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Sustainable Views


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  • 5. Sustainable Views: Can a green app change your behaviour?

    17:33
    In this episode, Silvia speaks to the founder of AWorld, the official app of the UN Act Now campaign that encourages individual action towards meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals.Alessandro Armillotta, who is also AWorld’s chief executive, believes in the power of the individual. He created the app after working in the fashion industry and seeing the environmental damage it caused in the countries producing garments. AWorld is, in a way, Alessandro’s own individual action towards a more sustainable economy.Technology, says Alessandro, can help influence consumer behaviour by providing information about the environmental impact of each purchase or lifestyle choice. The more targeted the information, the higher the chances of improved habits. But, the more data app users share about themselves, the higher the risk this could be misused.Alessandro talks about the need for safeguards around data, the risk of greenwashing, and how AWorld could go as far as influencing the way people vote.

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  • 4. Sustainable Views: What you need to know about ESG rules, investment and litigation

    20:08
    In this episode, the Sustainable Views team reviews some of the hottest topics of the year, and points you towards the trends to watch in 2024. From new obligations and reporting rules, to sustainable investment definitions, climate lawsuits, greenwashing and clean technologies - we have you covered.Listen to your host, Silvia Pavoni, as she talks to Philippa Nuttall, Alex Janiaud, Claudia De Meulemeester and Florence Jones. And read their reports online at sustainableviews.com
  • 3. Sustainable Views: Age, gender and Jordan Peterson's influence

    15:09
    Evidence suggests that different ages and genders engage in varying degrees with climate change. Our latest episode's guests tackle how these factors can benefit or hinder progress - from young people’s tech nous to the influence of figures like psychologist Jordan Peterson, who has disputed climate science and has broadcast this message to a significant following.Mira Manini Tiwari, a research associate at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, and Akil Callender, youth lead at UN Sustainable Energy for All, talk to Alex about their activity and experience, and discuss the impact of disinformation on the young. Akil discusses his UN work and the organisation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals - also known as the SDGs - while Mira talks about the social theory that suggests a more collective mindset among women, and the relevance of this to climate change. As humanity continues to debate how it should tackle the climate crisis, policymakers may need to consider more bespoke approaches to the transition.
  • 2. Sustainable Views: From football stardom to green investing

    14:26
    Working in sustainability is almost by definition a “career change”, given the recent nature of this area. As far as career moves go, however, few may feel as far apart as those of elite football and niche science.French international footballer Mathieu Flamini has done just that, co-founding GF Biochemicals at the end of his playing days. Football aficionados will remember Flamini’s time with the French national team, England’s Arsenal and Italy’s AC Milan.These days, his focus is on developing a version of levulinic acid, a plant-based alternative to the oil-based chemicals used in paints, cosmetics and other products, that can be mass-produced from agricultural waste. Flamini believes this could transform industries and cut carbon emissions; investors seem to agree with him. GF Biochemicals has secured €15mn of funding for this development, and has already a couple of hundred patents for plant-based substances.In an interview at the Financial Times studio in London on October 2, Flamini talks to Alex Janiaud about the need to channel capital into the climate transition, his work with the French government, and ESG regulation. He also shares his views on the UK government's watering down of climate targets.-Register to our daily newsletter here: https://www.sustainableviews.com/sv/request-free-trial
  • 1. Sustainable Views: Lessons from a whistleblower

    22:38
    If you work in sustainability, you'll already be familiar with Desiree Fixler.If you're new to this area, Desiree is the whistleblower who instigated multiple investigations into the ESG credentials of DWS, the asset manager part of Deutsche Bank. At one point, the German police got involved too. The company’s shares dived; its CEO stepped down. This is arguably the biggest sustainable finance scandal to date.Desiree, who used to be DWS’s global sustainability officer, accused her former employer of greenwashing. In September this year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission concluded she was right. It fined the asset manager a whopping $19mn for ESG misstatements - the SEC's largest ever ESG fine.In this new episode of Sustainable Views, Desiree talks to Silvia Pavoni, your host, about how sustainable finance should change to actually be sustainable – and avoid misleading investors. She also shares her views on regulators’ role in this area (she’s not a fan of the EU’s sustainable finance disclosure rules, which she says are a “train wreck”); and calls on companies to build solid ESG expertise internally, rather than outsourcing the work – and the responsibility – to consultants.Desiree also gives advice on how to tackle greenwashing within companies, and how to deal with life as a whistleblower.-Links:Some reading on the EU’s disclosure rules: https://www.sustainableviews.com/csrd-under-attack-as-eu-gears-up-for-elections/About sustainable finance regulation, here: https://www.sustainableviews.com/should-article-9-funds-invest-in-transitioning-companies/And about other ESG reporting proposals, here: https://www.sustainableviews.com/uk-government-seeks-industry-views-on-issb-scope-3-standards/…and here: https://www.sustainableviews.com/european-commission-urged-to-align-eu-reporting-standards-with-issb/Here you can register to receive our daily newsletter: https://www.sustainableviews.com/sv/request-free-trial
  • 10. Best of: ESG, carbon offsets, climate tech

    15:59
    In the last episode of our first season, Silvia takes you through our more popular shows – from our very first recording, where Alison Taylor of NYU Stern School of Business examined the “language” of ESG; to a close look at carbon markets, credits and offsetting; to a conversation with Mathias Wikström, the founder of Swedish climate tech start-up Doconomy, about education, inclusivity, and activism.Our top shows:How to speak ‘ESG’Should you offset your carbon emissions?Meet the green tech activistsAlison Taylor's opinion piece:Incentivising ESG: What does it really take? Our carbon market coverage:Kenya carbon offsetting project has ‘serious failings’, report findsIntegrity Council launches global benchmark for carbon creditsBuilding up the voluntary carbon markets
  • 9. Sustainable Views: Raising ‘quality’ green capital in Europe

    18:12
    In this episode of Sustainable Views, Silvia talks to Lubomila Jordanova, the founder and CEO of Plan A, a carbon reporting start-up with offices in Berlin, Paris, and London. Lubomila says that Europe, rather than the US, is the best place to raise “quality” capital for climate companies. Much of this is due to investors’ closer familiarity with the challenges at hand, she says, as well as because of the ever-growing set of European regulations that are shaping the environmental, social, and governance space. Lubomila talks about some of the industries that are more deeply affected by new rules – and gives advice to entrepreneurs looking to enter the green tech space. In addition to leading Plan A, she is also the co-founder of the Greentech Alliance, an organisation that supports and connects founders.-Silicon Valley Bank collapse and its impact on green tech financing.Find Silvia on LinkedIn here and Twitter here.