In this special episode of the PRI podcast, we shine the spotlight on COP27.

Host Liz Barnes speaks with Habib Abdur-Rahman, Head of ESG at Investcorp, and Prudential's Liza Jansen, Head of Responsible Investment at Prudential, and member of the UN-Convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance.

With just a week to go until the highly anticipated climate conference, they discuss their expectations for COP27, the role of investors in scaling up actions to deliver on a just transition to net zero, and how blended finance can be leveraged to mobilise capital into where finance is needed the most.

In this episode of the PRI podcast, host Ed Baker (PRI’s Head of Climate Policy), speaks with Patrick Arber, Head of International Government Engagement at Aviva and Co-Lead of the UN-convened Asset Owner Alliance Policy Track and Karishma Gulrajani, Engagement Manager at Vivid Economics, on the AOA’s recently published position paper on carbon pricing. 

The transition to net zero hinges on a policy mix consistent with Paris Agreement goals. The escalating global energy security crisis underscores the imperative for an accelerated net zero transition, and carbon pricing provides a broad incentive for decarbonisation, driving emissions where they are most cost-effective. With growing momentum around this policy tool, particularly at the G7 this year, it is important to ensure that carbon pricing schemes are implemented in a robust and effective manner and supported by both enabling and complementary policies.   

Find the podcast transcript here: https://bit.ly/3A6FRRu

In this second special episode of the PRI podcast, we shine the spotlight on what happened in Glasgow, at COP26.

Host Liz Barnes speaks with the PRI’s CEO, Fiona Reynolds, to take stock of the conference, looking at some of the key takeaways from COP26, and discussing what needs to be done next.

Find the podcast transcript here: https://bit.ly/3DGbTCZ

During this episode, Eline Sleurink, Head of UK and Ireland and Middle East, Dave Gorman, Head of Social Responsibility and Sustainability, University of Edinburgh and Ben Pollard, CEO and Cofounder, Cushon discuss how the University of Edinburgh and Cushon have set a net zero target, the first steps they are taking to achieve this, how they built a business case for net zero internally, and how they are holding themselves accountable.

Find a transcript of the episode here: https://bit.ly/2Y5tDIr

In this quarterly podcast, PRI’s Aiman Zaidi speaks with Marie Luchet, Director of Continental Europe, Signatory relations about the key activities of the PRI from the past quarter and what to expect from the PRI for the remainder of the year about climate mitigation, upcoming events, our human rights work and much more.

Find a transcript of the episode here: https://bit.ly/2ZANW0U

With only four months to go until COP26 in Glasgow, our last major opportunity to get back on track with the goals of the Paris Agreement and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C, investor action on climate has never been more critical.

In this podcast we will explore the steps Wellington Management are taking to help lead the charge, as one of the of the first asset management firms to make a net-zero carbon emissions pledge.

This podcast highlights the global investor perspective on the US re-joining the Paris Agreement.  It covers priorities for the Paris Agreement and for net zero investor action. 

The podcast features:

• A new PRI/LSEG COP26 investor guide.
• Caisse des Dépôts’s net zero commitment
• London Stock Exchange Group’s recent net zero announcement.

We need a decisive decade of action on climate change, incorporating a sustainable recovery from COVID-19 and actions towards net zero by 2050.

A leading group of asset owners, the UN-convened Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance has committed to aligning their portfolios with net zero by 2050, and published how they will get there – through a draft target-setting protocol.

This podcast seeks to assist asset owners, asset managers and their service providers to:

• understand the objectives of the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance
• understand the draft target-setting protocol including key features and implications

Join the PRI's Sagarika Chatterjee and Swiss Re's Claudia Bolli as they discuss just that.

Interested in the resources discussed in this episode?

Find out about the draft target-setting protocol

Understanding how climate risk could play out is of central importance to investors’ response to the climate challenge. A key approach is the use of scenario analysis to test the resilience of the portfolio to a number of future states. This can further be developed for financial analysis. This podcast seeks to assist asset owners, asset managers and their service providers to:

• Understand that an end point ambition requires a scenario pathway to be of use in financial analysis.
• Understand the scenario pathway architecture (i.e. key variables, metrics, attributes and drivers) determine the financial impact of any scenario.
• Understand how climate scenarios can then be used in risk analysis of their own portfolios and engagement with companies following the Paris Agreement and the IPCC SR1.5°C study.
• Understand how scenarios can then become base case forecasts to begin to inform actual business and portfolio planning and decisions using business level metrics such as production, CapEx and emissions, which leads to action.

Join Sagarika Chatterjee, Director of Climate Change, PRI and COP26 Champions – Finance Lead, and Mark Fulton, Head of Research, CarbonTracker and advisor to the PRI on The Inevitable Policy Response for the discussion. 

In this episode of the PRI podcast, the PRI's Director of Climate Change, Sagarika Chatterjee, speaks with Julian Poulter of Energy Transition Advisors. They discuss the Inevitable Policy Response (IPR), research from the PRI, Vivid Economics and Energy Transition Advisors, through an asset owner lens.

They discuss how IPR can help the PRI's asset owner signatories to act on climate risk, and the actions asset owners can take today to use IPR.

Interested in the resources discussed in this episode?
The Inevitable Policy Response

Published on Earth Day 2020, in this episode, the PRI's Director of Climate Change, Sagarika Chatterjee, and Jason Eis, Executive Director of Vivid Economics, discuss a pioneering piece of research from the PRI, Vivid Economics and Energy Transition Advisors: the Inevitable Policy Response to climate change.

They discuss what exactly the Inevitable Policy Response is; the potential impact on asset classes such as equities of not acting now on climate change; and what PRI signatories can do to integrate IPR thinking into their investments.

Interested in the resources discussed in this episode?

Read about the Inevitable Policy Response here

Please note this episode was recorded before the Covid-19 outbreak in Europe

In this episode of the PRI podcast, the PRI's CEO Fiona Reynolds is joined by Nigel Topping, the COP26 High-Level Climate Action Champion.

The UK will host COP26 in Glasgow in November against a backdrop of urgency; we need to reduce emissions by 50% within the next ten years to stand any chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. 2020 must be the year of action – and the 2020s the decade of action.

Fiona and Nigel discuss the critical role of non-state actors – in particular investors – in achieving this, and making COP26 a success.

Interested in the resources discussed in this podcast?

• Inevitable Policy Response: https://www.unpri.org/inevitable-policy-response/what-is-the-inevitable-policy-response/4787.article
• Climate Action 100+: http://www.climateaction100.org/
• UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance: https://www.unpri.org/climate-change/un-convened-net-zero-asset-owner-alliance/5370.article
• The Investor Agenda: https://theinvestoragenda.org/
• Climate change and the just transition: a guide for investor action: https://www.unpri.org/academic-research/climate-change-and-the-just-transition-a-guide-for-investor-action/3202.article

At the time of recording, Australia is experiencing unprecedented bush fires, with huge swathes of the country engulfed by flames.

As of 20 January, twenty-eight people have died, close to 2,000 homes have been destroyed and a billion animals have been killed. Once again, the physical and economic threats of climate change are being brought to the fore.

In this episode of the PRI podcast, the PRI's CEO Fiona Reynolds speaks to Australians working in the responsible investment space who have their own experiences of the fire:

• Julian Poulter, Energy Transition Advisers
• Brynn O'Brien, Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility
• Dan Gocher, Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility
• Andrew Whiley, Climate Bonds Initiative

They discuss how they were personally affected by the fires; and what the implications of climate crises are for investors.

Act on climate now:

Read The Inevitable Policy Response: bit.ly/2v88LkX

Join Climate Action 100+: bit.ly/2sFkPcn

Martin Skancke (Chair of the PRI Board and FSB Task Force member) joins the PRI's Sagarika Chatterjee to discuss the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and what their recently released recommendations mean for investors.

Sean Wright (Environmental Defense Fund) and Matthias Beer (BMO GAM) join the PRI's Gemma James to discuss why methane emissions are a material issue for investors in the context of climate change. This coincides with the launch of a new investor guide to methane on how to manage the risks through company engagement.

Kathy Mulvey (Union of Concerned Scientists) joins the PRI's Paul Chandler to discuss why corporate lobbying on climate change matters to investors, as well as the findings from UCS' new report: The Climate Accountability Scorecard - Ranking Major Fossil Fuel Companies on Climate Deception, Disclosure, and Action

Willemijn Verdegaal (MN) and Karsten Löffler (Allianz SE) join the PRI's Paul Chandler to discuss the outcomes from COP21, which concluded in Paris last week.