The Responsible Investor Podcast

Investors increasingly agree that tackling systemic risks such as climate change, nature loss and AI requires policy engagement – but what does effective engagement look like, who should do it and who pays for it?

In this episode, editor-in-chief Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker speaks to Steve Waygood, former chief sustainable finance officer at Aviva Investors and now CEO of the Finance Transition Centre. Waygood shares lessons from nearly 20 years leading one of the industry’s most respected policy engagement programmes, including helping create the World Benchmarking Alliance.

He explains why policy engagement must be grounded in the investment proc...

Governments and stakeholders meet in Yerevan, Armenia, this week for the UN COP17 summit on biodiversity, where they will review progress on the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

Designed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, the GBF has generated unprecedented engagement and action but current efforts fall well short, a UN report has said – especially on finance.

Investors appreciate the need to engage the policy and regulatory environment, but where should they get started?

In this episode, our nature reporter Gina Gambetta sits down with Ben Allen, senior nature and environment lead at...

The AI boom is reshaping the global economy, dominating market discussions and taking over the internet. Not to mention the outside chance it could result in the end of humanity.

On this episode, we speak to Parnassus Investments about how investors are thinking about responsible AI, and how they are engaging on the topic.

Senior reporter Dominic Webb is joined by Marion Macindoe, Parnassus' managing director for sustainable investment strategy, and Krishna Chintalapalli, portfolio manager of the $5.4 billion Parnassus Value Equity Fund and the Parnassus Value Select ETF.

Topics range from AI stewardship...

Climate action is facing headwinds in North America but Canada’s big pension funds are staying the course.

That’s the message from Bertrand Millot, head of sustainability at La Caisse. The $550 billion manager of Quebec’s public pension funds set its first climate strategy in 2017, and by the end of last year, it had $164 billion allocated to “climate action investments”.

In this episode, he explains the evolution of La Caisse’s approach to climate investment over the past decade to RI editor-in-chief Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker.

As well as setting out what La Caisse wants to see...

In the era of president Donald Trump and the ESG backlash, climate diplomats have choppy waters to navigate. Countries are reeling from yet another year of extreme weather as investors look to build resilience into their portfolios.

In this episode, deputy editor Jack Graham talks to Rachel Kyte, the UK special representative for climate, about her role under the UK's new prime minister Andy Burnham, how she interacts with investors and what the world must do to respond to climate extremes.

Topics include how the government is engaging with Trump's United States on energy issues...

Europe's summer heatwaves have caused widespread destruction, from the Rhine river hitting record lows to wildfires across France, Italy and Spain.

It is also having severe impact beneath our feet.

Many investors appreciate the importance of soil to our food systems, flood resilience and more. But how do events like extreme heat impact soil health, and how can we adapt?

In this episode, our nature reporter Gina Gambetta sits down with Paul Hallett, a professor of soil science at the University of Aberdeen and president of the British Society of Soil Science.

"Doing well by doing good" was an often-heard refrain at conferences throughout the early 2020s. It was even supported by influential academic studies that claimed sustainability and investment performance were highly correlated.

Then came the invasion of Ukraine, giving a boost to dirty and opaque sectors such as energy and defence, and sustainability began to look like a drag on returns. ESG came under fire, with right-wing commentators arguing that it contravened funds' fiduciary duty.

Four years on, with new conflicts emerging in the Middle East, the relationship between sustainability and performance is as hotly...

The European Union's Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) is one of the most important frameworks in the ESG fund space, and one of the biggest headaches. Since the European Commission seized the chance to turn the regulation into a truly usable system as part of its simplification agenda, investors have been nervously awaiting the finalised changes.

In this episode, senior reporters Khalid Azizuddin and Dominic Webb discuss the proposed reforms, some of the key concerns raised by investors from sovereign bonds on fossil fuel exclusions, and how the European Parliament and Council of the EU positions are...

Have investors overstated their ability to drive climate action? Have top-down, targets-driven models of decarbonisation taken the industry down a blind alley? And if so, where should sustainability-minded asset owners and managers refocus their efforts?

A new report from the LSE argues for a reappraisal of the topic, based on an acceptance that investor action on climate will be dependent on government policy and technology development.

In this episode, editor Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker speaks with Tom Gosling, the report's co-author and professor in practice and director of the Initiative in Sustainable Finance at the London School...

With attacks on shareholder rights on both sides of the Atlantic and widespread rollbacks, rescissions and retractions of sustainability commitments, the relationship between investors and their portfolio companies is increasingly turbulent.

In this episode of The Responsible Investor Podcast, Dominic Webb speaks to Sallie Pilot, managing director of the Investor and Issuer Forum, a UK-focused initiative aiming to improve the interactions between investors and listed companies in the country.

The pair discuss how to improve conversations along the investment chain, some of the pain points in the relationship and how to strike a balance between...

Transition finance investment products continue to gain popularity among investors, according to recent ESG fund flows reports. Yet it is not always possible to establish whether capital is being funnelled into the critical activities needed to transform carbon-intensive sectors.

In this episode, Navindu Katugampola, global head of sustainability at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, explores best practices on transition finance based on his experience overseeing the $1.9 trillion US fund manager's activities in the area.

Key topics discussed include what to look for in company transition plans, regulatory and policy developments, and the climate transition's regional characteristics.

Asset managers are under pressure to respond to a wide range of client demands on sustainability issues, from stewardship to decarbonisation, while grappling with a rapidly changing policy landscape.

In this episode of The Responsible Investor Podcast, Wendy Cromwell, who heads up sustainable investment at Wellington Management, tells Elza Holmstedt Pell how the US giant navigates this, and how conversations with asset owners are evolving.

This wide-ranging interview digs into engagement expectations, US policy changes, addressing physical climate risks, and the intersection between sustainability and key global investment themes.

In recent years, investors have increasingly been trying to work out how to best address deforestation in their portfolios. 

How has action evolved over the years? What has been the impact of changes in the regulatory environment, in particular the EU’s deforestation regulation? And to what extent, is it currently possible to set deforestation-free portfolio targets? 

Responsible Investor’s nature reporter Gina Gambetta sits down with Graham Stock, senior sovereign strategist, emerging markets at BlueBay Asset Management, to dig into these topics. 

Stock is also the co-chair of the Investor Policy Dialogue on Defores...

Investors are urgently seeking to understand how their portfolios will be affected by physical climate risks in the wake of more frequent extreme weather and regulatory changes.

Climate risk data, and the related topic of adaptation and resilience, has also been a key focus of Responsible Investor's editorial content this year. We most recently published deep dives on both physical risk data and risk management as part of our COP30 Report.

In this episode, Khalid Azizuddin speaks to Nick Stansbury, head of climate solutions at the asset management arm of Legal & General, about the challenges...

Just over two years ago, the European Commission launched the first step in the long road to reform of the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).

On 20 November, the Commission's proposed amendments to the law were released. These will introduce concrete product categories and do away with both entity-level PAI reporting and the definition of "sustainable investment".

In this episode, Dominic Webb talks to Anne Schoemaker, head of regulatory and investment selection solutions at Morningstar Sustainalytics, and Dennis Baas, head of sustainability strategists at Allianz Global Investors, about the review, how it may affect the...

With 2050 on the horizon and a challenging political and economic environment for companies looking to hit net zero, engagement on climate change is more important than ever.

As part of its new climate and investors focus, Responsible Investor has published a series of articles looking at the future of climate engagement ranging from how climate collaborations are evolving to engagement with hard to abate sectors and how investors are responding to an increasingly challenging environment.

In this episode, senior reporters Dominic Webb and Gina Gambetta discuss their findings and how investors across the world are ev...

Climate engagement has been on investors’ agendas for more than a decade. So what progress has been made in that time? What have we learned about what works and what doesn’t? And, crucially, what does that mean for how we move forward?

To explore these questions, our editor Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker sat down with sustainability and stewardship veteran Colin Melvin of Arkadiko Partners. As co-author of the Principles for Responsible Investment and founder of engagement specialist Hermes EOS, he has been at the forefront of conversations on climate and corporate action for 20 years.

In this epis...

Over the course of his three years as comptroller of New York City, Brad Lander has guided the city's pension systems in achieving their climate targets, divesting from fossil fuel companies and seeing significant success with shareholder resolutions on a range of topics.

Lander, whose term will end in January, joins The Responsible Investor Podcast to discuss his proudest achievements in office, the future of shareholder proposals and whether he thinks responsible investment can survive Donald Trump's second term.

After declining to run for re-election in order to make a bid for the mayor's office...

At $96 billion in assets, the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System is one of the largest public pension funds in the US. As of this year, it is also one of the few to have been handed a legal mandate to manage climate risk in its investments.

In this episode, Oregon state treasurer Elizabeth Steiner discusses the state's new legislation on climate investment, the challenges and trade-offs of steering a giant portfolio towards net zero, and the conversations the fund is having with portfolio companies and asset managers over their climate rollbacks.

Steiner spent over a...

After a turbulent first half of the year following the release of the EU's sustainability Omnibus, Brussels is back in session and gearing up for a busy autumn of discussions and decisions on how to simplify a number of sustainable finance regulations.

Formal negotiations between EU lawmakers are expected to kick off shortly on proposed changes to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), while a consultation on the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) will close at the end of this month.

It comes as the European Commission last...

In this episode, we are joined by Amy O'Brien, global head of responsible investing at asset manager Nuveen.

She joins us to discuss her new book, A Field Guide to Responsible Investing: Asset Management in the Age of Polycrises. Drawing from her three decades of experience in responsible investment, the book "takes readers on a journey of the evolution of responsible investing, how it works today, why it’s integral to investment considerations, and how we can finally get a grip on its efficacy."

This episode covers data dilemmas, what critics get right – and wrong – about...

Increasing geopolitical uncertainty and the USA's decreasing reliability as an ally has triggered a massive boost in global defence spending.

As investment managers and asset owners look to capitalise on the new opportunities, this has led to a wave of fund launches and changes to exclusions policies across the market.

In this episode, senior reporter Dominic Webb talks to deputy editor Elza Holmstedt Pell about the latest developments in the market, the regulatory backdrop and how ESG investors are changing their minds on defence.

Recent RI defence-related coverage includes:

The past six months have been dominated by EU sustainable finance regulatory developments, following the bloc's push to simplify and roll back several of the rules issued under its 2019 Green Deal.

On this episode, we are joined by Helena Viñes Fiestas, commissioner at Spanish regulator CNMV and former chair of the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance.

Having worked in sustainable finance for more than a decade, she talks us through her thoughts on the ongoing sustainable finance regulatory developments and what outcomes she is hoping for amid efforts to simplify the rules.

The UK's fund labelling regime under the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements and the European Securities and Markets Authority's new guidelines on the use of ESG terms in fund names have have sparked a wave of renaming, mergers, closures and portfolio reshuffling.

On this episode, we are joined by Hortense Bioy, head of sustainable investing research at Morningstar Sustainalytics. Bioy walks us through the most recent regulatory changes and what they mean for the EU and UK sustainable fund landscape. She also discusses the major challenges for asset managers looking to comply with the rules instead of renaming.

ESG shareholder proposals have come under increasing scrutiny over the past few years, with debates focusing around their alleged prescriptiveness and quality. Support for these proposals also fell sharply from the record levels reached in 2021 before stabilising last year at around 20 percent.

Last year also saw ExxonMobil sue Dutch NGO Follow This and Arjuna Capital over a climate resolution. The lawsuit ended with the case being dismissed but Arjuna Capital had to promise never to file a resolution at the oil major again.

And following the election of Donald Trump, filers predicted that the Securities...

It is now a matter of broad consensus that the world will overshoot its 1.5C temperature goal, but that does not mean there is nothing to be optimistic about, according to climate finance expert Jakob Thomä.

He should know a thing or two about this topic. Thomä led the development of the first climate scenario analysis tool at 2 Degrees Investing Initiative and currently leads a think tank which makes predictions about future climate policy. He is also a professor in practice at SOAS and maintains a column here at RI.

He joins the latest episode of...

It’s been just over one month since the European Commission announced its much-anticipated sustainability Omnibus plans, which would heavily water down the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and EU Taxonomy.

The EU executive wants the changes to be approved and implemented at a very quick pace, and much has already happened since the February announcement.

In this episode, senior reporter Fiona McNally – who has been on the ground in Brussels – talks to deputy editor Elza Holmstedt Pell about recent developments and initial reactions to the proposals ahead of some of t...

In recent years, corporates have increasingly been trying to work out how to approach nature reporting.

How has the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) aided firms in their efforts? And what are the initial insights from Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) reports regarding how corporates are approaching ESRS E4 Biodiversity and ecosystems?

Stephanie Hime, founder and managing director of sustainability-focused consultancy Little Blue Research, is well placed to explore these questions. She helped develop the Capitals Coalition’s natural capital protocol and sector guides, and is also the project lead for the International Organisation fo...

Asset owners across the UK, Europe and US are sharpening their focus on asset manager stewardship, and an increasing regulatory focus on stewardship outcomes and transition-focused products is leading investors to think harder about how they can demonstrate that their own engagements are having an effect.

Jennifer Walmsley, associate director for corporate engagement at the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), has more than two decades of experience in the area, having run the engagement team at EOS at Federated Hermes and headed up investor engagement for the Financial Reporting Council. She now oversees IIGCC's corporate...

Global investments in renewable energy reached a new record of more than $700 billion in 2024, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. But this year has brought uncertainty and challenges on many fronts, perhaps most notably from the new Trump administration.

The good news is that uncertainty is something the sector is used to, says Jérôme Guillet, co-founder of renewables advisory firm Snow, and there are many bright spots.

At a time when oil and gas firms continue to roll back on their clean energy objectives, Guillet – who also writes a blog where he shares his...

Net-zero as a concept is under pressure, and for investors to assess the best path forward, it is crucial to understand how companies and other holdings are managing this – and what efforts they are undertaking to navigate the transition.

This is what the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI) has helped investors with since its inception in 2017. Carmen Nuzzo, the executive director of TPI’s academic centre, tells The Responsible Investor Podcast there are notable developments in what investors are asking for to help guide their investment and engagement activities.

Nuzzo talks to RI deputy editor Elza Holm...

With big asset managers rushing to exit climate initiatives and ESG opponents taking centre stage in the US, responsible investment is under scrutiny as never before. What does this mean for up-and-coming asset owners with sustainability ambitions?

This is a key question for Dan Mikulskis, CIO of People's Partnership, one of the fastest-growing workplace pension providers in the UK. In this episode, he talks to RI editor Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker about how sustainability fits into the investment strategy of People's Partnership.

The discussion explores the evolution of responsible investment over the past 10 years, from a neglected...

Three years ago, in the run-up to COP26, financial institutions rushed to sign up to the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ).

A renewed focus on fiduciary duty, however, combined with concerns about the real-world impact of reducing portfolio emissions, is now prompting asset managers to rethink strategies and methodologies for net zero.

Daisy Streatfeild has seen the issue from both sides of the fence. In 2021, she helped set up the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative (NZAM) during her time at the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC). Today, as sustainability director at...

After an autumn of devastating floods in Florida, Spain and southern Italy, the need to protect populations from the impacts of climate change has shot up the agenda for policymakers.

Nature can play a crucial role in climate adaptation, from protecting coastlines from rising sea levels to slowing or reducing water run-off upstream of urban centres.

In this episode, veteran investor Eoin Murray talks to RI editor Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker about the opportunities for developing "natural infrastructure" in the UK. Key topics include the challenges of mobilising large-scale investment for nature restoration, how to ensure buy-in...

The global UN biodiversity summit delivered on the buzz – and had a huge private sector turnout. The overall outcomes, however, have been widely described as “a mixed bag” on the positive end of the scale, while many called it underwhelming.

But investors did not leave Cali empty handed, with a flurry of announcements on nature transition plans, investment products, collective engagements and many discussions on scaling up private finance to help meet global biodiversity targets.

In this episode, nature reporter Gina Gambetta talks to deputy editor Elza Holmstedt Pell about key developments for investors and shares...

Mining is a notoriously dirty and dangerous business – so much so that it has often been shunned by responsible and risk-averse investors. In recent years, the Brumadinho dam disaster and the Juukan Gorge scandal have provided ample evidence of the environmental and social risks associated with the sector.

Yet it is crucial to the energy transition. According to the Global Investor Commission on Mining 2030, around 300 new mines will be required to supply the minerals for the batteries, solar panels and wind turbines that will power the green economy.

This means investors can no longer ignore the se...

When Responsible Investor talks to investors about transition finance, capital expenditure almost always features.

Folksam’s chief economist Marcus Svedberg told RI earlier this year that studying capex flows is a good indicator of where companies are going, and that ideally “you want to be overwhelmed by how much they are investing in new technologies, technologies of the future”.

And there are some positive signs. For example, so far in 2024, companies have reported around €250 billion of taxonomy-aligned capex, up from €191 billion in all of 2023.

But while a company’s investments, or plans to invest, in t...

Transition finance is the fastest-growing area in sustainable investment. Over the past two years, the amount invested in transition-focused funds in Europe doubled as inflows into traditional ESG funds stalled.

The appeal of transition finance is obvious. It offers sustainability-minded investors access to a broader range of sectors and companies than “pure green” strategies, while at the same time potentially achieving more real-world decarbonisation.

But what does transition finance actually involve? Is it compatible with net-zero goals? Which industries, instruments and regions offer the best opportunities for returns? And, in the absence of regulatory clarity, do i...

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has put simplicity and consumer testing at the centre of its efforts to roll out fund labels to improve transparency of sustainable investment products.

For managers that are in the middle of applying labels to their funds, the process has in many ways proved more challenging than first expected – so far, only two funds have publicly announced that they have secured a label. The FCA has recognised this, and this week pushed back the deadline for compliance.

In this episode, Responsible Investor senior reporter Dominic Webb talks to depu...

After two years of rising commodity prices, surging energy sector profits and intensifying anti-ESG rhetoric in the US, it is easy to get the impression that investors are losing their appetite for sustainability.

But industry veteran Lee Clements, now head of applied sustainable investment research at FTSE Russell, says reports of the death of ESG investing have been greatly exaggerated.

In this episode, he talks to RI editor Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker about the numbers behind the headlines, looking at how fund flows have evolved over the past four years, which strategies and sectors have proved most r...