Money talks change is possible through partnerships

ladies and gentlemen

it’s evident change is needed

over the last 50 years we lost over

two-thirds of the world

wildlife population one million species

are at risk of extinction

in 2019 we saw a record in

carbon emissions

i would share a story why i believe

change

is possible and also share my story on

my journey as an investor and asset

manager

25 years ago

the understanding and need for change

was not widely recognized it was a

selected group

of investors and ngos that were talking

about

sustainable investments back then

there was only one stakeholder and that

was

the shareholder today few believe

that there is only one stakeholder today

most people recognize that companies

depend on society

and they need to care about their impact

on society

there is multiple stakeholders

25 years ago we started divesting

from companies with a negative impact on

society

increasingly we invested in companies

with solutions

solutions to the climate change

solutions to other global challenges

today i’m going to speak more about the

companies in the middle

it’s in the middle we find most

companies it’s where most of the capital

invested and they need to change

and we as investors we engage with these

companies

in order to help them build a better

strategy

for tomorrow five years ago

we had the paris agreement

five years ago we had the sustainable

development goals

they are a very useful framework in

order to understand

what we mean by sustainable development

this extreme better events and progress

of science

have helped more people realize why the

climate

risk is one of the greatest risks facing

humanity today

and the companies in the middle they

need to change

and our experience is that if we work

together

as investors we can create

a better impact and have a better

dialogue working in alliances like the

climate action hundred plus

we bring about change together with the

companies

if we look at coal companies investments

in coal are being discarded the cost of

capital for coal companies has increased

oil companies are really assessing

climate risk

in their portfolios

oil and gas companies are increasingly

investing in

renewables there is a massive shift of

capital

into the green economy money talks

change is possible

so investors and corporates are working

together

in building companies fit for tomorrow

but a sustainable company fit for

tomorrow

also need sustainable rules and

regulations and that’s why we also

depend

on governments governments of course

contributes to and set the rules and

regulations

they are also in many cases important

investors and capital owners

and it’s the cooperation between

investors

companies and governments

it’s in that corporation we really can

create

change i’ll share with you two recent

examples

the first one is on deforestation

we have been working on deforestation

for several years

this summer we together with a set of

other institutional investors

sent a letter to the brazilian

government highlighting the fact that

increased deforestation put our

investments at risk

the response was overwhelming there is

now a dialogue with the brazilian

government

congress and central bank brazilian

companies have raised their voice

making the same claims vis-a-vis their

own government

and other investors are joining this

initiative

so money talks change is possible

the other example is our climate

strategy

yes it builds on scientific consensus

we tighten the standard of high emitters

we increase investments in solutions but

one of the elements i wanted to refer to

is lobbying clearly lobbying against

climate change is not cooperation

we want to avoid companies that lobby

against regulation

on climate what have we seen

more companies are now reviewing their

lobbying activities

more investors are looking at how they

can incorporate

lobbying a lot of capital is shifting

into

green solutions money talks

solutions are there change is possible

clearly solutions and engagement is

important to us

but for us sharing our experience

is also very important we strongly

believe

that sharing and being transparent

will help us create change faster

and we will be more profitable

if we do so so i hope our work

can serve as an inspiration money talks

change is possible