Program

JUNE 28-29, 2022 | NEW YORK, AT PIER SIXTY

ALL TIMES ARE IN (EST). PROGRAM SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

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Tuesday, June 28th, 2022

8:30am to 9:30am

Breakfast, Registration & Expo

Break

9:30am to 9:40am

Welcome to GreenFin

Keynote

9:40am to 10:00am

What is an ESG Score For?

Keynote

ESG ratings are one of the key ingredients the sustainable investing space needs to create impact –– that is, to allocate capital toward long-term value creation. But third-party raters’ credibility has taken a hit due to their disparate methodologies and information sources. Moreover, there is ample confusion in the market about what ESG ratings actually measure and mean. This has undermined the value and credibility of ESG ratings. What will it take to create consistent, credible and reliable ratings that will allow the ESG space to not just grow, but deliver?

10:00am to 10:20am

Keynote

TBD!

10:20am to 10:40am

Corporations and Economic Justice: Beyond Pledges, Toward Progress

Keynote

Since the murder of George Floyd in 2020, corporations have begun to wake up to the importance of demonstrating their commitment to the key social issues of economic and racial justice, like supporting opportunities for Black homeownership, Black entrepreneurship and Black education. Learn how companies like Verizon are pioneering a path forward to benefit these communities and hear specific challenges they faced, solutions they discovered and a blueprint for how your institution can follow in their footsteps.

10:40am to 10:45am

Introducing the GreenFin 22 Emerging Leaders

Keynote

The Emerging Leaders program aims to elevate, cultivate and support the next generation of BIPoC leaders driving the transition to a sustainable financial system. The program creates a pathway into the sustainable finance and investing industry for students and early-career professionals who face barriers to entry in the field, and wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend GreenFin 22.

10:45am to 11:05am

Can the ISSB Actually Fix ESG Standards?

Keynote

The ESG investing space has been mired in the alphabet soup of standards used to convey information on sustainability performance. A wide range of stakeholders are asking for coherency and consistency in sustainability reporting at the scale needed to successfully give credibility to the fast-growing ESG investing marketplace.

The International Sustainability Standards Board was established in 2021 to develop a global baseline of sustainability disclosures. The group hit the ground running in 2022 with the launch of a consultation on its first two proposed standards. What is the ISSB’s vision for delivering a comprehensive set of standards that can accelerate corporate sustainability, and where are we now?

11:05am to 11:30am

Keynote

TBD

11:30am to 12:00pm

Networking Break & Expo

Networking

12:00pm to 1:15pm

Lunch, Roundtables & Expo

Lunch

How Do Stock Exchanges Drive Sustainable Finance?

Round Table Lunch

Stock exchanges are uniquely positioned at the nexus of investors, companies and regulators. As such, they are well suited –– and motivated –– to spur sustainable finance forward. That said, how do they account for and balance the needs of these three key stakeholders while operating as a profitable institution themselves? And, how do they continue to operate the transparent, equitable and accessible capital markets?

Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

ESG or "Woke Capitalism?” How Responsible Investors Can Navigate Toxic Polarization

Round Table Lunch

Catastrophic climate change is a systemic crisis. But so too are social media, political dysfunction and growing anxiety that are all driving us further into intractable camps that can’t communicate. Polarization appears particularly stark in the United States, but the inclination to frame complex issues in binary terms is global. We are “experiencing a catastrophic loss of diversity that threatens the resilience not only of democracy, but also of society,” and research shows that C-suites are sorting into political camps.

What should businesses and investors be doing to counter toxic polarization and misunderstandings? Join a roundtable discussion with Alison Taylor, executive director at Ethical Systems, advisor to BSR and adjunct professor at NYU Stern School of Business, to explore.

Aligning ESG with Public Policy: Meeting Expectations, Maximizing Efforts

Round Table Lunch

Public policy critically affects the ability of investors to generate long-term, sustainable returns and create enduring value.

In the 2022 proxy season, nearly 100 shareholder resolutions are related to corporate and political influence. While investors demand transparency, some companies may be underutilizing this important tool to achieve social goals. This roundtable discussion with Independence Point Advisors will cover investor expectations, how corporations are reacting to shareholder engagement on matters of public policy and share frameworks for thoughtfully connecting ESG with public policy.

1:15pm to 1:30pm

Transition

Break

1:30pm to 2:30pm

How Financial Institutions Can Align with the Paris Agreement

Breakout

To avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change, investment and lending must fund and finance a resilient, prosperous and dignified zero-carbon future. The Science Based Targets initiative, the leading organization enabling the private sector to set emissions reduction targets grounded in climate science, has developed a framework for financial institutions to align their lending and investment activities with the Paris Agreement. You'll hear from one of the architects of that framework, as well as two private-sector professionals with deep expertise in emissions measurement and target-setting.

The Sustainability Report of Tomorrow

Breakout

What should a global financial institution's 2030 sustainability report say? What actions must financial institutions have taken (and reported on) between today and 2029 to put them on a path to achieving their 2050 net-zero goals? This panel of sustainable finance practitioners will map the history of the future, discussing what sustainability reports will need to look like. The session will explore what activities firms should report and highlight best practices in the market today. Panelists will also outline the challenges they currently face in reporting, as well as cases where sustainability reporting exercises have influenced corporate strategy.

Building Bonds Better

Breakout

Companies and countries around the world are increasingly issuing sustainable debt to fund solutions to pressing environmental issues. Standardizing reporting from issuers will help investors to identify the best actors, and progress is underway globally on this front. As with so many themes in the sustainable finance space, increased adoption of sustainable debt instruments is a success, but only if we can clearly define our terms and draw appropriate boundaries. How can we ensure that the ESG principles that underpin green debt remain credible and effective so the sustainable finance space can not just grow, but stick?

The Secret Life of ESG Ratings

Breakout

For all the hue and cry about ESG company ratings, there isn’t much known about how they’re compiled and used — and what they even mean. If ESG ratings are primarily designed to help investors assess risk, how are they different from conventional company ratings? Join GreenBiz Chairman and Co-founder Joel Makower and a panel of investors and analysts for a look under the hood of the ESG rating machine.

2:30pm to 3:00pm

Networking Break & Expo

Networking

3:00pm to 4:00pm

ESG Expertise: Raising the Bar for Boards

Breakout

Firms are assessed by customers, civil society, policy-makers and employees –– present and prospective alike –– on their credible intentions and actions to shift their business model toward sustainability. Research has demonstrated that the overwhelming majority of corporate boards, especially in the United States, do not possess the necessary acumen to address financially material ESG issues. The growth of ESG has left many corporate boards unprepared. What are the skillsets and governance structures boards need to successfully navigate the new terrain?

Counting Carbon and the Credibility of "Green" Capital

Breakout

With the meteoric rise in net-zero commitments and “green” capital raises by corporations and financial institutions, investors and consumers are wondering if these statements are credible. Do “green” labels actually accelerate the flow of capital to companies and projects seeking to improve our climate future? This session will examine why specific “green” financial products and labels are ineffective and why counting carbon levels the playing field for investors and consumers alike.

The Future of Finance: Digital, Green and Decentralized

Breakout

The impact of blockchain and decentralized finance on the banking, investor and corporate communities will be transformative –– and it’s not some distant concept. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) system will begin its three-year migration to blockchain in November. Many central bankers are advocating for blockchain-based climate risk disclosure to better ensure transparency and validity of data and move toward closer-to-real-time information for decision making, and the emergence of central bank digital currencies across the world is quickly accelerating. What does the unfolding of decentralized finance mean for financial institutions, investors and companies? And what about government and central bank initiatives on digital assets and currencies? This session will provide examples of projects utilizing crypto-based technology to improve ESG impact.

4:00pm to 6:00pm

Opening Networking Reception

Networking

Wednesday, June 29th, 2022

8:00am to 9:00am

Breakfast & Expo

Break

9:00am to 10:00am

Investor-grade ESG Data as Market Medicine

Breakout

As sustainability disclosure standards evolve, so must the reliability of ESG data to meet the high degree of rigor and integrity demanded by investors. Companies are rapidly retooling their governance, controls and assurance processes to accommodate the injection of ESG data into every level of the corporation from risk oversight and M&A decisions at the board level to contracts up and down the value chain. This session will look at how companies are reducing reporting siloes and bringing financial rigor to data. Investors will learn what to look for in sustainability governance at portfolio companies as well as the different levels and flavors of assurance.

Integrating Sustainability Within the Finance Function

Breakout

The finance function plays an essential, and frequently underappreciated, role in delivering a company’s sustainability strategy. Specifically, the finance team is uniquely positioned to integrate environmental and social factors within business decision-making and to provide the information needed for management, investors and other stakeholders. This session will explore how sustainability is being embedded within organizations by finance teams and provide illustrative examples of finance-led sustainability integration.

Water: A Rising Tide on the Corporate Agenda

Breakout

The global water crisis is both an economic and humanitarian crisis — an unmitigated risk to global supply chains, profits and the well-being of communities and populations around the world. Through the U.N. Global Compact, CEO Water Mandate and the Water Resilience Coalition (WRC), a growing cohort of corporations recognize that philanthropy alone won’t suffice to solve the global water crisis. They see themselves as playing an increasingly material role in the innovation, collaboration and delivery of investment capital needed to solve the escalating crisis. Leading voices tackle the increased role corporate water investments have in driving meaningful collective action toward a water-positive future.

Greenwashing and Greenwishing in the Decisive Decade

Breakout

The recent flood of capital into ESG, climate and sustainability investment funds is worth celebrating. But with that flood has come increased concern about the opportunities for greenwashing across the climate finance sector. The regulatory environment for ESG investing is changing quickly across jurisdictions. What are firms doing to avoid greenwash and instead get their firms and funds on track to deliver and demonstrate sustainable outcomes in the real economy?

10:00am to 10:30am

Networking Break & Expo

Networking

10:30am to 11:00am

Keynote

11:00am to 11:20am

The Just Energy Transition: A Framework for Company Action

Keynote

The energy transition is an economic, political and existential imperative. But it can't be done without recognizing and acting on the ethical imperative to support a just energy transition. Global business has a major role in realizing the transitions, justly. Transitioning to a clean energy system poses a risk to an already unequal division of wealth, and the opportunity to develop and grow wealth for those nations and communities left behind in modern development. This session will cover how the Just Transition Framework can be utilized to support company action on the energy transition that accounts for justice, not just gigawatts.

11:20am to 11:40am

Visible Leadership on the Path to Net Zero

Keynote

What kinds of companies are investors like Carbon Direct, which makes direct investments into leading carbon removal and utilization firms, and Bank of America, one of the largest green debt financiers in the United States, focusing their attention on? Hear some examples of what Bank of America is doing on the ground in this space and insights into the real economy transition from within the Global Financial Alliance for Net Zero and the Net Zero Asset Owners Alliance financial institutions’ transition plans.

11:40am to 12:00pm

State Street CEO Ron O’Hanley, in Conversation with Gillian Tett

Keynote

State Street, among the world’s largest asset managers and custodian banks, is working to utilize its scale and reach to do its part in transitioning the capital markets to support the clean economy transition. Learn about what the firm is prioritizing and acting on in this pivotal year for ESG and sustainable finance, with Ron O’Hanley, State Street CEO, in conversation with Gillian Tett, Moral Money co-founder and chair of the editorial board at the Financial Times.

12:00pm to 12:30pm

Keynote

TBD!

12:30pm to 1:45pm

Lunch & Expo

Lunch

1:45pm to 2:00pm

Transition

Break

2:00pm to 3:00pm

Private Markets: Capital Arbitrage or Climate Progress?

Breakout

ESG, meet SEC: A Key Decision Made for the Decisive Decade

Breakout

3:00pm to 3:15pm

Transition

Break

3:15pm to 4:15pm

Investing in Gender and Climate: Why, Why Now and How

Breakout

Investing with a gender and climate lens is simply smart investing. The approach promises to amplify impacts and returns by uncovering new investment opportunities, mitigating risk and improving decision-making. It's also an important lever for achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement and U.N. Sustainable Development Goals by 2050. Women today are disproportionately impacted by many elements of climate change and suffer from a lack of gender equality. But women’s leadership, employment and consumption are also vital for delivering environmental sustainability and resilience. Across sectors, in both developed and emerging markets, this session will explore what we can learn from pioneers in this space to help investors hit the ground running and understand how to bring this approach into the financial mainstream.

ESG: The Evolving Role of the Auditor

Breakout

What is the current state of the ESG assurance landscape? What is the role of the auditor now and how will it change over the next few years? Public company auditors have an important role to play in the assurance landscape. Just like the audits of public company financial statements, third-party assurance from a public company audit firm enhances the reliability of ESG information presented by companies to investors and other stakeholders.

How Banks Should Engage Clients on Energy Transition

Breakout

Many large banks are setting net-zero commitments and 2030 targets to support them, but it is unclear how these targets will be achieved. Business imperatives and the risk of leakage makes a divestment approach problematic, so the best alternative is for banks to engage with their clients and help them transition to low-carbon business models. But, the tools to do this are different from what banks have used in the past. There are a variety of approaches including providing advice or resources, changing pricing structures, developing new products such as transition bonds or limiting capital availability for certain companies or projects. While the largest banks have begun to formulate strategies in this area, most banks are still struggling to do so, and this session will help them focus their efforts on best practice approaches.

Investor Relations and the Next Wave of Sustainability Integration

Breakout

The cross-functional role played by investor relations (IR) officers is enabling them to understand what’s going on with corporate ESG strategy and to use their platforms to communicate externally with the investment community. Increasingly, IR will be tasked with strategic narrative design: framing how a company’s impact on society is in fact a form of material intangible value for investors to consider as part of research and valuation processes. Learn more from IR excellence –– teams that are highlighting the alignment between business success and a broader purpose. In this session, sustainability professionals can learn how to best partner with IR and how to articulate their work as driving societal and shareholder value.

4:15pm to 4:30pm

Transition

Break

4:30pm to 5:30pm

Aligning Retirement Funds with ESG Goals

Breakout

Getting Ready for Nature-Related Financial Disclosures

Breakout

More than half of the world’s economic output is moderately or highly dependent on nature. How can we manage the associated business risks and opportunities?

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) is an essential tool for addressing this question. For the past two years, science, finance and business stakeholders at TNFD have drafted a risk management and disclosure framework to shift global financial flows toward nature-positive outcomes. Once operational, the framework will allow financial institutions and companies to incorporate nature-related risks and opportunities into their strategic planning, risk management and asset allocation decisions.

How will this new initiative impact your organization? What do you need to do to get ready? Get a behind-the-scenes look at TNFD and learn from companies and financial institutions currently piloting its draft framework.

Finance as a Key Driver in Supply Chain Progress

Breakout

The ESG Talent War

Breakout

The skills required by a successful ESG leader at a financial institution are an emerging mix of climate and DEI knowledge, investment savvy and consultation capabilities. And depending on whether the hiring company is an investor, fund, public company or private company, the expectations can be even more specific. Combine the increasing need for ESG leadership with The Great Resignation trend, and you have the perfect ingredients for a serious talent war. This session will provide hands-on insight into what it takes to find, hire and retain qualified candidates in 2022.

5:30pm to 7:00pm

Networking Reception

Networking