Agenda day 1 - 2022

• Progress being made to help change our industry for the better
• What is next for Sustainable investing in the market?
• What should advisers prepare for?
• How can advisers help their clients make the right choices?
  

If you’re recommending sustainable portfolios to your clients, you should probably be practicing what you preach. Gillian Hepburn – Head of UK Intermediary Solutions at Schroder Investment Solutions will walk you through the Schroders ‘Sustainability Scorecard’ to help you see how sustainable your firm really is, and steps you can take to improve it.

In his talk Jai will note some practical and useful tips to consider to help you, your business and your team become more ethical, wherever you are in your business journey (without a Greggs vegan sausage roll in sight!).

As many schemes move to decarbonise their portfolios and have increasingly regulatory pressure to report on the impact their portfolio is having, private markets solutions can play an important role. They provide not only diversified long-term returns but can also deliver a positive environmental and social impact.

During the session, Jack will discuss the path to decarbonisation and some of the opportunities the different private markets asset classes have to contribute to addressing the climate challenge, as well as help to facilitate the transition to a more sustainable future.

With trillions of pounds of assets under management, pension schemes have the power to make a significant impact on the climate emergency. This impact is often best exercised through stewardship, but how can asset owners ensure they are exercising their power to create genuine ‘real world’ change? And how can they be sure that words are being translated into action? This session will bring together panellists to discuss the role of stewardship, what good looks like, and the actions that pension scheme asset owners can take to be better stewards.

EM corporates have, on average, lower ESG ratings and are less open to a constructive dialogue with their investors on sustainability than their developed market peers. That is no reason to give up on these companies. In fact, it could be a good reason to invest more efforts in engaging with them as we can make a real difference. Many innovative solutions providers are headquartered in EM, and we see exciting opportunities for impact investors in listed equities.

• What resources do you need to have in place to develop ESG capacity?

• What are the data considerations and needs?

• Demonstrating credentials and building narrative with clients?

• What worked and what needs to happen next?

When building a sustainable investment proposition, ensure that you take account of personal, local and global considerations. Sustainability is a global trend but you can do it in your own way.

How a £2bn+ scheme has approached this? Where did they get it right and what lessons have been learnt for one of the fastest-growing companies in the retirement savings marketplace?

Exploring how asset managers are evolving their approaches to stewardship to become more targeted and outcomes focused.

Biodiversity loss needs urgently to be addressed and may pose a threat to humanity even bigger than climate change. The international community increasingly acknowledges this inconvenient truth, however, mitigation plans are in an early stage. How can institutional investors contribute today? Options for action from a practical perspective.