 goals. Roger Urwin, co-founder of the Thinking Ahead Institute, enquires how investors and the real economy are really doing.
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Decisions to Enable Net Zero Investing