Thu 03 Oct 2024 - The conference will include a day of sustainable investment-related sessions, including a keynote session with Sacha Sadan, Director of ESG at the Financial Conduct Authority, and panel sessions with industry leaders. In addition, there will be an opportunity to network at a drinks reception.
The conference will showcase the IFoA’s commitment to sustainability, and the intention is to not only raise awareness of and highlight the need for sustainable investment but also to ensure actuaries have a mutual understanding of their professional responsibility in this area.
The conference also aims to empower and inspire actuaries by highlighting best practices through sharing knowledge and practical tools with which participants can take away and actively apply.
| Activity | Time | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Registration and refreshments | 09:00 - 10:00 | |
| Welcome and introduction | 10:00 - 10:15 | Welcome from Rosalind Rossouw, IFoA |
| Panel session | 10:15 - 11:00 | Growing money on trees: understanding how nature impacts investments Read more |
It is becoming increasingly important that asset managers and asset owners understand the impact that nature has on their investments. Regulatory and consumer pressures are driving us to learn a whole new language of nature risk. This panel will look at the impact nature has on our investments as well as the broad impact our investments have on nature. We will discuss how nature and climate are best tackled together, the emerging risks and opportunities related to nature, how the regulatory environment is changing, and what we actuaries can do to make a difference in this area. Chair: Thrinayani Ramakrishnan Speakers:
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| Morning break | 11:00 - 11:15 | |
| Panel session | 11:15 - 12:00 | Climate Scorpion: exposing the great climate fraud Read more |
Actuaries can see climate through a solvency lens, with the temperature limit of 1.5C as a solvency limit and key assumptions including the sensitivity of the planet to greenhouse gases, which drives carbon budgets. As with solvency, risks can be assessed and actuarial principles applied to investigate where we should set our risk appetite. As with solvency complex projections are required over long time periods to assess how things might pan out. However, unlike solvency, there isn’t a global regulator, audit standards, or actuarial principles to adhere to. Applying actuarial principles to our climate ‘solvency’ position reveals over-stated carbon budgets, a lack of experience analysis, no process to update our assumptions and an absence of structured governance and reporting. We risk climate ‘insolvency’, shooting past the 1.5C target even as we continue to use ‘net zero’ carbon budgets that are increasingly implausible for meeting the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement. This talk explores the concerning findings from the recent IFoA research paper Climate Scorpion, provides a realistic assessment of warming trajectories and exposes the inadequacy of commonly used carbon budgets, as well as providing recommendations for how to address these shortcomings. Chair: Mike Clark | ||
| Panel session | 12:00 - 13:00 | Investing for a sustainable society Read more |
Sustainability isn’t just about the human impact on the environment it’s also about the human environment itself. In this panel session, we’ll explore a number of Social issues including labour issues in the farming sector, housing, education and the just transition. How can investors help these issues, and derive financial returns? Speakers:
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| Lunch | 13:00 - 14:00 | |
| Keynote session | 14:15 - 15:00 | Keynote with Sacha Sadan, Director of ESG, Financial Conduct Authority Read more |
During Sacha’s session he will cover:
Chair: Nico Aspinall, Senior Vice President, Sustainable Investment | ||
| Session 1 | 15:00 - 16:00 | Session 1: Economics of sustainability Read more |
Our panellists will introduce the economics of sustainability and some innovative thinking in the field of complexity economics, such as ways to make sense of chaos and how to shape economics for a better world. We will introduce the shift from agent-based rational equations to simulation of complexity in the economy. What progress has been made so far and what visions can we have of where to go from here? How do we pay for the investments in a sustainable future? We will explore how money is created, double-entry bookkeeping, and the role of government in providing risk-capital. What is the interplay between economics and our world in crises? How are energy, renewables, materials, power, and people all connected? Chair: Angus Armstrong, Director of Rebuilding Macroeconomics and Chief Economic Adviser to Lloyds Banking Group Speakers:
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| Session 2 | 16:00 - 16:45 | Session 2: Assets owners and asset managers: the challenges and successes so far Read more |
This session will discuss what good really could look like and how to overcome the various challenges to achieve the objectives of sustainable portfolios. Chair: Rosalind Rossouw Speakers:
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| Chair summary and event close | 16:45 - 17:00 | Chair summary and event close |
| Networking drinks reception | 17:00 - 20:00 | |
Sacha Sadan is the Director of ESG at the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority). Facilitating the UK financial regulator to embed ESG across the wide spectrum of regulatory activities and reporting to the CEO.
He has been named a City Influencer by Financial News as one of the biggest 25 names who have been instrumental in shaping the UK’s financial services industry and has also recently been appointed an Honorary Professor at the Alliance Manchester Business School at The University of Manchester.
Previously Sacha was Director of Investment Stewardship (10 years) and on the board at LGIM, one of the world’s largest asset managers. Sacha had responsibility for investment stewardship, including environmental, social and governance (ESG).
He was recognised in the Financial Times as one of ‘the 30 most influential people in the City of London’.
Sacha was previously a UK equity portfolio manager at Gartmore and was voted the top-rated Pan-European fund manager in the Thomson Reuters Extel awards.
He started his career at Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pension fund.
Sacha is a Fellow of CFA, CGI and a founding member of the UK Investor Forum.
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