Pensions Expert: Informing scheme decisions

Podcast: Biodiversity is a nascent theme for environmental, social and governance-focused investors, offering pension schemes the opportunity to invest for good and diversify their portfolios. Should pension schemes allocate capital towards this space? Newton Investment Management head of sustainable investment Therese Niklasson and NatureAlpha founder Dr Vian Sharif discuss biodiversity and pension scheme investment.

Podcast: The war in Ukraine, inflation and slowing global growth have sparked uncertainty over the global economy. More than ever, investors will need to understand the drivers that will influence markets over the coming year. Listen to this podcast to gain insight on the outlook for 2023 and how to approach specific asset classes from John Mullins, PIMCO product strategist.

Ahead of this year’s UN climate conference, discussions over the responsibility of the world’s richest countries towards developing economies have intensified. Emerging markets’ contribution to climate change is minuscule, but they are disproportionately hurt by its effects. Think of the catastrophic droughts, floods and hurricanes directly linked to man-made climate change that have crashed infrastructure and cost lives and livelihoods across developing countries.With COP27 being hosted by Egypt, and African governments increasingly pushing back against requests to keep fossil fuels in the ground (as this would slow economic growth), will there be new solutions on the negotiation table? Will this be the Africa COP? Silvia Pavoni chats to James King, one of our correspondents who has recently written about Africa, and to Gillian Marcelle, a development finance expert with sanguine views on the urgency of the issue - and on how to fix it.You can read James’s deep-dive here: https://www.sustainableviews.com/african-governments-push-to-close-the-climate-funding-gap/This is Gillian’s opinion piece on sustainable finance: https://www.sustainableviews.com/sustainable-investment-is-a-first-world-option/Here are the views of the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance chair Guenther Thallinger: https://www.sustainableviews.com/blended-finance-has-its-time-come/

London mayor Sadiq Khan wants more power and financing for cities so they can deal with and find solutions to climate change. Cities, after all, are responsible for over two thirds of emissions and local administrations, says Khan, are seen as the “doers”, while national governments are the “delayers”. He thinks that mayors should be part of the UN climate conference negotiations. In fact, COP27, which is wrapping up in Sharm el-Sheikh this week, will be the last without cities at the table. Does he have a point? Hear what Khan told Sustainable Views and what our correspondent Philippa Nuttall makes of his green leadership for London as she talks to Silvia Pavoni, your host.Read Philippa’s article on why cities struggle to go carbon neutral: https://www.sustainableviews.com/why-cities-are-struggling-to-go-carbon-neutral/Find out more about Sustainable Views, here: https://www.sustainableviews.comAnd request a free trial to access all our content, here: https://survey.ft.com/jfe/form/SV_9RGu5ktcIREwMLA?_sp=3bd6bfcc-af1c-4833-b73e-3f4913d4dab7.1668705958866

Was the Bank of England right to intervene in gilt markets in the autumn, as hell broke loose across markets? Cartwright director of investment consulting Sam Roberts makes the case against the central bank’s bond-buying programme. The Lang Cat director of public affairs Tom McPhail, meanwhile, shares his thoughts on the Autumn Statement and the future of the triple lock.

Silvia and Alison Taylor of NYU Stern School of Business look into the language of sustainability and find it still has a pretty loose grammar and highly convoluted syntax. Most native speakers do not even agree on a common interpretation of environmental, social and governance factors. The good news is: more of us are trying to learn this language. And Alison shares a few tips on how she teaches it too. In the show, Alison mentions a piece she’s written for Sustainable Views. You can find it here https://www.sustainableviews.com/incentivising-esg-what-does-it-really-take/To read more of our articles on ESG policy and regulation, you can register for a free trial here https://survey.ft.com/jfe/form/SV_9RGu5ktcIREwMLA

Philip Shucksmith, a portfolio manager in Newton Investment Management’s real return team, and Martina Macpherson, head of ESG product management within the Financial Information Business Unit at SIX, discuss pension schemes and their path to net zero, debating how green investment in different asset classes works, along with the question of labelling so-called 'green' assets.This podcast is sponsored by Newton Investment Management.

The current political and financial climate has made fixed income markets volatile and uncertain around the world. However, taking an active approach may help build resilience to potential headwinds while gaining greater exposure to the opportunities that arise.Listen to this podcast to gain insight from Gordon Harding, PIMCO fixed-income strategist on the current climate and what to potentially expect in the coming months.