This event has now taken place but you can watch the video recording of it through our Youtube Channel, get to it by clicking the button below
When
Tuesday, March 9th from 6:00pm until 8:00pm, UK timeWhere
Online symposium via Zoom.Format
There'll be a great line-up of speakers plus ample scope for discussion and debate.Why you should attend
The confluence of crises facing us represents an historic inflection point that can energise positive, progressive and purposeful reform. As a consequence, many stakeholders are coalescing around the idea of “building back better.”
However, to build back better successfully we’ll need to create a compelling case for change; and that means harnessing powerful ESG data that can be used to good effect as campaign collateral.
In the past, ESG data has largely focused on Environment-related risks and opportunities, with relatively poor availability of good quality Social and Governance data. Investors have been slow to acknowledge the materiality of ‘S’ and ‘G’ data but building back better post Covid will demand a paradigm shift forward, to better include for example corporate infringements in relation to all aspects of E, S and G, throughout the entire ecosystem; not just the corporates themselves but also their entire supply chains.
This symposium will showcase powerful ESG data that can shine a bright light on what’s been in the shadows, hidden from view.
We also hope that our event will encourage ongoing collaboration amongst like-minded individuals and organisations who are keen to address issues such as:
- The super-seismic impact of Covid; and the adverse economic shock wave it is creating
- The need for the USA to ‘hit the reset button’ by restoring basic values of decency
- The need to reject fake news and to re-establish the notion of truthfulness
- The need to protect hard-earned employment rights
- The need for investors and asset managers to access meaningful primary data on which they can rely when making investment decisions
- The challenge for investors to access accurate and relevant data from issuers when attempting to factor ESG risks and opportunities into their investment decisions
- Whether portfolios are Paris-aligned
- Data lag, which hinders the “predictive power” of ESG metrics
- Making sure we don’t miss what might be the last chance to save the planet
We believe that James Baldwin was right when he said:
“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
…and we also believe that dynamite data will help us understand what we’re facing, so we can change it.
The more stakeholders involved with this collective effort by ShareAction, Violation Tracker and the Transparency Task Force, the better. So, don’t just take advantage of the complimentary place we’re making available for you; please do what you can to spread the word and encourage those you know to do the same.
Here's the programme and timings so far...
—————————————-6:00pm GMT—————————————-
Welcome to the symposium, introductions and initial exploration of the main issues; by
Andy Agathangelou
Founder, Transparency Task Force; Governor, Pensions Policy Institute; Chair, Secretariat Committee, APPG on Pension Scams; Chair, Secretariat Committee, APPG on Personal Banking and Fairer Financial Services
—————————————-6:15pm GMT—————————————-
Presentation #1, for 15 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A/Discussion by
Martin Buttle
Head of Good Work, ShareAction
Aine Clarke
Investor Engagement Manager, Workforce Disclosure Initiative at ShareAction
—————————————-6:35pm GMT—————————————-
Presentation #2, for 15 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A/Discussion by
Greg LeRoy
Executive Director, Good Jobs First
Philip Mattera
Research Director, Good Jobs First
—————————————-6:55pm GMT—————————————-
Short leg-stretch and comfort break, for 5 minutes
—————————————-7:00pm GMT—————————————-
Presentation #3, for 10 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A/Discussion by
Antonio Potenza
Managing Partner & Co-Founder, Progress2Impact
Managing Director & Co-Founder, Proodos Impact Capital
Steve Kenzie
Executive Director at UN Global Compact Network UK
—————————————-7:15pm GMT—————————————-
The “Just a minute”-round
Inspired by the BBC Radio 4 programme, we have asked a selection of our attendees to spend just a minute sharing their thoughts on what has been covered during the symposium. But unlike the Radio 4 programme our speakers won’t be penalised for hesitation, repetition or deviation!
Speakers:
Heather Buchanan
Executive Director, Policy & Strategy, APPG on Fair Business Banking
Rebecca Self
Director of Sustainable Finance, south pole
Stuart Woollard
Managing Partner, OMS LLP
Hamish Macalister
Chief Data Scientist, First Investment Management
Blake Goud
CEO, RFI Foundation
Anna Tilba
Associate Professor in Strategy & Governance, Durham University
—————————————-7:30pm GMT—————————————-
Open discussion & debate, 15 minutes
—————————————-7:55pm GMT—————————————-
Final conclusions; suggested next steps and close to the formal proceedings.
However, for those that want it…
8pm GMT until 8:30pm GMT
….informal, unstructured networking and conversation.
___________________________________________________________________
*The programme will continuously evolve so is subject to change.
Andy Agathangelou
Founder, Transparency Task Force; Governor, Pensions Policy Institute; Chair, Secretariat Committee, APPG on Pension Scams; Chair, Secretariat Committee, APPG on Personal Banking and Fairer Financial Services
Andy formed the Transparency Task Force after a meeting he led at Senate House, University of London on 6th May 2015. The meeting was about the need for the financial services industry to behave in a more trustworthy way and how harnessing the transformational power of transparency can drive the change that is needed. Andy is also a Governor of the UK’s Pensions Policy Institute and he is the former Founder of Friends of Automatic Enrolment and Chair of the Friends of the Association of Member Nominated Trustees; an organisation he helped to create.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dr Martin Buttle
Head of Good Work at ShareAction
Dr Martin Buttle is Head of Good Work at ShareAction – a charity that works to make the global investment system responsible for its impacts on people and the environment, while mobilising its power to address pressing environmental and social challenges. He co-ordinates a Good Work investor coalition of 34 investors with $2.9tn Assets Under Management (AUM) focused on living wages, insecure work and inclusion & diversity. In the UK, ShareAction has long campaigned to get FTSE100 companies to sign up to the voluntary Living Wage. Since 2013, the number of FTSE100 companies now paying the Living Wage has grown from 2 to 43 – a combined rise of £89 million for over 21,000 of the lowest paid. He was previously at the Ethical Trading Initiative where he was responsible for ETIs programme work in South India, Turkey, and the UK. Martin has over 16 years’ experience in supply chain labour rights in academia, consultancy and the non-profit sector.
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Áine Clarke, Investor Engagement Manager
Workforce Disclosure Initiative at ShareAction
Áine works on the WDI team engaging institutional investors on the importance of decent workforce practices and developing strategies to improve corporate reporting across direct operations and supply chain. Prior to joining ShareAction she worked as an analyst at a financial research company conducting sector, thematic and event driven research for hedge fund clients. She is passionate about channelling investment for social good. She had a B.A in European Studies from Trinity College, and an M.A in International Political Economy from Warwick University.
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Greg LeRoy, Executive Director
Good Jobs First
Dubbed “the leading [U.S.] national watchdog of state and local economic development subsidies,” and “an encyclopedia of information regarding subsidies,” Greg founded and directs Good Jobs First, a research and policy center promoting accountability in economic development. His two books include The Great American Jobs Scam, which Publishers Weekly called ““…a parade of damning case studies showing why communities should not woo corporations with subsidies.” GJF is home to Subsidy Tracker, Tax Break Tracker and Violation Tracker. Violation Tracker captures 20 years of federal and state regulatory penalties; it reveals the U.S. financial services sector to be by far the nation’s most heavily-penalized corporate sector. GJF led the campaign for Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement 77 on Tax Abatement Disclosures, a landmark in U.S. municipal finance. It requires all states and most local governments (cities, counties and school districts) to finally disclose how much revenue they lose to corporate tax breaks. It remains the only form of tax expenditure ever codified by GASB.
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Phillip Mattera, Research Director
Good Jobs First
Phil has been doing strategic corporate research for labor, environmental, public-interest and other activist groups around the U.S. for three decades. Before that he worked as a business journalist. He is a licensed private investigator and author of four books on business, labor and economics. His blog on corporate research and corporate misbehavior is the Dirt Diggers Digest. He has written more than 70 critical company profiles for the Corporate Rap Sheets section of the Corporate Research Project website. He leads the work on Violation Tracker.
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Antonio Potenza
Managing Partner & Co-Founder, Progress2Impact; Managing Director & Co-Founder, Proodos Impact Capital
Antonio is a graduate from University of Oxford, Said Business School MBA with main Focus on Social Impact, Impact Investments and Social Finance. Executive Education from University of Cambridge, Institute for Sustainability leadership, with a degree in High Impact Leadership.
He is a specialist in social and financial inclusion, building multi-asset strategies, debt/equity/blended finance and Impact Bonds across Europe, Latin America and South East Asia. He advises governments in social projects that build on the UN SDG’s in clean energy, education, social and financial inclusion initiatives in Sub Saharan Africa, Middle East and South Asia.
Antonio is committed to helping organizations deploy capital and innovative finance products in emerging markets that drive social change and fight social injustice and poverty.
Specialties: Investment banking, strategy, leadership, project execution, social impact, impact investments, blockchain/digital economy , interim management
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Steve Kenzie
Executive Director at UN Global Compact Network UK
Steve has managed the Secretariat of the UN Global Compact Network UK since 2008, connecting UK companies and other organisations in a global movement dedicated to driving corporate sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals. He also Chairs UNGC’s Global Network Council and sits on the UN Global Compact Board.
He was previously a Programme Director at the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) leading projects across a wide range of responsible business issue areas. Prior to joining IBLF, Steve was the founder and Managing Director of a successful retail sports equipment business in Canada.
Steve has a B.Comm from the University of British Columbia and an MSc in Business & Environment from Imperial College London.