Name: To divest or to engage, that is the question
Start: 2021-07-08T13:29:00Z
End: 2021-07-08T13:29:42.000Z
Location: BrightTALK

Three months since Russian forces invaded Ukraine, the conflict shows no immediate signs of ending. We know that there have been significant, global macroeconomic implications, particularly around supply and commodity prices. But what of the effects elsewhere?
In the third of our ‘Beyond the fog of war’ webinars, Invesco experts examine the war through the lens of ESG. 

Speakers:
Arnab Das - Global Market Strategist EMEA
Sudip Hazra - Director of ESG Research
Elizabeth Gillam - Head of EU Government Relations
Paul Jackson - Global Head of Asset Allocation Research

Russia and Ukraine: beyond the fog of war III

With Russia’s plan for a quick victory in Ukraine dashed, a prolonged war seems like the most likely scenario. In our second Russia-Ukraine webinar, Invesco experts assessed this scenario with others and discussed the economics of war.

Speakers:
Georgina Taylor - Fund Manager, Multi Asset
Kristina Hooper - Chief Global Market Strategist
Paul Jackson - Global Head of Asset Allocation Research
Stephanie Butcher - Chief Investment Officer, Henley Investment Centre

Russia and Ukraine: beyond the fog of war II

Amid a growing humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine and uncertainty over the consequences of the war, Invesco experts provided their views on the potential implications for the world order, the global economy and asset allocation. 

Speakers:
Georgina Taylor - Fund Manager, Multi Asset
Arnab Das - Global Market Strategist EMEA
David Chao - Global Market Strategist Asia Pacific (ex Japan)
Paul Jackson - Global Head of Asset Allocation Research

Russia and Ukraine: beyond the fog of war I

While sustainable investing has seen rapidly increasing popularity over the last couple of years, the 'code red' report released this summer has added renewed urgency to this shift. Net-zero commitments may no longer be enough, and professional investors are facing calls for a more stringent approach to increase impact and asset managers must counteract accusations of greenwashing. 
As the findings of the report bed in and we approach COP26, we explore how professional investors are interpreting and responding to these warnings. 
 
- Delving into the detail - deciphering the key takeaways and overlooked messages from amidst this behemoth document
- Assessing the different scenarios and projections for climate change, what adaptation will look like and how this will impact asset allocation
- Understanding the actions investors are already taking and what more can be done 
- Discussing how asset managers can help professional investors achieve greater impact

Unpacking the UN & IPCC Climate Report

How can companies and investors make a difference?

While “social” issues have always been a core of ESG investing, today we see a newly energised emphasis on matters of social and racial equity, diversity, labour issues and human rights. All these social equity issues enrich the traditional investment research and provide a new layer of critical analysis and engagement with our investee entities. What are the new responsibilities of corporations with respect to creating social equity for employees, customers and communities of operations? Why is the new social taxonomy important for investors and capital markets, and how can it drive long-term value creation? How can investors mitigate social risks and how should they think of incorporating social equity factors in investment processes?

Join us for a panel discussion where we'll explore the various perspectives of social equity, and ways of adding value to investments and society.

External Speakers:
Nuala Walsh, CEO, MindEquity Consulting
Rikia Birindelli-Fayne, Senior Director, Corporate Engagement, EMEA, Catalyst
Prof. Raghavendra Rau, University of Cambridge, Judge Business School

Diversity, equity, inclusion and social impact

An honest discussion on the challenges of ESG in asset management and how we're navigating it with our clients.

Join us for an open, vulnerable and transparent panel discussion with some of Invesco's senior EMEA leaders about what we've been doing on a corporate level with ESG, what it means to us and where we are going, our recent pledge to Net Zero, where all our investment centres are at with their journey, and how we are helping our clients navigate this increasingly nuanced space.

Speakers:
Matthew Heath,  Chief Marketing Officer, EMEA
Rene Marston, Head of Product Strategy & Development
Glen Yelton, Head of ESG Client Strategy North America
Anna Duchnowska, Managing Director, Asset Management Europe

Walking the walk: ESG@Invesco

Transitioning to a low-carbon economy presents enormous opportunities and challenges for the investment community.

In this panel Faith Ward, Chair of the IIGCC and Chief Responsible Investment Officer of Brunel Pension Partnership together with Jason Eis, Executive Director at VIVID ECONOMICS and Chairman at PLANETRICS, share their views with Invesco’s portfolio managers on opportunity and challenges in designing low carbon solutions.

External Speakers:
Georg Elsäesser, Senior Portfolio Manager
Dr Christopher Mellor, EMEA ETF Head of Equity and Commodity Product Management
Luke Greenwood, Co-Head Global Fixed Income

Designing investment solutions for a low carbon economy

Our research on client perceptions of ESG investing and what we can do to improve their engagement

Invesco conducted a robust research project where we interviewed and surveyed over 200 advised end investors to gain insight on how clients engage with ESG now, and how this may change over the years to come. The survey illustrated what roles clients expect their adviser to play in helping them navigate sustainable investing by demonstrating their wants, needs, challenges, questions and issues. 

Join Clive Emery, multi-asset portfolio manager, who will review the findings from this in-depth research, followed up a discussion on the insights with a leading academic who has published research on consumer demand for sustainable investing, Dr David Stillwell from Cambridge University.

Speakers:
Clive Emery, Multi-Asset Portfolio Manager
Owen Thomas, Head of Advisory Sales & Strategic Partnerships

What investors want

The places where we live and work are uniquely vital to the future of our planet. This is particularly true of cities, which throughout modern history have been associated with pollution, overcrowding, social inequality and other failings.

This has to change in the age of ESG – and in many ways it is. But is it changing quickly enough? And what can be done to accelerate the necessary transformation?

In this panel discussion we explore how ESG has already reshaped our cities and how it is likely to continue shaping them for decades to come. We explain why this a complex undertaking that involves not only multiple challenges but, crucially, multiple opportunities.

Speakers:
Henning Stein, Head of Global Thought Leadership
Mike Bessell, Managing Director and European Investment Strategist
Stephanie Smith, Director Portfolio Operations

Living Las Vegas: towards sustainable cities

ESG won’t be a global imperative if it is merely a developed world construct. Emerging markets need to be engaged, but the ‘how’ is not simple. Investors are under pressure to reduce ESG risks, which, despite positive ESG integration momentum, excludes many emerging markets. Meanwhile, many emerging markets want the benefits of industralisation and question if it is their responsibility to minimise environmental problems caused by developed countries.

Join us for a lively discussion where our panelists will offer their expert insights on the realities of the ESG imperative in Africa, unpack conundrums and opportunities, and discuss how the continent could lead in modeling sustainability into the creation of an industrial economy.

External Speakers:
Emily Waita Macharia, Africa Public Affairs Director, Coca-Cola Africa
Queen Chinyere Quinn, Founding Partner of Kupanda Capital 
Hany Assad, Co-founder of Avanz Capital

ESG in emerging markets or on emerging markets? The reality as viewed in Africa

Public market portfolio constructors are advantaged by having third party information providers that help them rate and navigate the broad ESG landscape, but investors in the non-public “private markets” do not have the same luxury.

Hear from a panel of private market underwriters, investment managers and end investors who will offer a deep dive into these challenges as they explore the implementation of ESG solutions for their clients.

Speakers:
Stefan Behring, Head of Nordics Distribution
Kevin Petrovcik, Senior Client Portfolio Manager

The challenges, nuances and opportunities of implementing ESG in private markets

The challenges of and need for standardisation in ESG reporting.

Just how does one measure the shades of green of a portfolio? Relying on marketing messaging only, one could be fooled to think that many portfolio are more green than they actually are. And while the regulators are taking note, there currently is little standardisation or integrity of non-financial ESG reporting. Like everything in ESG, it's of course, in practicality, not as simple as our aspirations may desire, and there is still significant divergence in ESG ratings and their providers, corporate reporting standards, and evolving regulatory requirements.

Join us for an educational panel session with Professor Elroy Dimson of Cambridge University, Stephen Horan, Ph.D., previously a Managing Director at CFA Institute, and Clive Emery, multi-asset portfolio manager, who will explore the challenges faced by investors looking to evaluate the outcome and integrity of ESG by investment portfolio, and make the case for ESG reporting standardisation and highlight a path we can take to get us there.

External Speakers:
Stephen Horan, University of North Carolina at Wilmington & Former Managing Director at CFA Institute
Elroy Dimson, Chairman of the Centre for Endowment Asset Management at Cambridge Judge Business School

Just how green is a portfolio?

Managing shared geo-economic and geopolitical challenges of climate risk in the face of rising domestic pressures.

ESG, especially climate risk and the social tensions of inequality and identity, is increasingly a driving force in the geopolitical, economic, financial and technological challenges of our time. Climate risk is arguably the greatest challenge ever to face the world: It requires changing work, business and finance.

To reduce climate risk, half the world needs to change a way of life half the world is accustomed to, and that the other half of the world aspires to. Europe has led the way, but now the US is back with a climate agenda and Asia, China, India are taking up the mantle too, though Brazil is holding back. Can climate policy reshape the world economy enough to reduce climate risk without raising too much transition risk for economies and livelihoods? Will climate policies become another dimension of protectionism and worsen the tensions between nations? Or can we achieve domestic and global cooperation?

External Speakers:
Linda Yeuh, Oxford Fellow, Adjunct Professor at LBS, Visiting Professor at LSE
Marianne Nessen, Senior Advisor to the Executive Board of Sveriges Riksbank
Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, International Editor of the Hindustan Times and former National Security Advisor
Jakob Funk Kirkegaard, Peterson Institute for International Economics and the German Marshall Fund

Can ESG drive a New World Order?

A debate on the law of unintended consequences and paradoxes of ESG investing.

Focusing solely on carbon emissions, plastic bags are better than paper ones, but we'd all agree that plastics aren't great for our oceans. Are electric cars really 'greener'? Is displacing existing talent in favour of diversity really equity? Industrialising and raising the living standards of many emerging markets requires emissions: so how as ESG-minded investors do we reconcile these trade offs? Which stakeholders win, and who decides?

Join us for a riveting and lively discussion between leading ESG thinkers who will explore and debate the endless ESG paradoxes, and the idea that despite this idea that everyone wins in ESG, that actually there are always losers, and how do we as investors balance this delicate act of competing priorities and how to do good in one place without doing harm elsewhere.

Speakers:
Jillert Blom, Head of Distribution Benelux, France and Nordics
Elizabeth Gillam, Head of EU Government Relations and Public Policy
Glen Yelton, Head of ESG Client Strategy North America

ESG: doing good or sounding good?

Whether investors should divest or engage is a hotly debated topic. There will always be investors who determine that divesting is their best option, or for some, the final resort. While there will always be investors who see engagement as a means to manage risk and enhance the value of their investments driven by their influence. Active investors inclined to engage can use engagement to their benefit before and after investing and through the proxy vote. How does this impact investors of index strategies and their options to signal concerns to companies? Should divestment be considered the final resort, and at what point? One can quantify the missed returns to divestment decisions, but how can the value created by shareholder engagement be quantified?

Join us for a riveting discussion where our panelists will explore and debate ESG investors dilemma to engage or divest, provide a variety of perspectives and techniques of engagement and the benefits.

Speakers:
Zoje Vataj, Global Proxy Governance & Voting Manager
Matthew Tagliani, Head of EMEA ETF Product and Sales Strategy
Erik Esselink, Portfolio Manager

To divest or to engage, that is the question

Responsible Investing

Shareholder engagement

Active ownership

Asset Management

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Invesco

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To divest or to engage, that is the question

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