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From Climate Change To Social Change

The Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative is proud to announce the Governance of Sustainability Dialogue, in partnership with ICGN and hosted by UNCTAD World Investment Forum.

We are delighted to assemble these influential networks for two days of discussion and debate focused on global sustainability issues and risk management to develop long-term strategies, reporting and cooperation.

This event was divided into 2 days and 4 parts and full agenda details can be found below.

We had 603 registrations from 54 regions. Of those registrations, 251 (41.6%) were men and 325 (53.8%) were women and 27 (4.4%) preferred not to say.

Registration:

Registration Part A: 23 June 2021 - 08:00 - 09:30 (BST) 

Registration Part B: 23 June 2021 - 16:00 - 18:00 (BST) 

Registration Part C: 24 June 2021 - 08:00 - 10:00 (BST)

Registration Part D24 June 2021 - 16:00 - 17:30 (BST) 

Agenda

23 Jun, 2021

08:00 – 08:15
08:15 – 08:30
  • Part A – Opening Remarks from UNCTAD World Investment Forum
08:30 – 09:30
  • Part A – Plenary 1: Board accountability for sustainability

    The European High-level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance defined sustainability as ‘making economic prosperity long lasting, more socially inclusive and less dependent on exploitation of finite resources and the natural environment’.  This is particularly poignant in a world facing systemic challenges of the highest magnitude: a global pandemic, growing social inequality and climate change.  How do boards ensure they are properly informed in overseeing these challenges while preserving and enhancing long-term value? How are the many facets of sustainability – financial, human and natural capital – implemented in strategy, risk and innovation? What should be prioritised and how is this best communicated to shareholders and all relevant stakeholders?

16:00 – 17:00
17:00 – 18:00
  • Part B – Plenary 3: Reviewing CEO incentives with a social and sustainable lens

    This year, investors will scrutinise a company’s longer-term response to the COVID crisis and recovery and how that relates to CEO pay and performance. In addition to financial performance metrics, quantifiable indicators that are material to the company’s sustainable value creation and preservation, such as human capital and natural capital will be increasingly analysed. How are these measures implemented in practice? How do company’s align CEO remuneration with that of the workforce to ensure an equitable distribution of awards and benefits?  How does progress differ between markets and industries?

24 Jun, 2021

08:00 – 09:00
09:00 – 10:00
  • Part C – Plenary 5: Investor duties and sustainability related disclosure

    Many investors are committing to net-zero portfolios by 2050, encouraged by a raft of sustainability related requirements on asset owners. TCFD focuses minds on how investment portfolios are positioned for the transition to net zero carbon emissions, Article 173-VI in France focuses on disclosure around carbon risks and climate policies while, in the UK, pension funds must explain how the trustee takes account financially material factors including those relating to ESG in company engagement and voting. How robust is this disclosure? What are the obstacles? To what extent is it driving accountability from asset managers and investee companies?

16:00 – 17.00
17:00 – 18:00
  • Part D – Plenary 7: Optimizing sustainability ratings and ESG data

    The deployment of assets by investors into sustainable index funds reached a record of near $1.7 trillion in 2020, up from 50% over the previous year according to Morningstar. This drives capital to those companies most willing and able to embrace the intangible drivers of value – human and natural capital – as well as tangible financial factors. This transition towards sustainable investments is facilitated by increasingly sophisticated ESG indices and sustainability investment funds.  This session will discuss what ESG data and disclosures investors find most clear and useful, and how stakeholders are navigating this space.