Earlier this year, India became the world’s most-populous nation. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we’re exploring the challenges and opportunities the country faces in transitioning to a low-carbon economy and adapting to climate change. To understand the energy transition outlook for India, we speak with Dr. Atul Arya, Senior Vice President and Chief Energy Strategist at S&P Global Commodity Insights. To learn about the physical climate risks facing India and the country's adapt...
Aug 25, 2023•36 min•Season 5Ep. 38
There is one month until Climate Week takes place in New York City Sept. 17-24. Now in its 15th year, this is a big week for the sustainability world, bringing together thousands of stakeholders for hundreds of events across the city. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we’re diving into Climate Week: What it is, why it matters, and what to expect. We speak to Angela Barranco, Executive Director for North America at Climate Group, the nonprofit that organizes Climate Week in partnership ...
Aug 18, 2023•24 min•Season 5Ep. 37
On the ESG Insider podcast, we routinely hear about the critical role financial institutions play in the low-carbon transition. In this episode we're talking with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to learn about its soon-to-be-finalized net-zero standard for financial institutions. SBTi is a widely recognized organization for companies that want to ensure their decarbonization targets align with the latest scientific understanding about climate change. We interview SBTi Cofounder and C...
Aug 11, 2023•30 min•Season 5Ep. 36
In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we’re exploring the business case for happiness — specifically, how companies can measure and manage employee wellbeing. We speak to Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Professor of Behavioural Science and Economics at Saïd Business School and a Fellow of Harris Manchester College at the University of Oxford. He is also Director of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre, and co-editor of the World Happiness Report. And he’s a co-founder of the World Wellbeing Movement, ...
Aug 04, 2023•28 min•Season 5Ep. 35
In the sustainability world, diversity in leadership has gotten increasing attention in recent years — including from many stakeholders in the insurance industry. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we continue our series on Women in Leadership in an interview with Eloiza Domingo. Eloiza is Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Inclusive Diversity & Equity Officer at Allstate, one of the largest US property & casualty insurers. She talks to us about her path to leadership, ...
Jul 28, 2023•20 min•Season 5Ep. 34
On the ESG Insider podcast, we often hear from financial institutions about how they're engaging on sustainability issues — including by participating in investor engagement initiatives or networks. In this episode, we explore the evolution of two such investor-led engagement initiatives: Climate Action 100+ and Nature Action 100. Climate Action 100+ signatories are engaging with many of the world's largest companies to take action on climate change. Since launching in 2017, the initiative has g...
Jul 21, 2023•18 min•Season 5Ep. 33
Europe has been warming twice as much as the global average since the 1980s, and in 2022 was about 2.3 degrees C above preindustrial levels, according to the State of the Climate in Europe 2022 report, published in June 2023 by the World Meteorological Organization and the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service, which provides information about the climate in Europe and the rest of the world. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we speak to Carlo Buontempo, Director of the EU’s Copernicus...
Jul 14, 2023•22 min•Season 5Ep. 32
In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we’re on the ground at the GreenFin conference, which convened stakeholders from across the green finance ecosystem. We hear from panelists and attendees about key themes from the event — the challenges of closing the climate financing gap; how 2023 is "the year of the transition plan;" and the importance of translating sustainability topics for a broad audience, including employees, investors and the public at large. In the episode we speak to: -Aeish...
Jul 07, 2023•30 min•Season 5Ep. 31
Biodiversity and nature are gaining attention from companies, investors and governments. At the same time, many stakeholders are in the early stages of measuring and understanding nature-related risks. In this episode of ESG Insider, we sit down at the GreenFin conference with Tony Goldner, Executive Director of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). He explains how TNFD’s soon-to-be-finalized set of disclosure recommendations could help companies understand their nature-r...
Jun 30, 2023•21 min•Season 5Ep. 30
Earlier in June 2023, a series of wildfires across Quebec, Canada blanketed eastern North America in smoke. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we speak to three scientists about how climate change is exacerbating hazards like these wildfires, and to understand how an event like this impacts health, business and the economy. We talk to Werner Kurz, senior research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service of Natural Resources Canada, about how wildfires can impact net-zero goals. We spe...
Jun 23, 2023•38 min•Season 5Ep. 29
In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we explore challenges and potential solutions to the energy trilemma, which is the idea that the world needs to balance energy security, energy sustainability and energy affordability. We bring you interviews from the sidelines of the Reuters Global Energy Transition conference in New York City, including with Greg Jackson, Founder and CEO of UK-based renewable electricity supplier Octopus Energy Group. We speak with Joseph Vellone, Head of North Ameri...
Jun 16, 2023•32 min•Season 5Ep. 28
The energy transition is prompting policy changes worldwide as governments seek to mobilize the trillions of dollars needed to transform their economies. For example, in 2022, the U.S. signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, a comprehensive energy and climate law that allocates $370 billion in federal spending to decarbonization efforts over the next decade. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we’re turning our attention to the European Union and digging into the Green Deal Industri...
Jun 09, 2023•29 min•Season 5Ep. 27
In this episode of ESG Insider, we’re exploring how the hard-to-abate aviation sector is approaching net-zero goals. We bring you on-the-ground interviews from a sustainable aerospace forum hosted by Boeing and Financial Times Live that took place in Seattle on May 17. To understand what steps airlines are taking to decarbonize, we talk with United Airlines Chief Sustainability Officer and Managing Director of Global Environmental Affairs Lauren Riley. We also sit down with Alaska Airlines Senio...
Jun 02, 2023•42 min•Season 5Ep. 26
In this week’s episode of ESG Insider, we’re bringing you coverage of a sustainability summit that S&P Global Sustainable1 hosted in Singapore on May 16. We caught up with conference speakers to learn their key takeaways and explore the challenges Asia faces on the path to net-zero, including when it comes to transitioning away from coal-fired generation. To understand how banks in Asia are tackling the transition, we talk with Helge Muenkel, Group Chief Sustainability Officer at Singapore-b...
May 26, 2023•26 min•Season 5Ep. 25
In this week’s episode of ESG Insider, we’re bringing you coverage of a sustainability summit that S&P Global Sustainable1 hosted in Paris on May 10. We sit down with conference speakers on the sidelines of the event to discuss themes ranging from physical climate risks to net zero to the energy transition to nature. A theme throughout these discussions is the importance of taking a holistic approach to sustainability issues and not treating them in silos. We speak to Michael Sheren, fellow ...
May 19, 2023•35 min•Season 5Ep. 24
Corporates, investors, analysts and academics gathered in Paris on May 10, 2023, for the S&P Global Sustainable1 Summit to discuss sustainability themes ranging from biodiversity to climate risk to net zero and the energy transition. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we sit down with conference speaker Olivier Musset, Global Head of Energy at the investment banking division of big French bank Société Générale. Olivier talks to us about the role banks can play in scaling up finance ...
May 12, 2023•25 min•Season 5Ep. 23
We’re seeing more companies and countries start to account for the value of nature. In this episode of ESG Insider, we'll hear from two people well-placed to explain how the world has historically done little to understand the way nature benefits the economy — and how that is now evolving. For the global perspective, we talk with Martin Lok, Executive Director of the Capitals Coalition, a global collaboration that advocates for companies to identify, measure and value their impacts and dependenc...
May 05, 2023•35 min•Season 5Ep. 22
In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast we’re continuing our exploration of the sustainable taxonomies developing in countries around the world. Today we’re turning to Mexico, which announced a new sustainable taxonomy in March 2023. According to the Mexican government, the taxonomy is the first in the world to consider social objectives. Achieving gender equality is one of its major goals. To learn more, we speak to Carlos Vargas, Professor of Finance at EGADE Business School in Mexico who h...
Apr 28, 2023•33 min•Season 5Ep. 21
In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we explore how Indigenous communities are engaging with companies, financial institutions and investors to ensure a just transition to a low-carbon economy. We speak to Kate Finn, Executive Director of First Peoples Worldwide, an Indigenous-led organization that aims to increase corporate accountability to Indigenous peoples at the intersection of business, law and finance. Kate says companies are starting to realize that their operational areas often ...
Apr 21, 2023•36 min•Season 5Ep. 20
In March 2023, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a synthesis report warning that the world needs to act fast to reduce emissions. The synthesis report is likely to be the go-to document for many stakeholders setting their climate policies and plans over the next several years. In this episode of ESG Insider, we hear from two authors of the IPCC report: Dr. Aditi Mukherji, who is Director of the Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Impact Area Platform at the Consult...
Apr 14, 2023•23 min•Season 5Ep. 19
The low-carbon transition will require some major innovations, a rapid buildout of existing technologies, and significantly more financing, the recently released synthesis report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we sit down for an interview with BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila to learn how one of the largest banks in Spain and Mexico is approaching the transition. Carlos talks about steps BBVA is taking to lower the carbon ...
Apr 07, 2023•21 min•Season 5Ep. 18
March is Women's History Month. To mark the occasion, we’ve been interviewing women CEOs and executives from across industries and around the globe. In our final episode in this special series of the ESG Insider podcast, we hear from three women leaders from very different backgrounds. We talk with Dr. Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy of the African Union Commission. She talks about the importance of ensuring women have a seat at the table when designing energy and inf...
Mar 31, 2023•40 min•Season 5Ep. 17
Throughout Women's History Month, we're bringing you a special series of the ESG Insider podcast focused on women in leadership. We're speaking to women CEOs and executives from across industries and around the globe. In this episode, we interview Laura Lane, Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer at UPS, a multinational shipping & receiving and supply chain management company. Laura explains how her "life-changing" experience as a Foreign Affairs off...
Mar 24, 2023•23 min•Season 5Ep. 16
This week the ESG Insider podcast is on the ground in Houston, Texas for a special episode covering key themes from one of the world’s largest energy conferences — the annual CERAWeek event hosted by S&P Global. The event brings together big names from across the oil and gas, finance, government and technology sectors, and provides an opportunity to take the pulse of the global energy industry on the low-carbon transition. In this episode we cover key themes that emerged throughout the week,...
Mar 17, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Season 5Ep. 15
To mark Women's History Month, we're bringing you a special series of the ESG Insider podcast focused on women in leadership. We're speaking to women CEOs and executives from across industries and around the globe. In this episode, we interview Shameela Soobramoney, Chief Sustainability Officer at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. She explains how the JSE approaches gender equality internally and in its role as an exchange listing the stocks and bonds of hundreds of companies. "At the JSE, there'...
Mar 15, 2023•21 min•Season 5Ep. 14
To mark Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, we’re bringing you a special series of the ESG Insider podcast focused on women in leadership, featuring interviews with women CEOs and executives from across industries and around the globe. In this episode, we’re speaking to Jackie van Niekerk, CEO of South African real estate investment trust Attacq, which is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Attacq has a majority of women employees from executive leadership right through t...
Mar 14, 2023•22 min•Season 5Ep. 13
In the latest episode of our special Women in Leadership series of the ESG Insider podcast, we’re speaking with Priscilla Sims Brown, CEO of New York-based Amalgamated Bank — a company she describes as “a little bit unusual” in the financial services world in that it is a socially responsible bank focused on ESG and sustainability. Priscilla's path to the CEO role has spanned continents and industries — from growing up in an Ethiopian family in Germany to working in business journalism in Califo...
Mar 10, 2023•22 min•Season 5Ep. 12
Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day, and to mark the occasion we’re bringing you the latest in our special series of the ESG Insider podcast focused on women in leadership. We’re talking to Marita Zuraitis, CEO of Horace Mann, a financial services and insurance company that serves U.S. public educators. Marita tells us how she handles the unconscious bias she has encountered on her path to the C-suite. “I can't tell you how many times somebody handed me their coat,” she says. “Now we ca...
Mar 08, 2023•23 min•Season 5Ep. 11
To mark Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day March 8, we’re bringing you a special series of the ESG Insider podcast focused on women in leadership. We’ll be speaking to women CEOs and executives from across industries and around the globe. In our second interview of the series we interview Alison Whritenour, CEO of Seventh Generation, a U.S. producer of eco-friendly cleaning, paper and personal care products. Alison has been at Seventh Generation for more than a decade and became...
Mar 06, 2023•20 min•Season 5Ep. 10
March is Women’s History Month and March 8 is International Women’s Day. To mark the occasion, we’re bringing you a special series of the ESG Insider podcast focused on women in leadership. We’ll be speaking to women CEOs and executives from across industries and around the globe. In our first interview of the series, we speak to Hilde Aasheim, CEO of Norsk Hydro, a large Norwegian aluminum and energy producer with a big focus on renewables and operations in 40 countries. She tells us how she wo...
Mar 03, 2023•21 min•Season 5Ep. 9
