Our thoughts on the key issues faced by practitioners trying to advance sustainable investing.
The CSO as the curator of sustainability expertise and driver of change
We should not forget that it's companies who will, by and large, deliver the changes. It's companies that will make investments, change products and services, and adopt new operational practices.
We talk a lot about climate models and how GHG emissions impact temperature, but not so much about climate damage function models. And yet this second set of models have a massive impact on financial decision making.
When resources are scarce we may need to prioritise their use. So even if we can, maybe we shouldn't.
The big sustainability questions we all face suggest we need to move to a different relationship between the providers of capital (the asset owners), and the organisation's that invest it on their behalf. One based on a better alignment of interest.
Disclosure is important but is there a danger that it becomes the tail wagging the dog?
With sustainability solutions, dropping in substitutes isn't enough. We need to think holistically
Sustainability can be like a good brand. Without it your business can lack the quality that gives it a viable long term future. Intangibles may be invisible, but it doesn't make them any less real.
Pitching sustainability investments or strategies to finance people is tough. Expectations Investing could be the Sustainability Professionals secret weapon.
The solution (the horse) should match the problem or desired output (the course).
The Cost of Capital is a powerful financial concept, but one that hides a lot of complexity. The phrase is often mis-used. One common mistake is to believe that if a sustainability investment is lower risk, it means it's a better investment.
How we create narratives to generate financial forecasts impacts the valuation process