Accelerating the Transition: Reflections of a Shareholder Activist
Release Date: 05/23/2024
Modelling Economic Complexity: Insights for Risk Professionals
Climate Risk Podcast
Hear from Prof. J. Doyne Farmer, Professor of Complex Systems Science at the University of Oxford, as we explore new modelling approaches designed to better capture the complex and chaotic nature of our climate and economy. We spend a lot of time on this podcast covering the transition to a low carbon economy, which will be driven largely by policies and technological innovation. These policies tend to be based on insights from economics. And our view on the pace of innovation is often informed by expert judgement. But traditional economic models often oversimplify the world, leading to poor...
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Predicting Our Climate Future: What We Do, Don’t and Can’t Know
Climate Risk Podcast
Hear from Prof. David Stainforth of LSE’s Grantham Research Institute, as we explore the limitations of climate modelling and the implications for risk management. There are some things in life that we can be virtually certain about: if one throws a ball into the air, it will fall back down. Similarly, scientists have evidence beyond reasonable doubt that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have increased a lot in the recent past. But there are quite a lot of things that we don’t know with any confidence, giving rise to significant uncertainty when we try to forecast those...
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How to Fix Climate Change & Biodiversity Loss at the Same Time
Climate Risk Podcast
Hear from Prof. Pete Smith of the University of Aberdeen, as we explore the overlap in the challenges from, and solutions to, climate change and biodiversity loss. Climate change and biodiversity loss are often treated separately – in science, policy, and even risk management. But as the connections between these global crises come into sharper focus, it’s clear that understanding them together is essential for real progress. In this episode, we break down those silos of climate and nature, exploring an integrated approach and how it might help us address these challenges...
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Carbon Pricing: Harnessing the Power of Markets to Drive Climate Action
Climate Risk Podcast
Hear from Gordon Bennett, Managing Director at ICE, as we dive into theory and practice of carbon pricing and its important role in driving the transition to net zero. Carbon pricing is the poster child of market-based solutions to climate change. The principle is simple: by assigning a cost to greenhouse gas emissions, we incentivize polluters to emit less, and to do so in the most cost-effective way. But there’s a significant gap between the theory and practice. Currently, only 24% of global emissions – about 12.8 gigatonnes – are covered by pricing mechanisms such as carbon taxes...
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Rethinking Natural Catastrophe Modeling: New Approaches for a Changing Climate
Climate Risk Podcast
Hear from three leading experts in natural catastrophe modeling, as we explore how climate change is causing the insurance industry to rethink their approach to modeling extreme weather. In the previous episode, we discussed the challenges facing the insurance industry from climate change – so in this episode, we’re going to dive into some of the solutions. Since natural catastrophe (Nat Cat) modeling was established in the late 1980s, the predictive power of their models has come from the statistical analysis of historical data. But as climate change continues to push the frequency and...
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Uninsurable: The Future of Insurance in a Changing Climate
Climate Risk Podcast
Hear from two leading experts, as we explore how insurance is adapting to climate change and the role of the industry beyond underwriting. Insurance plays a critical role in protecting households and businesses from the impacts of climate change, and with physical risks on the rise, it will become ever more important. However, insurers have also been significantly impacted by these risks, with annual losses from natural catastrophes exceeding 100 billion dollars for four consecutive years. The primary concern is that these physical risks eventually become uninsurable, as we are already...
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Urban Resilience: How Our Cities Must Adapt to Climate Change
Climate Risk Podcast
Hear from Emma Howard Boyd CBE, Chair of the London Climate Resilience Review, as we dive into the challenges of climate adaptation and what it means for our cities. 2023 was not only the warmest year on record, it also marked the warmest 10-year period on record. As we witness first-hand the impacts of a warming climate, including heatwaves, more intense precipitation and increased flooding, the case for building resilience against these risks becomes ever more important. This is particularly so in our cities, where the concentration of populations and economic activity make adaptation...
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GARP’s Sustainability & Climate Risk Certificate: Register Now
Climate Risk Podcast
In this special episode, hear from Tony Rooke, Executive Director at Howden Group Holdings and Beth Gould Creller, GARP’s Sustainability & Climate Risk Program Lead, as they discuss the recent improvements to the SCR’s syllabus and learning experience. Long-time listeners of the podcast will have noticed that we often mention GARP’s Sustainability & Climate Risk (SCR) Certificate. It’s a program that GARP launched in 2020, providing all the foundational knowledge you need to become a climate risk leader within your own firm. This episode is a special one, as we bring...
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Why NDCs Aren’t Working and How to Fix Them
Climate Risk Podcast
Hear from Lord Adair Turner, Chair of the Energy Transitions Commission, as we explore the shortcomings of nationally determined contributions and how they might be improved. Nationally determined contributions, or NDCs, are a bit like transition plans for countries, in that they set out what a country plans to do in order to meet the ambitions of the Paris Agreement. However, NDCs are voluntary, and collectively they don’t currently have us on track to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees, let alone the more ambitious target of 1.5 degrees. Today’s guest believes that this is a...
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Why Nature Belongs in Corporate Thinking
Climate Risk Podcast
Hear from Robin Millington, CEO of Planet Tracker, as we discuss how and why businesses should be thinking about their dependencies and impacts on nature. Sustainability is a complex topic, and for a long time, climate has been at the heart of discussion. Other challenges like pollution and biodiversity loss have often been sidelined. Recently however, following the work of the TNFD and others, these issues have risen up the corporate agenda, within the wider context of our impact and dependency on nature. Throughout her career, this guest has highlighted the importance of integrating...
info_outlineHear from Catherine Howarth OBE, CEO of ShareAction, as we dive into the world of shareholder activism and how it can be used to guide institutional investors towards sustainable behaviours.
Moving away from fossil fuels is unambiguously the most crucial step in the transition to a sustainable net-zero world. And yet, governments and institutional investors worldwide continue to heavily subsidise and invest in the fossil fuel industry. The longer we delay the transition, the greater the risks that we face. So, how can we break this cycle?
Today’s guest has been focused on this and other sustainability issues throughout her career. That’s why in this episode, we’ll be exploring her world of shareholder activism, discussing:
- The toolkit for influencing institutional investors, including naming and shaming the worst performers;
- The different challenges when engaging with banks, insurers, and asset managers;
- And how shareholder activism can go beyond climate to create a more sustainable future for us all.
To find out more about the Sustainability and Climate Risk (SCR®) Certificate, follow this link: https://www.garp.org/scr
For more information on climate risk, visit GARP’s Global Sustainability and Climate Risk Resource Center: https://www.garp.org/sustainability-climate
If you have any questions, thoughts, or feedback regarding this podcast series, we would love to hear from you at: [email protected]
Links from today’s discussion:
- ShareAction’s homepage - https://shareaction.org/
- Living Wage Foundation’s homepage - https://www.livingwage.org.uk/
Speaker’s Bio(s)
Catherine Howarth OBE, CEO of ShareAction
Catherine has been Chief Executive of ShareAction since July 2008. ShareAction is the leading civil society organisation in Europe promoting responsible investment, transparency and good governance by institutional investors. Catherine is a board member of the Scott Trust, owner of the Guardian Media Group, and a member of HM Treasury’s task force on asset management.
She was a Member Nominated Trustee of The Pensions Trust (the multi-employer pension scheme for the UK’s not-for-profit sector) for five years, where she served on the Investment Committee of this £7bn fund. In 2011, Catherine was named a ‘Rising Star of Corporate Governance’ by Yale University’s Millstein Center, and in 2014 she was recognised by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader in 2014.
Catherine holds a First Class BA in Modern History from Oxford University and an MSc in Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics.