Advocacy Talking Points 26 February 2021
ESG Performance and Impact in the Tropical Forestry Sector
Webinar
Presented by CFA Institute Asia Pacific Research Exchange, CFA Society Malaysia, and the Zoological Society of London SPOTT.
Webinar Presentation
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Sustainable finance is needed more than ever to help address issues such as climate change, deforestation, or human rights violations, and to rise to the challenge of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. As financial institutions broaden the set of sectors that are considered through an ESG lens and seek to ensure that sectoral contributions to sustainability goals are realised, the case for timber and pulp sector engagement grows stronger. This webinar will consider case studies from Robeco, an asset manager, and New Forests, a sustainable real assets investment manager to support informed analysis and meaningful dialogue between financial institutions and tropical forestry sector companies.
This webinar is part of a series presented by CFA Institute, CFA Societies in Asia Pacific, and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) devoted to discussions how financial professionals integrate ESG information in their practice. This webinar promotes a better understanding of the forestry sector’s ESG risk profile, improved disclosures, and higher quality interactions between practitioners and forestry companies on ESG issues.
Speakers:
- Clara Melot, SPOTT engagement and impact manager, Zoological Society of London
- Adam Ng, PhD, sustainable finance expert, WWF Malaysia
- Justin Mercer, environmental & social manager, New Forests
- Laura Bosch, engagement specialist, Robeco
Host:
- Scott Lee, director, Asia Pacific Research Exchange, CFA Institute
Watch the Webinar
Duration: 1 hr 4 min.
Recorded: 26 February 2021.
Presenters
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 Ng is a sustainable Finance Expert at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia, specializes in developing sustainable finance policies, products and solutions for the financial sector in Malaysia.
He was formerly Deputy Director (Research Management Centre) and Associate Professor at the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF), Fellow at the London-based Royal Society of Arts (2014-2017), Research Associate at the University of Oxford’s Global Economic Governance Programme (2015-2016) and Securities Commission Malaysia-Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Scholar-in-Residence in Islamic Finance (2014-2015) in the UK.
During his service at the Central Bank of Malaysia, he contributed to strategic initiatives in Islamic financial infrastructure development and central banking collaboration, principally the establishment of International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM) by 11 central banks and Islamic Development Bank Group in 2010. He served in the management team of IILM and laid the foundation for the issuance of the world’s first A-1 rated USD short-term sukuk.
He has published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Sustainable Development, Energy Economics, Economic Modelling and the Asian Institute of Chartered Banker. He received his PhD in Islamic Finance from INCEIF and Bachelor of Civil Law from University of Oxford.
Justin Mercer is the Environmental & Social Manager for New Forests’ investment program in Asia. Justin joined New Forests in 2020 with 20 years’ experience, including a decade each of working as an environmental and social consultant and as a research forester, respectively. Justin oversees environmental and social compliance for New Forests’ investments under management in Asia, contributes to due diligence for prospective investments, and contributes to the company’s sustainability programs through collaborative efforts for sustainability and impact management. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Colorado and a Master of Natural Resources / Forestry from Humboldt State University.
Laura Bosch is an Engagement Specialist with a focus on human and labor rights in global supply chains. Prior to this role she worked as an Active Ownership Analyst, focusing on corporate governance topics and proxy voting analysis. Before joining Robeco, she gained experience in ESG research working at the United Nations University and non-profit organizations in Latin America and Asia. She holds a Master’s in Public Policy from United Nations University - Maastricht University and a Bachelor's in Economics from University of Barcelona.