The RI Canada 2020 playback sessions are open; and there’s a lot here for international investors to watch

Many of the sessions had deep international resonance: global monetary policy, COP26, and taxonomy proliferations worldwide.

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We held the first Responsible Investor Digital: Canada 2020 conference last week, and it was a fantastic success with 1500 attendees signed up over a two-day on-line event, hearing from some of the biggest asset owners, fund managers and thought leaders in the market.

But, the event had resonance far beyond the Canada, and I wanted to flag up some of these internationally accented sessions, along with other stand-out panels from the conference that I think should be of interest to RI readers worldwide; all of them are available on free-to-air playback, with a very quick sign up. 

Each session has the relevant slides/supporting docs attached. Feel free to pass the links on to your colleagues, peers and networks.

First up, here’s the link to the entire recorded suite of RI Digital: Canada 2020.

We opened the conference with a fascinating, insightful update into the forthcoming Canadian Transition Taxonomy with Peter Johnson, Chair, CSA Technical Committee, Transition Taxonomy and Sustainable Finance; essential watching to keep you up to date!

The opening keynote interview was a pair with Plenary 3, a more developed debate on the transition taxonomy, moderated by RI Editor, Sophie Robinson-Tillett, and featuring a heavyweight speaker faculty of  Emmanuel Buttin, Sustainable Finance, European Commission, Jason Taylor, Director, Sustainable Finance at Scotiabank, Aldo Romani, Head of EIB Sustainable Funding Unit, EIB, Jennifer Reynolds, President & CEO, Toronto Finance International, and Sherry Madera, Chief Industry & Government Affairs Officer, Refinitiv.

Sheila Bair, Founding Chair of the Systemic Risk Council, and former Chair, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), came to prominence when she steered the FDIC through the Global Financial Crisis. In her keynote at the conference, she spoke with Daniel Brooksbank, Head of Strategic Content at RI, about global monetary policy in the era of coronavirus and climate risk; given that it is driving financial market returns, has there been a more timely discussion? Check out the interview here.

In another keynote interview, I spoke with Mafalda Duarte, the hugely respected CEO of  $8.3 billion Climate Investment Funds,the finance accelerator funded by global governments, based out of Washington DC. 

We spoke about why institutional investors might get involved with the Climate Investment Funds for its green investment strategy in developing countries; an essential subject: watch it here.

Of course, it was a primarily Canadian event, and for those who want to get up to speed on broader ESG developments in one of the biggest, most influential institutional investment markets in the world, the opening plenary was a doozer; featuring some of Canada’s most respected thinkers on the subject Michael Kelly, Chief Legal & Corporate Affairs Officer at OMERS, the CA$109bn pension fund, Keith Ambachtsheer, Director, KPA Advisory, Randy Brown, Chief Investment Officer, Sun Life & Head of Insurance Asset Management, SLC Management, Nalini Feuilloley, Director, Responsible Investment, BMO Global Asset Management, and ably moderated by Joy Williams, Senior Advisor at Mantle314.

Tune in here.

Another great panel looked at Canada’s energy/climate conundrum; a heavily resourced-based economy grappling with how it will shift to a low carbon profile.

Three great speakers: Andy Chisholm, Member, Canada's Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance, Bertrand Millot, Vice-President, Risk Management, Fixed Income and Head of Climate Risk and Issues at CDPQ, the CA$333bn pension fund, and Mark Campanale, Founder & CEO, Carbon Tracker Initiative

And fine moderation from Nili Gilbert, Co-Founder, Matarin Capital Management, and Chair of the Investment Committee at the David Rockefeller Fund.

Watch it now, or save the link for later.

Our two other keynote interviews also resonated internationally.

Nigel Topping, High Level Champion for Climate Action at COP26 spoke with Daniel Brooksbank about what investors can expect from next year’s gathering.

And I talked with Dominique Hyde, Director of External Relations at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, about the innovative finance structures that UNHCR is incubating around refugee finance and the SDGs that culd help alleviate one of the world’s most pressing problems: financing.

Last but not least – and in keeping with the status of French as official Canadian language – I moderated a panel of leaders in sustainable finance in French-speaking regions and countries, including Quebec, to discuss whether francophone countries are heading up shifts towards sustainable finance, under the title of ‘Le leadership dans la finance durable du monde francophone’.

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