The Nature & Biodiversity Challenge

Online in Zoom

Tuesday 10th December 2024

13:10 – 17:30 BST

Sponsored by

Blackrock
Gresham House
MSCI-2
Rebalance Earth
Register to Attend
Engaging with Nature for Better Pensions

During our 4-Part “Rethinking” series on Climate Change in Q1 of 2024, 180 delegates debated in detail how pension schemes are confronting the real risks of climate change and investing more effectively and profitably in the energy transition. But what of nature and biodiversity, for which degradation on a global scale has been well documented and on which the effect of most investment decisions is pervasive?

Are the considerations the same, or are there key differences in the stewardship and governance challenges impacting natural assets and in the investment opportunities they offer?

Pensions practitioners from across the industry – representing both LGPS and corporate schemes – will discuss how they are confronting these challenges. Assisted by some compelling Case Studies, there will be particular emphasis on the practical choices they are taking in pursuit of nature goals for the greater benefit of their members and society at large. 

In common with all SGPE Masterclasses, the event will be highly interactive, with free and frank exchanges of views, and participants encouraged to engage and contribute proactively throughout.

Chair

Marian D'Auria

Group Head of Risk & Sustainability
GFG Alliance

Chair

Marian D'Auria

Group Head of Risk & Sustainability
GFG Alliance

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Beccy Wilebore

Chief Science Officer
Natcap Research

Agenda
Devil's Advocates

Mark Barry, Partner, Black Isle Advisory Partners
Sally Bridgeland, Chair, Brunel Pension Partnership
Bobby Riddaway, Managing Director, HS Trustees

A panel of Devil’s Advocates will be on duty for the course of the afternoon.

They will be available to pose challenging questions to any of the conference speakers when invited to do so by the Moderator of each session. They will provide an end of day summary of the main learning and action points from the conference.

13.10 – 13.30
Meet & Greet
13.30 – 13.50
Welcome & Introduction

Masterclass Chair:
Marian D’Auria
Global Head of Risk & Sustainability
GFG Alliance

Programme Director:
Stephen Glover
Director
SG Pensions Enterprise

13.50 – 14.30
Panel Discussion: Identifying the "Win-Win" in Nature & Biodiversity Investments

Moderator:
Maria D’Auria 
Global Head of Risk & Sustainability
GFG Alliance

Julius Pursaill
Strategic Adviser
Cushon NatWest

Paul Hewitt
Responsible Investment Manager
London Pensions Fund Authority

Our expert panel will debate how leading pension schemes and wealth managers are managing nature risks in investment portfolios through effective stewardship in the main asset classes.

Equally they will consider natural capital and biodiversity investment opportunities in an asset allocation context. What does an increased allocation to nature investments look like, how is it financed, and what are the increased return and diversification benefits expected from it?

14.30 – 14.55
Presentation: Knowing Your Nature Risks – The Manager's View

Belen Ahumada
Product Strategist
EMEA Sustainable Indexing
BlackRock

Christine Chardonnens
Executive Director
Global ESG Index Product
MSCI

How to identify the main nature and biodiversity risks embedded in investment portfolios is a critical question. Our speakers will give expert insights into the risks they consider most important to consider, and share key insights into how to maximise investment outcomes based on the available data sets.

14.55 – 15.20
Case Study 1: Stewardship Best Practice & Effective Outcomes

Becky LeAnstey
Investment Manager
EAPF

Ruth Murray
Investment Director
Gresham House

Speakers from the EAPF and Gresham House will explore the practical implementation of a current nature and biodiversity investment strategy the EAPF is pursuing, and what it is designed to achieve. 

They will describe the type of investment vehicle chosen, how this fits in with existing SAA policy at the EAPF, the risk and return benefits it is expected to deliver, the key decision factors and the societal gains to be anticipated. 

15.20 – 15.45
Coffee Break
15.45 – 16.10
Case Study 2: How to Make Nature an Investable Asset Class

Robert Gardner
CEO & Co-Founder
Rebalance Earth

Darran Ward
Head of Alternatives
West Yorkshire Pension Fund

Climate change and Nature loss are driving water risks – too much (flooding), too little (drought), and too dirty (pollution) – These challenges are rippling through financial systems, value chains, and communities. 

Darran Ward, from West Yorkshire Pension Fund, will discuss their investment in Rebalance Earth, a fund manager committed to investing £10 billion over the next decade to restore natural infrastructure in the UK. 

Using Plymouth as an example, Rob Gardner will showcase how investing in Nature as business-critical infrastructure delivers financial returns by mitigating risks like flooding while providing environmental and social benefits to create a world worth living in. 

16.10 – 16.50
Panel Discussion: Reimagining the Future – Action Points & Practical Takeaways

Moderator:
Kerry King
Executive Director – Capital Markets & Fundraising
Accounting for Sustainability

Emma Hunt
Head of Responsible Investment
HSBC Bank Pension Trust

Nick Spencer
Sustainable Investment Strategist
Gordian Advice

For nature and biodiversity losses to be reversed and tangible gains to be realised, practical stewardship, asset allocation and investment policies need to be devised that genuinely embrace the
nature challenge and can demonstrate clear results, impact and financial performance.

Drawing upon the success stories from the case studies this afternoon, our panel will debate the lessons that key market participants – asset owners, trustees, consultants, managers – must learn and apply to
make these goals a sustainable reality.

16.50 – 17.00
Devil's Advocates' Summary

The Devil’s Advocates will offer their summary and main takeaways from the afternoon’s proceedings.

17.00 – 17.10
Final Thoughts & Closing Remarks
Speakers

Sally Bridgeland

Chair
Brunel Pension Partnership

Rob Gardner

Co-CEO & Co-Founder

Rebalance Earth

Emma Hunt

Head of Responsible Investment
HSBC Bank Pension Trust

Paul Hewitt

Responsible Investment Manager
LPFA

Kerry King

Executive Director
AfS

Julius Pursaill

Strategic Adviser
Cushon NatWest

Bobby Riddaway

Managing Director
HS Trustees

Nick Spencer

Sustainable Investment Strategist
Gordian Advice

Sponsors
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Marian D'Auria

Global Head of Risk & Sustainability
GFG Alliance

Marian is the Global Head of Risk & Sustainability at GFG Alliance. 

Prior to joining GFG, she was a Managing Director at Redington and before that led Deloitte’s Trustee Advisory team in London. Her experience covers pension risk management, sustainability, trusteeship, scheme actuarial work, corporate advisory and investment consulting.

Dr. Beccy Wilebore

Chief Science Officer
Natcap Research

Beccy Wilebore is Chief Science Officer at natcap, with responsibility for setting the science vision and overseeing model development. She is a quantitative ecologist, with 10+ years of experience at the interface between natural sciences and economics. 

Beccy is experienced in working with clients from the public and private sectors, including global asset managers, financial institutions, NGOs and individual landowners and farmers, to understand the investment opportunities in natural capital and biodiversity in a credible and data-driven way. She also specialises in data analysis from earth observation and remote sensing.

Beccy holds a PhD in forest ecology and REDD+ carbon markets from the University of Cambridge. 

Sally Bridgeland

Chair
Brunel Pension Partnership

Sally is Chair at Impax Asset Management Group plc and at BelleVie Care and non-executive director at insurers Pension Insurance Corporation and Royal & Sun Alliance.  She joins the Board of Brunel Pension Partnership as Deputy Chair in May 2024, formally taking over as Chair in October after leaving Impax at the end of July.

Her non-executive portfolio has included roles at the Nuclear Liabilities Fund, NEST Corporation and the Lloyds Bank pension schemes and as Chair of the first local government pensions pool, Local Pensions Partnership Investments (LPPI) Limited.  She was CEO of the BP Pension Scheme in the interesting years of 2007-14 after twenty years with Aon Hewitt working as a pensions consultant and in investment research and innovation.

Rob Gardner

Co-CEO & Co-Founder
Rebalance Earth

Rob is an entrepreneur, investor and innovator with a proven track record of success in protecting and growing assets in the pensions and wealth management industry.

Previously Director of Investments at FTSE100 company SJP, he managed over £150 billion in client investments.

Rob is also a successful B-Corp founder, having built companies such as Redington and mallowstreet and a financial education charity called RedSTART. Rob’s dream is a world worth living in – economically, environmentally, and socially. He is currently the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Rebalance Earth. They create high-integrity nature credits that protect and grow biodiversity and generate prosperity for the communities that preserve nature and capture carbon.

Over the next decade, Rebalance Earth aims to protect and restore nature, capturing over one gigatonne of CO2 and generating daily income for millions worldwide to create a world worth living in. 

Emma Hunt

Head of Responsible Investment
HSBC Bank Pension Trust

Emma has been at the forefront of developments in stewardship, ESG, sustainable investment for 25 years.

She is an expert in change management and the development and implementation of policy and strategy. The power of strong partnerships, effective change management, commercial acumen and good humour are cornerstones of Emma’s approach to work. 

Julius Pursaill

Independent Expert
Pensions Adviser

Julius spent his executive career working with DC pensions in both the insurance and asset management industries. In his subsequent non-executive career, Julius has held a number of independent pension and investment governance roles. He was one of the founding trustee directors of NEST Corporation and chaired both its investment and risk committees.

Nick Spencer

Founder
Gordian Advice

Nick Spencer is a Founder at Gordian Advice and a Senior Consultant at Milliman. He is an award-winning thought leader with over 30 years of risk and investment experience. Nick helps clients develop practical capabilities for the challenges of tomorrow. More specifically, he leverages systems thinking to identify resilience-building and opportunity-making pragmatic actions and thus helps create solutions for a world at risk. 

Nick is the author of Accounting for Sustainability’s Nature-Risk guide. He regularly contributes to The Actuary, the IFoA Blog and papers for Milliman.

Nick has been an early proponent of integrating Biodiversity risks. He received a President’s Award for helping develop the IFoA’s Biodiversity Policy and has been an expert witness to the UK Parliament’s Environment Audit Committee. 

Nick is an advocate for aligning the asset management industry with a broader societal purpose; he recently co-authored a paper on Climate Change Inequalities. 

Blackrock’s purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, we help millions of people build savings that serve them throughout their lives by making investing easier and more affordable.

CONTACT

Zahaib Hussain
Relationship Manager – UK Institutional DC Business

For more information, visit Blackrock’s website here.

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CONTACT

Alex Roper
Vice President, ESG & Climate Client Coverage

Sarah Casey
ESG & Climate Client Consultant Associate

For more details, visit MSCI’s website here.