08:15
Registration and coffee
08:50
Chair’s opening remarks
Vincent Huck, Editor, Insurance Asset Risk
09:00
Panel: What does responsible investing mean for insurers? Where does sustainability risk fit into overall risk assessment?
- What do asset owners want from responsible investing? What is actually achievable?
- Examining how insurers are approaching sustainability risk: should it be treated separately to other risk?
- How should your responsible investing strategy from the investment side interact with the underwriting side? Must the two be aligned?
- How does the risk-return profile of responsible investments tie in with fiduciary duty?
Moderator:
Vincent Huck, Editor, Insurance Asset Risk
Cléo Fitzsimons, Head of Sustainability, Pension Insurance Corporation
Dominik Albert, Sustainability Engagement Manager,Allianz Investment Management
09:30
Panel: Planning and implementing an effective transition strategy
- Financing the transition: what does this mean for insurers? What is needed to achieve scalability?
- Best practices in building and executing a transition planning strategy, and using transition plans for decision-making
- Understanding the current geopolitical environment, how policy and emerging standards are impacting transition strategies, and how this might evolve going forward
- Discussing the challenges of investing in renewables to support transition, given the tight pricing environment and swings in power costs
- How are insurers using stewardship and engagement as a tool to support their transition strategies?
- Examining the role of investing in developing markets in financing the transition
Moderator:
Josh Adcock, Staff Writer, Insurance Asset Risk
Panellists:
Brendan Abadie, Sustainable Investments Analyst, Phoenix Group
Nimisha Sodha, Head of Responsible Investment, Just Group
10:10
Panel: Climate aware strategic asset allocation, stress testing and scenario analysis
- Aligning climate goals with the asset allocation strategy
- Assessing climate, transition and physical risks within the portfolio, and integrating these into traditional investment and risk functions
- Best practices in stress testing and scenario analysis, and examining how it is being used for decision-making
- Understanding regulatory expectations of scenario analysis and how these are evolving
Moderator:
Kerry King, Director of Capital Markets, Accounting for Sustainability (A4S)
Panellists:
Charlie Beard, Responsible Investing Manager - Climate Lead, Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC)
Monica Filkova, Climate and Nature Investment Strategy Lead, Aviva
10:50
Coffee break & networking
11:20
Panel: Exploring the growing landscape of biodiversity and natural capital investments: opportunities, risks and challenges
- How investable is natural capital and biodiversity, and how might investability be expanded? How does it fit with insurers' long term investment strategies, risk appetite, and fiduciary duties?
- Examining biodiversity as a portfolio diversifier, with its own sets of risks and returns
- What does a nature investment opportunity look like? Sharing specific examples
- Addressing the lack of metrics for measuring biodiversity investments, and the progress towards developing a standardised framework:
- As ESRS E4, the GRI biodiversity standards, and the TNFD framework roll out, what lessons can be learned from early adopters and how are these standards and framework helping investors to measure nature-related impacts, risks and opportunities?
- Where do biodiversity and nature fit into other standards, such ISSB/ESRS/GRI?
- Policy: what outcomes can be expected from COP16, and what could this mean for insurers and their biodiversity investment strategies
- Discussing the drivers and inhibitors for the growth of biodiversity and natural capital and its future role in insurers' investment strategies
Moderator:
Josh Adcock, Staff Writer, Insurance Asset Risk
Panellists:
David Thompson, Chief Investment Officer UK, Zurich Insurance Company
Rebecca Lea, Manager, Investment & Climate, Association of British Insurers (ABI)
Suresh Weerasinghe, Head of UK Growth and Investments, Group Public Affairs, Aviva & Chair of Advisory Board, Finance for Biodiversity Foundation
12:00
Presentation: Building a nature-positive investment framework for insurers
- Overview of investment approaches for creating a nature-positive portfolio
- Comparing climate- and nature-focused investment strategies
- Case studies on nature-positive investment opportunities
Anthony Garcia, Senior Director - Responsible Investing, Nuveen
12:20
Panel: The role of real assets in responsible investment and impact strategies
- Examining the role of infrastructure, renewables and real estate in insurers' investment portfolios, and how their ESG/impact components are integrated into real asset strategies
- What regulatory and government policy changes could help channel insurers' capital towards green infrastructure and real estate projects?
- How to measure impact in real asset portfolios?
- Discussing the capex challenges of using real assets to support net-zero transition
- Case study: investing in infrastructure debt to build climate resilience
Moderator:
Robert Leeming, News editor, Insurance Asset Risk
Panellists:
Bianca Hanscombe, Head of Sustainable Investments - UK Life, Aviva
Danielle Brassel, Head of Responsible Investments, Zurich Insurance Company
Paul Flavier, Head of Group Strategic Asset Allocation, AXA
Rachel Delhaise, Head of Sustainability, Convex Insurance
Victoria Miles, Founding Partner, co-CEO and CIO, ImpactA Global
13:10
Chair’s closing remarks
Vincent Huck, Editor, Insurance Asset Risk
13:20
Lunch & networking
