ESG Insider: A podcast from S&P Global S&P Global

In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we explore the latest developments in international efforts to reach a global treaty on plastic pollution. 

In late April, more than 170 countries gathered in Ottawa, Canada, to negotiate a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution with a view to agreeing on a global treaty by the end of 2024. The countries aim to reach a deal in the next gathering slated to take place Nov. 25 through Dec. 1 in Busan, South Korea.  

Today we’re covering the outcome of the recent Ottawa treaty talks, the issues that remain to be hashed out, and what needs to happen between now and the final round of negotiations.   

We talk with Erin Simon, Vice President and Head of Plastic Waste and Business at international conservation organization WWF, which together with The Ellen MacArthur Foundation convened the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty. Erin tells us that countries have a lot of details left to work out in ad hoc meetings in the coming months and are effectively "pulling an all-nighter" between now and Busan.

To understand how one big company that uses plastics in its products is approaching this topic, we speak to Darci Vetter, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Public Policy at food, snack and beverage company PepsiCo, which is part of the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty.

"We definitely want to see those product design requirements, those common definitions, the principles, and as much specificity around extended producer responsibility and waste management — those are very important to us, and global rules that can set the stage for scalability within markets are critical," Darci tells us. 

At the same time, "we know that the countries around the table are starting from very, very different places," she says. "So there will need to be some of that flexibility." 

We also talk with Stewart Harris, Senior Director of Global Plastics Policy at the trade group American Chemistry Council. Stewart says that one outstanding question for governments is which measures are going to be legally binding and which will be voluntary. 

Want to learn more about this topic? Check out our previous episodes of the ESG Insider podcast:  

What companies are doing to address the plastic pollution problem: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/what-companies-are-doing-to-address-the-plastic-pollution-problem  

What's at stake in UN plastic pollution treaty talks: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/what-s-at-stake-in-un-plastic-pollution-treaty-talks  

How plastic impacts companies, investors, public health and the environment: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/how-plastic-impacts-companies-investors-public-health-and-the-environment  

This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1, a part of S&P Global.   

Copyright ©2024 by S&P Global  

DISCLAIMER  

By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty, guarantee, or representation as to the accuracy or sufficiency of the information featured in this Podcast. The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice. Unless specifically stated otherwise, S&P GLOBAL does not endorse, approve, recommend, or certify any information, product, process, service, or organization presented or mentioned in this Podcast, and information from this Podcast should not be referenced in any way to imply such approval or endorsement. The third party materials or content of any third party site referenced in this Podcast do not necessarily reflect the opinions, standards or policies of S&P GLOBAL. S&P GLOBAL assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy or completeness of the content contained in third party materia

Today we bring you the latest installment in our ‘Women in Leadership’ series of the ESG Insider podcast, featuring interviews with women CEOs and leaders from around the world. 

In this episode, we talk with Bonnie Lee, President and CEO of Hanmi Financial Corporation and Hanmi Bank, a Los Angeles-based community bank established in 1982 to serve the Korean American immigrant community and now serving multi-ethnic communities through its network of branches and loan production offices. 

Bonnie tells us how her interest in banking began when she watched her parents apply for a small business loan, and how she has learned from the successes and mistakes of a dozen different CEOs she has worked under during her career. 

She says empathy plays an important role in her leadership style — because ultimately, "banking is really a people business."  

Bonnie also explains Hanmi's approach to diversity, and how the bank’s workforce mirrors the diversity of the markets where it operates. "Throughout the 42-year history, the culture and our platform has [been] built to represent the market that we serve," she says. 

Read the latest research on gender diversity in leadership from S&P Global Sustainable1 here: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/insights/featured/special-editorial/women-in-leadership-what-s-the-holdup   

Listen to our 2023 Women in Leadership podcast series here: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/insights/featured/special-editorial/women-in-leadership 

This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1, a part of S&P Global.       

Copyright ©2024 by S&P Global       

DISCLAIMER       

By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty, guarantee, or representation as to the accuracy or sufficiency of the information featured in this Podcast. The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice. Unless specifically stated otherwise, S&P GLOBAL does not endorse, approve, recommend, or certify any information, product, process, service, or organization presented or mentioned in this Podcast, and information from this Podcast should not be referenced in any way to imply such approval or endorsement. The third party materials or content of any third party site referenced in this Podcast do not necessarily reflect the opinions, standards or policies of S&P GLOBAL. S&P GLOBAL assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy or completeness of the content contained in third party materials or on third party sites referenced in this Podcast or the compliance with applicable laws of such materials and/or links referenced herein. Moreover, S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty that this Podcast, or the server that makes it available, is free of viruses, worms, or other elements or codes that manifest contaminating or destructive properties. 

S&P GLOBAL EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY INDIVIDUAL'S USE OF, REFERENCE TO, RELIANCE ON, OR INABILITY TO USE, THIS PODCAST OR THE INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS PODCAST.

 

In this week’s episode of the ESG Insider podcast we sit down with Steve Howard, Vice Chair of Sustainability for Singapore-based Temasek, a global investment firm with a net portfolio value of $287 billion as of March 31, 2023. 

Steve was a keynote speaker at the annual S&P Global Sustainable1 Summit in London May 8. In an interview on the sidelines of the event, he explains the green investment opportunities and challenges Temasek sees in emerging markets.  

"We've got huge need with 700 million people or so lacking energy access," Steve says. "There's an imperative to help people get out of poverty, have really the resilience in their life of access to energy and cooling and mobility and secure food supplies ... now the technology is there, so we need to mobilize more capital."

Listen to our interview with International Sustainability Standards Board Vice Chair Sue Lloyd on the sidelines of the S&P Global Sustainable1 Summit: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/issb-vice-chair-sue-lloyd-talks-aligning-sustainability-standards-across-jurisdictions      

Listen to our episode from the S&P Global Sustainable1 Summit about how AI could solve the data challenge for climate, nature and the energy transition: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/how-ai-could-solve-the-data-challenge-for-climate-nature-and-the-energy-transition  

The next leg of the Summit will take place in Tokyo on June 6. Learn more here: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/events/summit-2024    

This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1, a part of S&P Global.  

Copyright ©2024 by S&P Global  

DISCLAIMER  

By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty, guarantee, or representation as to the accuracy or sufficiency of the information featured in this Podcast. The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice. Unless specifically stated otherwise, S&P GLOBAL does not endorse, approve, recommend, or certify any information, product, process, service, or organization presented or mentioned in this Podcast, and information from this Podcast should not be referenced in any way to imply such approval or endorsement. The third party materials or content of any third party site referenced in this Podcast do not necessarily reflect the opinions, standards or policies of S&P GLOBAL. S&P GLOBAL assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy or completeness of the content contained in third party materials or on third party sites referenced in this Podcast or the compliance with applicable laws of such materials and/or links referenced herein. Moreover, S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty that this Podcast, or the server that makes it available, is free of viruses, worms, or other elements or codes that manifest contaminating or destructive properties.  

S&P GLOBAL EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY INDIVIDUAL'S USE OF, REFERENCE TO, RELIANCE ON, OR INABILITY TO USE, THIS PODCAST OR THE INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS PODCAST.

In this week's episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we bring you coverage of the annual S&P Global Sustainable1 Summit held in London on May 8.
 
We sit down with panelists on the sidelines of the event to discuss key conference themes, including data challenges related to climate, nature and the energy transition; the role that technology and innovation can play in addressing these challenges and the potentially transformative role of AI; and the challenge of sustaining economic growth in emerging markets while accelerating the transition. 
 
"We don't have enough actual innovation, we don't actually have enough quantum of finance going into developing countries," says Sagarika Chatterjee, Climate Finance Director and Finance Lead for the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions. "This is absolutely critical because this is where a lot of the emissions is going to come from. We can't change the past and the energy system of the past, but we can try to change the carbon that we have in future.” 
 
For emerging markets and developing countries, "the lack of data is the biggest problem," says Budha Bhattacharya, Head of Systematic Research at Lombard Odier Investment Managers. If companies in developing economies embrace sustainability, "a huge amount of capital unlocks," he tells us. 
 
Christopher Johnstone, a partner at management consultant Oliver Wyman, highlights the need for more asset-specific data to understand how companies will be impacted by climate change and biodiversity loss, and he explains the role AI could play here. He also talks to us about how approaches to sustainability are evolving around the world. 
 
"Historically people have seen the climate, sustainability or the ESG agenda as being a very Western agenda," Christopher says. "What I am more and more seeing is this is a core topic across lots of different emerging market economies — even a large number of economies that would traditionally be seen as oil-based. They see the energy transition as actually being a key economic enabler and a growth lever as they look to move away from oil over time." 
 
Listen to our interview from the S&P Global Sustainable1 Summit with International Sustainability Standards Board Vice Chair Sue Lloyd: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/issb-vice-chair-sue-lloyd-talks-aligning-sustainability-standards-across-jurisdictions   
 
Less than half of the leading listed companies in the US have a net-zero target, according to the S&P Global Sustainable1 Net-Zero Commitments Tracker dataset. Read the research: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/insights/featured/special-editorial/net-zero-commitments-are-still-the-exception-for-top-us-companies-not-the-rule   
 
Read our research that uses the S&P Global Sustainable1 Nature & Biodiversity Risk Dataset to assess nature-related impacts and dependencies across a company’s direct operations: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/insights/featured/special-editorial/how-the-world-s-largest-companies-depend-on-nature-and-biodiversity  
 
Read research that uses the S&P Global Sustainable1 Physical Risk Exposure Scores and Financial Impact dataset to quantify the financial costs of climate change physical risks for companies: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/insights/featured/special-editorial/quantifying-the-financial-costs-of-climate-change-physical-risks 
 
We’ll be back next week with more coverage from the S&P Global Sustainable1 Summit in London. The next leg of the Summit will take place in Tokyo on June 6. Learn more here: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/events/summit-2024  
 
This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1, a part of S&P Global. 
 
Copyright ©2024 by S&P Global 
 
DISCLAIMER 
 
By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty, guarantee, or representation as to the accuracy or sufficiency of the information featured in this Podcast. The information,

In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we’re taking you to London for the third annual S&P Global Sustainable1 Summit, where we sit down with International Sustainability Standards Board Vice Chair Sue Lloyd.
Sue was a keynote speaker at the conference, where sustainability leaders from across industries and the investment community gathered on May 8. In the interview, Sue discusses global uptake of the ISSB’s first two standards, launched in June 2023. She also tells us what to expect from the organization for the remainder of 2024 — including a big focus on helping jurisdictions around the world align with ISSB standards.
“The very, very strong message that we got when we went out with the drafts of the standards before we finalized them was we really needed to make sure that this was a truly global baseline — that it wasn’t only fit for purpose for the most well-resourced, sophisticated company in developed economics, but could be used by smaller companies in emerging markets,” Sue says.  

We’ll be back next week with more coverage from the S&P Global Sustainable1 Summit in London. The next leg of the Summit will take place in Tokyo on June 6. Learn more here: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/events/summit-2024  

This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1, a part of S&P Global.        

Copyright ©2024 by S&P Global        

DISCLAIMER
By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty, guarantee, or representation as to the accuracy or sufficiency of the information featured in this Podcast. The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice. Unless specifically stated otherwise, S&P GLOBAL does not endorse, approve, recommend, or certify any information, product, process, service, or organization presented or mentioned in this Podcast, and information from this Podcast should not be referenced in any way to imply such approval or endorsement. The third party materials or content of any third party site referenced in this Podcast do not necessarily reflect the opinions, standards or policies of S&P GLOBAL. S&P GLOBAL assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy or completeness of the content contained in third party materials or on third party sites referenced in this Podcast or the compliance with applicable laws of such materials and/or links referenced herein. Moreover, S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty that this Podcast, or the server that makes it available, is free of viruses, worms, or other elements or codes that manifest contaminating or destructive properties.
S&P GLOBAL EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY INDIVIDUAL'S USE OF, REFERENCE TO, RELIANCE ON, OR INABILITY TO USE, THIS PODCAST OR THE INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS PODCAST. 

With about six months to go before the UN’s COP29 climate change conference in Azerbaijan, we’re talking with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel Yergin about the role that diplomacy will play in facilitating solutions to climate change and the global energy transition.   

“Climate diplomacy has been really central to where we are right now in terms of both focusing on the issue and building international consensus and collaboration, and I think inclusivity is part of it, too,” says Daniel, who is Vice Chairman of S&P Global and Chairman of CERAWeek, the annual S&P Global conference in Houston, Texas that has been described as “the Davos of energy.”  

In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, Daniel shares key takeaways from CERAWeek, where he was on stage with speakers like US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates and CEOs from some of the world’s largest energy companies. In our interview, he talks about the role of energy security, affordability and reliability in the current fraught geopolitical landscape. 

He also talks about balancing these demands with the urgency of climate change. And he discusses the role that technology will play in facilitating solutions to energy transition challenges.  

“The solutions are not going to be words or declarations — they're going to be technology and engineering,” Daniel says.   

Listen to all our coverage from the 2024 CERAWeek conference here: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/events/ceraweek-2024  

Check out our coverage from Davos 2024 here: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/insights/featured/special-editorial/key-sustainability-takeaways-from-davos-energy-transition-nature-and-the-rising-role-of-ai   

Listen to the episode where we cover highlights from COP28 in Dubai here: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/climate-adaptation-finance-data-and-nature-what-we-learned-at-cop28  

This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1, a part of S&P Global.       

Copyright ©2024 by S&P Global       

DISCLAIMER       

By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty, guarantee, or representation as to the accuracy or sufficiency of the information featured in this Podcast. The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice. Unless specifically stated otherwise, S&P GLOBAL does not endorse, approve, recommend, or certify any information, product, process, service, or organization presented or mentioned in this Podcast, and information from this Podcast should not be referenced in any way to imply such approval or endorsement. The third party materials or content of any third party site referenced in this Podcast do not necessarily reflect the opinions, standards or policies of S&P GLOBAL. S&P GLOBAL assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy or completeness of the content contained in third party materials or on third party sites referenced in this Podcast or the compliance with applicable laws of such materials and/or links referenced herein. Moreover, S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty that this Podcast, or the server that makes it available, is free of viruses, worms, or other elements or codes that manifest contaminating or destructive properties.
S&P GLOBAL EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY INDIVIDUAL'S USE OF, REFERENCE TO, RELIANCE ON, OR INABILITY TO USE, THIS PODCAST OR THE INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS PODCAST.