Sustainable Finance and Tropical Forestry

Dr Lok is responsible for nurturing ethics trainers, producing ethics bite-size media as well as facilitating member societies to promote ethical behavior in their local capital markets. In his role, Dr Lok works with member societies to advance awareness and adoption of CFA Institute ethics and standards, as well as policy positions on ethical conduct and culture related issues. This involves outreach to local stakeholders, including the industry, financial regulator, and the public across the APAC markets. Dr Lok also manages ethics related content and events together with societies leaders as well as facilitating their outreach activities on the Asia-Pacific Research Exchange (ARX) post publication.
Dr Lok joined CFA Institute in February 2014 as the Director of Capital Markets Policy in the Standards & Advocacy Division (APAC) before moving to the role of Director, Society Advocacy Engagement (APAC) in January 2017. In that role, Dr Lok has built up close relationships with society leaders and volunteers in the APAC region. Dr Lok was also responsible for directing the establishment of the Asia-Pacific Research Exchange (ARX). Over the years, he co-authored two monographs on portfolio pumping and market manipulation, submitted numerous regulatory consultation papers, written many blogs & articles and supported the Singapore Society in their Industry Research series in the Singapore Business Times.
During the decade prior to joining CFA Institute, Dr Lok was the senior investment manager of a Chinese solar-energy conglomerate and worked as both a buy and sell-side research analyst in Singapore. Dr Lok also served as the Adjunct head of two modules in Nanyang Technological University (南阳理工学院) as well as the module leaders for various universities in Hong Kong SAR, Mainland China, and Singapore.
Dr Lok graduated with a degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore in 2003. Subsequently, he went on to read his MBA at the University of Manchester in 2013. He obtained the FRM certification from the Global Association of Risk Professionals in 2007 and was subsequently awarded the CFA certification from the CFA Institute in 2008. Dr Lok was recently awarded a doctorate degree from the University of Middlesex, London in 2021. His latest publication was a co-authorship with ACCA entitled “21 Sector Analysis: A Questioning Framework for Investors”.

Clara Melot joined ZSL in 2016 as Sustainable Finance Specialist. Her role within the Zoological Society of London focuses on financial sector capacity building and engagement on business and biodiversity issues. Clara has an MA in Marketing and Advertising from La Sorbonne University, through which she gained experience in the corporate partnerships department of WWF-France. She then obtained an MSc in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics and went on to join the Climate and Forests team at ClientEarth where she spent three years working on FCDO funded projects under "Forest Governance, Markets and Climate" grants.

Adam has had a career as an ESG and sustainability specialist for over 28 years (the past 12 years employed within alternative finance). He has direct experience of private equity buy outs, real estate and venture, and secondaries investing (of all types), as well as fund-of-funds, private credit and impact funds, Sharia’h compliance and green bonds.
Adam holds a BSc (Honours) Environmental Science, MA Environmental Law and a higher degree in Occupational Health and Safety. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (FIEMA), Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv), and Chartered Member of the Institution of Occupational Safety & Health (CMIOSH). He is also a member of the BSI (British Standards Institution) Committee for Environmental and Sustainable Finance.
Adam has developed and implemented risk mitigation and value creation impact strategies across most industry sectors in over 60 countries worldwide. As a member of Coller Capital’s Investment Team, Adam draws upon this experience to lead the ESG Function and has primary responsibility for integrating ESG and sustainability within all investment decision-making and management processes. He also leads and supports on a range of ESG and sustainability initiatives applicable across the firm.
Before joining Coller Capital in 2016, he was the Head of Sustainability at a multi-national private equity, venture and real estate manager (Doughty Hanson), and was one of the first dedicated operational ESG leads in the industry; responsible for implementing one of the first ESG value creation impact strategies in private equity.
Prior to this, Adam worked at KPMG Europe (as lead for their sustainability advisory business), at ERM (a leading sustainability consultancy) and ERM CVS (ISO certification business), and worked at an oil and gas focused multi-national (Halliburton). He is a frequent speaker and contributor to publications on responsible investment, ESG and sustainability in finance and private equity.

Paul Milon joined BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) in January 2008 and has more than twelve years of experience in the asset management industry. In his current position, he is the representative for BNPP AM’s sustainable investment capabilities across Asia Pacific, leading and coordinating sustainability initiatives across the region. Paul works closely with Asian investment team to better integrate environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) criteria in investment decisions, including through engagement with portfolio companies. He is involved in a number of regulatory and industry groups working on key issues relating to sustainable finance and investment in the region. Paul is the co-chair of the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC) Engagement & Policy working group.
Prior to that, Paul held various positions within BNP Paribas Asset Management in Hong Kong and Paris. As investment specialist, he oversaw the strong growth of BNPP AM’s Indian equities capability for international clients. Paul was also responsible for consultant relations in Asia, and launched and managed the award-winning BNPP AM Investment Academy in the region. Before relocating to Hong Kong, he worked as an ESG analyst in the Sustainability Research team in Paris.
Paul holds a Master’s in Management with a major in Entrepreneurship from the EDHEC Business School in France. He is a SASB FSA (Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting) Certificate holder.