Institutional investors and net zero - with Brunno Maradei and Wiebke Merbeth

In our ninth episode, Brunno Maradei and Wiebke Merbeth discuss the role of institutional investors in achieving net zero. Institutional investors such as pension funds or insurers invest on behalf of others. Wiebke is member of the Sustainable Finance Advisory Committee to the German Government and a partner at Deloitte, and Brunno is Global Head of Responsible Investment at Aegon Asset Management. Both point out that the sheer trillions of € that institutional investors manage make them key stakeholders for a transformation agenda involving financial markets. We discuss the toolbox institutional investors have at their disposal, but also that their strategies don't work in isolation. They have to be seen the context of alliances, technological progress on ESG data collection, and of course: regulation.

Links:

·       Statista numbers on the asset management industry in Europe and the market share of institutional clients

·       The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC)

·       UN PRI introduction to stewardship

·       The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)

·       The Sustainable Finance Advisory Committee to the German government

Time stamps

On some podcast players, you should be able to jump to the section by clicking:

(01:35) – Wiebke and Brunno introduce themselves

(03:43) – The importance of institutional investors for net zero

(05:51) - The role of regulatory developments in achieving net zero

(08:14) - The importance of the Paris Agreement

(08:49) - Analogy with divestment in the tobacco industry

(10:57) - The role of public opinion for sustainable finance

(14:53) - The cost of the climate crisis and of sovereign debt for future generations

(17:41) - Investing in climate change mitigation is a type of insurance – and insurance is difficult to sell

(19:32) - Stewardship vs divestment

(22:24) - Sustainability is an alliance issue

(25:08) - The evolution of ESG data quality

(28:09) - Get rid of the formulation “non-financial reporting”

(29:47) - Beyond carbon – the other aspects of ESG

(33:30) - Minimum standards and the sources of reporting

(38:41) - Combative engagement vs soft engagement

(40:52) - Blended finance

(45:21) - Outlook on regulatory developments

Contact

For feedback on the show or to suggest guests for future episodes, contact us at scifi@esmt.org