Sustainable finance standards help integrate ESG considerations into investment decisions

Recorded: 19 April 2021 (13:30 - 15:00 UK time)

What’s this webinar about?

We now understand the huge contribution financial services can make to achieving global sustainability and climate targets. With that in mind, BSI is running a four-year programme to help accelerate the sector’s adoption of sustainable finance.  

This webinar is part of that programme. It provides an overview of what we’re doing, and in particular look at the first two published sustainable finance standards  on principles and responsible investment management respectively, and the third, which is in development, on sustainable investment funds. 

What will participants learn? 

Key stakeholders will learn how our standards can support them in the delivery of long-term sustainable returns for investors as well as in supporting sustainable development. Participants will also get a post-event copy of all presentations and a recording of the webinar.

Agenda

13:30 – 13:35 BSI’s Sustainable Finance Standardization Programme - David Fatscher, Head of Sector (Environment, Social & Governance), British Standards Institution (BSI)

13:35 – 13:45 UK Government’s policy to mainstream green finance - Jamie Armour, Policy Advisor – Green Finance, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS)

13:45 – 14:00 Common principles & approaches to sustainable finance - Dr. Paul Pritchard, Senior Associate, Iken Associates, and Technical Author, PAS 7340:2020

14:00 – 14:15 Responsible & sustainable investment management  - Mandy Kirby, Chief Strategist and Co-founder, City Hive, and Technical Author, PAS 7341:2020  

14:15 – 14:30 Standardizing sustainable investment products/funds - Dr. Rodrigo Tavares, Founder and CEO, Granito Group, and Technical Author, PAS 7342

14:30 – 14:40 Professionalism & the Green Finance Education Charter – Simon Thompson, Chief Executive at Chartered Banker Institute

14:40 – 14:55 Q&A

15:00 End of the webinar

Learn about the current thinking on sustainable finance and how you can embed sustainable finance in practice.

David Fatscher has over 30 years' experience in B2B/B2C publishing and digital media in a career that has included positions at Reuters Business Information and VisitBritain, the UK’s national tourism agency. He is currently Head of Sector for Environment, Social and Governance at BSI and engages with key stakeholders from government, industry and NGOs to define BSI's strategy for market-driven best-practice solutions on a range of topics including environmental management, energy management, waste and resource management (circular economy) and sustainable finance.

Jamie Armour is a policy advisor in the green finance team in BEIS. Jamie leads on the delivery of Chapter 3 of the Green Finance Strategy, which focusses on how to ensure the UK is well placed to capture the opportunities greening of the financial system may present. Jamie previously worked in the insurance industry on climate-related regulation and financial regulation more generally. Jamie holds an MSc in European Public Policy from UCL.

Dr Paul Pritchard has wide experience in corporate sustainability with a focus on financial services.  While at RSA Insurance Group he was Group Environmental Adviser and also led the operational risk function. He now works with Iken Associates, supporting Aviva’s external expert climate risk panel, authoring the BSI/BEIS Sustainable Finance Framework Guide (PAS 7340) and joint authoring a guide to TCFD. He has served as Vice Chairman of IEMA and as a Fellow at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) where he focused on the integration of sustainability into financial services.

Mandy advises global investors on alignment of values and practices across external and internal sustainability topics at City Hive, an independent organization helping the investment industry to meet their sustainability responsibilities in creating a more diverse, equitable and inclusive corporate culture.

Mandy is technical author of PAS7341 and a member of the BSI’s Strategic Advisory Group for Sustainable Finance. She is Chair of the independent Shell Sustainability Report Review Panel.

Previously part of the leadership team at the UNPRI as Director of Reporting, Assessment and Accountability, Mandy was responsible for enabling and improving global investor and service provider disclosure on the incorporation of ESG factors into investment practice.

Simon Thompson was appointed as Chief Executive of the Chartered Banker Institute in 2007.  Under his leadership, the Institute has grown to become the largest professional body for bankers in the UK, with 30,000 members and students in more than 100 countries.

Simon is the editor and co-author of Green & Sustainable Finance: Principles and Practice, published by Kogan Page, and leads the Institute’s work in this area, and on the UN Principles for Responsible Banking.  He chairs the UK’s Green Finance Education Charter and is a former Vice President of the European Bank Training Network.