ESG Talks Kroll Bond Rating Agency

In this episode of ESG Talks, Emilie Nadler, a Director on KBRA’s ESG team interviews Dr. Benjamin Cook, a Research Scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, and adjunct Research Scientist at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. His research focuses on drought, hydroclimate, and interactions between the land surface and climate system. Emilie and Ben chat about his work at NASA and Columbia, his recent research publication on drought in the Western U.S., and what we can expect from the return of El Niño.

In this episode of ESG Talks, Emilie Nadler, a Director on KBRA’s ESG team, interviews Oli Newman, a Senior Credit Analyst at Fidelity International. Since joining Fidelity in March 2021, he has been responsible for the roll-out of the firmwide ESG framework across its Private Credit strategies, including CLO’s, European Loan Fund and Direct Lending Fund. Oli is also the Co-Chair of the European Leveraged Finance Association (ELFA)’s ESG Committee. This committee is focused on improving disclosure on ESG topics in the leveraged finance market and developing best practice guidance on ESG disclosures for sub-investment grade corporate borrowers. Oli and Emilie discuss the integration of ESG into Fidelity’s private credit strategies, his work on the ELFA ESG Committee, as well as KBRA and ELFA’s upcoming ESG event in London on 13th September, where he will be a panelist.

In this episode of ESG Talks, Emilie Nadler from KBRA’s ESG team interviews President and CEO, Jim Nadler, and Pat Welch, Chief ESG and Ratings Policy Officer. With recent market developments and a move by some rating agencies away from ESG scoring systems, Jim and Pat discuss KBRA’s view on ESG scoring and the evolution of KBRA’s ESG philosophy. As a credit rating agency, KBRA remains steadfastly focused on analyzing the financial materiality of ESG factors and their relevance to credit today and in the future. KBRA’s position has long been that the process of merging ESG scoring into credit ratings muddles the purity of credit risk analysis by introducing ESG metrics that may have little to no financial materiality.

In this episode of ESG Talks, Emilie Nadler, a Director on KBRA’s ESG team, interviews Bruce Kahn. Dr. Kahn is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s the Earth Institute, in their Sustainability Management program, and is also a Senior Portfolio Manager at Shelton Capital Management. He has an extensive background in investment management with an emphasis in sustainable investing, most notably at MSCI, Macquarie, Sustainable Insight Capital Management, Deutsche Asset Management, and Smith Barney. Bruce also served as the Chair of the Finance Committee of the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation for ten years and has served on numerous advisory boards across the Sustainable Investment industry, including the USSIF, SASB and NREL.

In this episode, Emilie Nadler, a Director on KBRA’s ESG team speaks with Peter Giacone, Senior Managing Director, and Global Head of KBRA’s Insurance group. Peter and Emilie discuss a recent insurance headline: one of the largest home insurers in the U.S., State Farm, will stop offering new coverage in California because of increased catastrophe exposure. This news highlights the growing risks of climate change and increasingly severe weather events within the insurance sector. Peter also shares his perspective about possible longer-term trends.
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In this episode, Emilie Nadler, a Director on KBRA’s ESG team speaks with Joan Feldbaum-Vidra, Senior Managing Director and Head of KBRA’s Sovereigns ratings group. As KBRA has been monitoring and following trends in global environmental regulation, particularly developments in the EU and U.S., Joan and Emilie chat about the acceleration in global green industrial spending. Joan also provides the macroeconomic context and background information on the political economy as countries vie to win the green technology race. They touch on the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, the EU Green Deal, the EU Green Deal Industrial Plan, the U.S. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the CHIPS Act in both the U.S. and the EU.