WORKSHOP ON ENVIRONMENTAL FINANCE FOR THE COMMON GOOD

Appendix

Appendix A – A roundtable discussion on current challenges in environmental finance

Thomas Singer
Topic: "The current state of corporate sustainability disclosure: examining trends, challenges, and best practices."

Thomas Singer is a Principal Researcher in the ESG Center at The Conference Board, where he leads research on corporate sustainability issues. Singer is the author of numerous publications, including "Organising for Success in Corporate Sustainability" and "Purpose-Driven Companies: Lessons Learned." Prior to joining The Conference Board, Singer worked with Blu Skye Sustainability Consulting and SustainAbility, helping clients embed sustainability into their core business. He began his career as a management consultant with Kaiser Associates, advising clients on white space opportunities, competitive analysis, and benchmarking. Singer holds a BA from Tufts University and an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Karsten Schulz
Topic: Blockchain technology for innovative climate finance: evidence from developed and developing countries

Karsten Schulz is Assistant Professor for Governance and Innovation at the University of Groningen (Netherland), where he also coordinates the Master's program in Climate Adaptation Governance. Before joining the University of Groningen, he worked as a government consultant in the field of digitalisation and as a researcher for a number of international organisations and climate change-related research projects. His current research focuses on the role of digital innovations (blockchain, DLT, platforms) for climate change adaptation, climate finance, and collective/democratic decision-making. Karsten Schulz is a member of the Young Academy Groningen and serves on the advisory board of the Future Earth led project 'Re-imagining Climate Governance in the Digital Age'. His work on blockchain, climate finance and sustainability transformations has been published in academic journals such as Futures, Earth System Governance, and Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, among others.

A concise introduction to blockchain technology:
https://www.ibm.com/topics/what-is-blockchain
Further reading:
Schulz, K., & Feist, M. (2021). Leveraging blockchain technology for innovative climate finance under the Green Climate Fund. Earth System Governance, 7, 100084.
Schulz, K. A., Gstrein, O. J., & Zwitter, A. J. (2020). Exploring the governance and implementation of sustainable development initiatives through blockchain technology. Futures, 122, 102611

Maria Netto
Topic: Latest trends relating to green and sustainable finance in emerging markets

Maria Netto is the Chief of the Financial Institutions and Markets Division of the New Development Bank, leading the Bank's relating to green and sustainable finance resource mobilisation and loan syndications, public and private financial intermediation operations, and development of financial solutions and innovation. Previously, she worked for over 12 years in the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) as principal specialist in capital markets and financial institutions and was responsible to oversee programs for innovative financing strategies with local financial institutions and capital markets to promote private sector investments in low carbon and resilient projects in the LAC region. She also worked in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) where she was responsible for overseeing global projects to assist countries to assess investments and financial flows and policy options to integrate green business in different sectors and economic activities. Finally, Maria Netto worked for more than 10 years in the Secretariat of the Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), where, among others, she was responsible for leading the institution's work on bilateral and multilateral financial cooperation, for the assessments and follow up of investment and financial flows to address climate change and the development of carbon markets mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol. She has a MA in economy in the International Studies Institute of Geneva.

Appendix B: A roundtable discussion on the theme of Environmental Finance for the Common Good - Perspectives from Industry, Academia and Faith communities.

This session is open to the public.

Invited Speakers for the Evening Public Event

Group 1 (views from practitioners):
Sharing their valuable working experience, Katya and Rajashree will provide their unique insights into current issues in environmental finance, possible solutions to overcome current challenges, and how to help emerging economies establish various channel climate finance.

Dr. Ekaterina (Katya) Gratcheva
Lead Finance Officer, Climate Investment Funds, World Bank, Washington DC.

Dr. Ekaterina (Katya) Gratcheva leads Climate Investment Funds' finance function and scaling up mobilisation of private capital to finance transformational change towards low-carbon climate-resilient development in developing countries. In her prior roles in the World Bank she focused on providing policy advice and thought leadership on sustainable finance, facilitating long term finance through capital markets and strengthening the role of financial institutions in development finance, as well as managing World Bank's assets and liabilities. She holds a Master's degree in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, a Master's degree in Applied Mathematics from Moscow State University, and a doctorate in Operations Research from George Washington University.

Rajashree Padmanabhi
Analyst at Climate Policy Initiative
Topic: "Challenges in climate finance and innovative climate financial instruments for developing economies". Rajashree will give a broad overview of challenges, present what Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) does in the context of Paris Agreement and end with some examples of climate finance instruments from Asia and Africa.

Rajashree Padmanabhi is an analyst at Climate Policy Initiative's London office where she focuses on tracking climate finance for the flagship series The Global Landscape of Climate Finance. Her recent work focuses on developing a sustainable finance roadmap for India, a deep dive into innovative financial instruments for adaptation in Asia and Africa. Rajashree holds a master's degree in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics and a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from India.

Group 2 (views from academia): How can academia influence people's behaviour and people's financial/ environmental decisions for the common good?

Professor Kevin Ibeh
Professor of Marketing and International Business and Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) at Birkbeck, University of London.

Professor Kevin Ibeh, PhD, FCIM, FRSA, is Professor of Marketing and International Business and Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) at Birkbeck, University of London. He also currently serves as Commissioner of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, UK Representative to the European International Business Academy Board among other roles. Professor Ibeh has undertaken consulting and advisory tasks for influential organisations, including the World Bank, the OECD, UNCTAD, the Scottish Enterprise, and the Department of Trade and Investment of Northern Ireland. He is Lead Series Editor of the Palgrave Series on Entrepreneurship in Africa, having previously chaired the Universities UK sub-Saharan African policy network, led academic departments in the UK, hosted major international scholarly conferences and guest-edited several influential journals. Professor Ibeh's research, focusing mainly on firm internationalisation and international entrepreneurship, has produced over 100 scholarly articles and four books, reinforcing his reputation as a leading scholar of Africa's emerging multinationals. Professor Ibeh has served and continues to serve institutions across Africa, Asia, Australasia, the Caribbean, Europe, and North America in various capacities, including visiting professor, keynote speaker, expert adviser, panellist, external examiner, external assessor, editorial board member, and much else.

Professor Hélyette Geman
Professor of Mathematical Finance at Birkbeck, University of London and President of the Society "Women for Climate".
https://helyettegeman.com/
Topic: the challenges of energy transition.

Hélyette Geman is a Professor of Mathematical Finance at Birkbeck, University of London where she is the Director of the Commodity Finance Centre; and a Research Professor at Johns Hopkins University. She is a graduate of Ecole Normale Superieure in Mathematics, holds a Masters degree in Theoretical Physics and a PhD in Probability from the University Pierre et Marie Curie and a PhD in Finance from the University Pantheon Sorbonne. For the past 21 years, Professor Geman has consulted for major banks, energy and mining companies as well as commodity trading houses, covering the spectrum of interest rates, catastrophic risk, crude oil and electricity, metals and agriculturals. She was previously the Head of Research at Caisse des Depots in Paris. Professor Geman was the first president of the Bachelier Finance Society and has published more than 150 papers in top international finance and insurance Journals including the Journal of Finance, Mathematical Finance, Journal of Financial Economics or Resources Policy. Her book Commodities and Commodity Derivatives: Energy, Metals and Agriculturals published by Wiley Finance in January 2005 has become the reference book in the field. She edited in 2008 the book Risk Management in Commodity Markets: from Shipping to Agriculturals and Energy and was in 2010 the first Wilmar-International Invited Professor of Commodities Business at Singapore Management University. Professor Geman is a Member of the Board of the UBS-Bloomberg Commodity Index. Professor Geman counts many brilliant characters among her past and present PhD students, among them Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan. She is the President of the Society' Women for Climate'.

Group 3 (views from faith communities)- How can faith communities influence people's behaviour and people's financial/ environmental decisions for the common good?

Robert Harrap
General director of SGI Buddhist Association in the UK (SGI at COP26 | SGI-UK)
Topic: Bluer than the Indigo – exploring the potential of faith's ethical influence on investments and finance

A Buddhist since 1987, Robert Harrap trained as a barrister and was in chambers in London for 16 years before being appointed as Director of Buddhist organisation SGI-UK in 2013. He lives with his wife in the village of Taplow in Buckinghamshire, near the SGI UK headquarters at Taplow Court. He is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 2's Pause for Thought. SGI-UK is a charity that relies on the voluntary donations of its members for the daily running of its activities and has an endowment fund which is invested on ethical ESG principles.

Dr. Dominic Chai, S.J.
Vatican COVID-19 Commission, Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development
Topic: Pope Francis' Call to Ecological Conversion: Laudato Si' and Environmental Finance

Dominic H. Chai, S.J. is a Jesuit Scholastic of the USA West Province and currently serves at the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Prior to entering the Society of Jesus, he taught strategic management and international business ethics at Birkbeck College, University of London. He received a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, an MA in theological studies from Loyola University Chicago, and a PhD from the London School of Economics. His research focuses on examining companies as communities and their contribution to the common good. He currently holds a research associate position at the Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.

Appendix C - Public Lectures for Friday Morning April 1st

Invited Speakers

Dr. Andrea Paltrinieri
Topic: The crossroads of ESG and religious screening on firm risk

Dr. Andrea Paltrinieri is Associate Professor in Banking and Finance at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan. He got his PhD in Business Administration at the University of Verona, and he has been for seven years Assistant Professor of Banking and Finance at the University of Udine. His main fields of research deal with Islamic finance, especially sukuk and Islamic banks, Sovereign Wealth Funds, in terms of asset allocation and impact on global financial crises, commodities and finance' bibliometric reviews. He is the author of several papers published in academic journals like International Business Review, International Review of Financial Analysis, Research in International Business and Finance, International Review of Economics and Finance. He is the associate editor of two academic journals: International Journal of Emerging Markets and International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management. He has been visiting academic at Eastern New Mexico University (US).

Professor Naoyuki Yoshino
Topic: Green finance, ESG investment and Optimal Portfolio Allocation

Professor Naoyuki Yoshino is an emeritus professor in Economics from Keio University in Japan. He was former Dean/CEO in Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) from 2014 to 2020. In 2021, he received the International Green Finance Lifetime Achievement Scientific Award from the Central Bank of Hungary. Professor Yoshino's professional career has included memberships in numerous government committees. For example, he has served as Chairperson of the Japanese Ministry of Finance's Council on Foreign Exchange and its Fiscal System Council. Professor Yoshino received his PhD in Economics from John Hopkins University. He has also held many distinguished visiting positions, including those at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of New South Wales (Australia), Foundation Nationale des Sciences Politiques (France), and the University of Gothenburg (Sweden).

Will Goodhart
Chief executive of the CFA Society of the UK
Topic: The evolution of sustainable investment - from ESG to impact - and what that means for skills.

There has always been confusion about what is meant by ethical, responsible or sustainable investment. Perhaps that did not matter when the volumes of assets flowing into these areas were limited. Today, they account for the majority of fund inflows so being more precise so that consumers can make properly informed decisions is of great interest to regulators and policymakers. They are also concerned to ensure that capital flows to sustainable investment opportunities to help drive a just transition to net zero. This session will explain how the market is evolving and segmenting and will talk about the skills and competencies that will be required by the investment professional of the future.

Will Goodhart is chief executive of the CFA Society of the UK, the leading professional body for the UK's investment sector. CFA UK educates investment professionals through its qualifications such as the IMC, the Certificate in ESG Investing and the recently launched Certificate in Climate and Investing. He is a member of the Impact Investing Institute's board where he was responsible for the development of its learning hub, and of the Diversity Project's steering committee. He is an affiliate member of CFA Institute and CFA UK.

Special Thanks
A huge thank you to our Birkbeck colleagues and students: Dominic Fuston, Orla Walsh, Isobel Edwards, Lydia Sheldon-Hooper, Juan Pablo Piedra Herrera, Tatiana Leonova, and Loreal Anthony-Williams, for their hard work and kind support of this workshop. We are also grateful for additional prizes given by Fintech and Artificial Intelligence in Finance – EU COST Action 19130 – Towards a transparent financial industry (fin-ai.eu). "Cost FinAI award" will be presented to the best paper on the sub-topic of the role of artificial intelligence in supporting environmental transition/finance by an Early career investigator (ECI), a researcher below 40 years.