RI People & Appointments, Oct. 31: EU names chair of high-level decarbonisation group

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), has been named as chair of a new top-level European panel on decarbonisation. The new body is called the High Level Panel on Decarbonisation Pathways and will be hosted by the Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas. It will deliver science-based policy-relevant advice via policy briefs – with a final report due after three years. Other panellists include Peter Bakker, CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and Laurence Tubiana, France’s Ambassador for Climate Change Negotiations. Announcement

Lord Myners, the former Gartmore chief and ex-City minister in the UK, has become vice-chairman of Global Counsel, the advisory firm founded by former European Trade Commissioner and UK minister Peter Mandelson. Myners, the author of an influential report on institutional investment, previously served on the Court of the Bank of England and the board of Singapore’s GIC. He is currently a general partner of activist investor Cevian.

Christian Hyldahl is joining Danish labour market pension fund ATP as its new CEO at the start of next year. Currently Head of Nordea Asset Management, he succeeds Carsten Stendevad, who is returning to the US for family reasons. Announcement

Rabobank’s Head of Sustainability Hans Biemans will move to ING to help it “create new business opportunities within the green bond issuance sector”, according to a spokesman for ING. Biemans began working for Rabobank in 2002, and was appointed Head of Sustainability early last year. He will be replaced by the bank’s head of sustainable debt capital markets, Olaf Brugman. His new title at ING will be Head of Sustainable Markets. Biemaans was one of the drivers behind the creation of the Social Bond Guidance, launched this summer in a bid to widen ICMA’s Green Bond Principles to include social projects. He was also behind Rabobank’s recently-launched green bond programme, as well as its subsidiary, Obvion’s inaugural deal.

Leah Fuhlbrugge has joined environmental specialist Impax Asset Management in its New York office to help it support its “rapidly growing North American client base”. She was previously with Russell Investments as a Portfolio Analyst in the Multi-Asset Solutions Team; she was a member of Russell’s Global Sustainability Committee.

KBI Global Investors, the Dublin-based fund firm formerly called Kleinwort Benson Investors, has named William Lynch as Senior Vice President Business Development, North America. He is a former Partner and Head of Marketing and Client Service at New Amsterdam Partners.Edwina Matthew has been appointed by BT Investment Management, the ASX-listed fund firm with around A$80bn (€55.5bn) under management, to the new role of head of responsible investments, according to reports. “Edwina’s background in financial services, both domestically and internationally, and her passion for ESG will allow BTIM to continue to build our leadership position in responsible investing,” BTIM Australia chief executive Michael Bargholz was quoted as saying by Investor Daily. BTIM, the former Bankers Trust Australia business that is 31% owned by Westpac, is co-owner with Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation of engagement firm Regnan. BTIM runs a range of SRI funds.

Emanuele Fanelli, Senior Vice President of Investor Initiatives at the CDP, has left the organisation to take on a new role with a major Dutch investor. Fanelli had been with the CDP, the investor-backed body, for four years. A CDP spokesperson said it was actively recruiting as it continued to expand its investor and research team. Elsewhere, Orla Delargy joined CDP in September as a programme leader in the water team.

UK-based social investor Resonance has appointed three new non-executive directors. They are Anita Bhatia, who is a Senior Analyst at AXA Investment Managers; Graham Hodgkin, Chief Executive Officer at London’s Air Ambulance and Karen Shackleton, a non-executive director of the Strategic Investment Board at the Ministry of Justice. The join Peter Dawe, an Entrepreneur and Social Business Angel, who has been a non-executive director with Resonance since its beginning.

Amadou Hott has been named as Vice-President, Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth at the African Development Bank Group. Hoot was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Senegal. Announcement

Steve Reed has been appointed Shadow Minister for Civil Society by the UK’s opposition Labour Party. He will take up the role in Tom Watson’s Shadow Culture, Media and Sport team and will shadow Government Minister Rob Wilson. The role covers the voluntary sector, co-operatives and mutuals, and youth policies including the National Citizen Service.

A new Chief Financial Officer is being sought by the Global Canopy Programme, the tropical forest think tank based in the UK. The organisation is “seeking an experienced finance professional who shares our conviction that tropical forests are vital natural capital that the world cannot afford to destroy”.

Finance Watch, the Brussels-based public interest NGO, has a vacancy for a Financial and Operations Officer. The ideal candidate has experience working as an accountant but is looking for a new opportunity to widen the scope of their work, it said.