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Sustainable Finance & Consumer Protection Webinar

2° Investing Initiative will launch and discuss a new series of research papers focused on retail clients’ sustainability investment objectives, compliance of environmental marketing claims, and consent of beneficiaries on the use of shareholder voting rights.

Our survey results and literature review suggest that two-thirds of retail investors have sustainability investment objectives, and 40% want to have a measurable environmental impact in the real economy.

Meanwhile, we found that half of the 230 “sustainability-themed” retail funds we analyzed make environmental impact claims, and almost none of them comply with regulatory guidance that require claims to be specific, unambiguous and substantiated.

Another principal-agent problem relates to the use of shareholder voting rights by fund managers. While impact-oriented retail clients seem to favor engagement and use of voting rights as the best mobilization mechanism, voting rights legally belong to fund managers – who do not consult retail clients on their use.

Policy relevance:

Please note we will stream the entire webinar via Zoom, and you are welcome to login before your chosen session(s) and/or remain for the following sessions. The webinar will also be recorded for those who wish to watch later. For any questions, please email comms@2degrees-investing.org!

Full program:

Speakers:
  • Aleksandra Mączyńska, Executive Director; Edoardo Carlucci, Research & Policy Officer, BETTER FINANCE
  • Stan Dupré, CEO and Co-Founder; David Cooke, Policy Manager; Pablo Felmer Roa, Senior Legal Analyst, 2° Investing Initiative
  • Dr. Bo van Grinsven, Owner & Consultant, Behavioral Insights Company
  • Julian McLachlan, Policy officer at the European Commission’s DG Environment
  • Will Pomroy, Engagement Director at Hermes Investment Management
  • Dr. Rob Bauer, Professor of Finance, Institutional Investors Chair, Maastricht University
  • Sebastien Godinot, Economist, WWF European Policy Office
  • Dr. Julian Kolbel, Head of Research, Post-Doc, University of Zurich

I. Compliance of environmental impact claims (9:00-9:45) – Please note all times are Central European Time (CET)

9:00 – 9:30 – Misleading marketing claims – Pablo Felmer Roa & Stan Dupré (2DII)
9:30-9:45 [Q&A]

II. Consumer expectations (9:45-10:45)

9:45-9:55 – Policy context – Aleksandra Mączyńska & Edoardo Carlucci (Better Finance)
9:55 – 10:10 – Consumer surveys – Stan Dupré (2DII) & Dr. Bo van Grinsven (Behavioral Insights Company)
10:10 – 10:25 – Behavioral finance perspective – Dr. Rob Bauer (Maastricht University)
10:25-10:45 [Q&A]
10:45-11:00 – Break

III. Environmental impact measurement: focus on engagement (11:00-12:30)

11:00-11:10 – Policy context – Sebastien Godinot (WWF)
11:10-11:25 – Measurement – Dr. Julian Kolbel (University of Zurich)
11:25-11:40 – Hermes case study – Will Pomroy (Hermes Asset Management)
11:40-11:55 – Vote for Paris / Shareholder resolutions paper – David Cooke (2DII)
11:55-12:30 [Q&A]
12:30-15:00 – Break & Lunch

IV. EU Ecolabel for Financial Products (15:00-16:00)

15:00-15:15 – Ecolabel intro – Julian McLachlan (European Commission)
15:15-15:30 – Presentation of 2DII’s Ecolabel note – Stan Dupré (2DII)
15:30-16:00 – [Q&A]

Watch the webinar recording:

 

Note on the funders: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Life programme under grant agreement no. LIFE18 IPC/FR/000010 – AFFAP. The webinar reflects the organizers’ views only and the funders are not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

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Our survey results and literature review suggest that two-thirds of retail investors have sustainability investment objectives, and 40% want to have a measurable environmental impact in the real economy.

Meanwhile, we found that half of the 230 “sustainability-themed” retail funds we analyzed make environmental impact claims, and almost none of them comply with regulatory guidance that require claims to be specific, unambiguous and substantiated.

Another principal-agent problem relates to the use of shareholder voting rights by fund managers. While impact-oriented retail clients seem to favor engagement and use of voting rights as the best mobilization mechanism, voting rights legally belong to fund managers – who do not consult retail clients on their use.

Policy relevance:

Please note we will stream the entire webinar via Zoom, and you are welcome to login before your chosen session(s) and/or remain for the following sessions. The webinar will also be recorded for those who wish to watch later. For any questions, please email comms@2degrees-investing.org!

Full program:

Speakers:
  • Aleksandra Mączyńska, Executive Director; Edoardo Carlucci, Research & Policy Officer, BETTER FINANCE
  • Stan Dupré, CEO and Co-Founder; David Cooke, Policy Manager; Pablo Felmer Roa, Senior Legal Analyst, 2° Investing Initiative
  • Dr. Bo van Grinsven, Owner & Consultant, Behavioral Insights Company
  • Julian McLachlan, Policy officer at the European Commission’s DG Environment
  • Will Pomroy, Engagement Director at Hermes Investment Management
  • Dr. Rob Bauer, Professor of Finance, Institutional Investors Chair, Maastricht University
  • Sebastien Godinot, Economist, WWF European Policy Office
  • Dr. Julian Kolbel, Head of Research, Post-Doc, University of Zurich

I. Compliance of environmental impact claims (9:00-9:45) – Please note all times are Central European Time (CET)

9:00 – 9:30 – Misleading marketing claims – Pablo Felmer Roa & Stan Dupré (2DII)
9:30-9:45 [Q&A]

II. Consumer expectations (9:45-10:45)

9:45-9:55 – Policy context – Aleksandra Mączyńska & Edoardo Carlucci (Better Finance)
9:55 – 10:10 – Consumer surveys – Stan Dupré (2DII) & Dr. Bo van Grinsven (Behavioral Insights Company)
10:10 – 10:25 – Behavioral finance perspective – Dr. Rob Bauer (Maastricht University)
10:25-10:45 [Q&A]
10:45-11:00 – Break

III. Environmental impact measurement: focus on engagement (11:00-12:30)

11:00-11:10 – Policy context – Sebastien Godinot (WWF)
11:10-11:25 – Measurement – Dr. Julian Kolbel (University of Zurich)
11:25-11:40 – Hermes case study – Will Pomroy (Hermes Asset Management)
11:40-11:55 – Vote for Paris / Shareholder resolutions paper – David Cooke (2DII)
11:55-12:30 [Q&A]
12:30-15:00 – Break & Lunch

IV. EU Ecolabel for Financial Products (15:00-16:00)

15:00-15:15 – Ecolabel intro – Julian McLachlan (European Commission)
15:15-15:30 – Presentation of 2DII’s Ecolabel note – Stan Dupré (2DII)
15:30-16:00 – [Q&A]

Watch the webinar recording:

 

Note on the funders: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Life programme under grant agreement no. LIFE18 IPC/FR/000010 – AFFAP. The webinar reflects the organizers’ views only and the funders are not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.