Making Informed Decisions About Climate Risks

Synopsis 

The growing list of extreme weather events and the shocking scale of loss and damage around the world this summer has put governments and businesses on notice. From an unprecedented heatwave that enveloped Western Canada and the North-western US and baked shellfish in their shells, to floods that ravaged many European nations including Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK, overtopped dams in China, inundated several states in India and caused widespread flood damage, including landslides, in parts of Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, Yemen, Japan, Nepal, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Bangladesh.

What could governments and the private sector have done differently had we known about specific areas of vulnerability to the physical, transitional and liability risks posed by climate change? More importantly, how will we need to allocate finite and scarce resources now, to limit future exposure to risk and to reduce vulnerability of assets and infrastructure to loss and damage?

Now more than ever, information currently available only to specialised and government technical agencies and research institutes needs to become available and understandable to the public and private sectors to strengthen decision-making and inform the allocation of assets and capital. Access to relevant information classes could support informed investment, lending, and insurance underwriting decisions and improve understanding and analysis of climate-related risks and opportunities.

Ultimately, access to such information will enable investors to engage with companies on the resilience of their strategies and capital spending, which should help avoid transition shocks and promote a smooth transition to a lower-carbon economy.

Program

(2:30pm) Welcome note (5 min)

(2:35pm) Presentation by Michael Salvatico and Sannya Joseph, S&P Global (20 min)

Investors are likely heavily exposed to climate risk through the portfolios they manage and the indices in which they invest. 66% of major companies have at least one asset at high risk from the physical impacts of climate change. Measuring the transition risk exposure and alignment of investments to the Paris Agreement can help transition the global economy to a low carbon future and reduce the severity of climate change related physical risks in portfolios.

Listen to these speakers to understand:

What is climate change scenario analysis?

How to measure portfolio exposure to climate change related risks both transition and physical risk?

How to measure portfolio alignment to Paris Agreement and a 1.5 Degree world?

How do investors manage portfolio climate risk exposure?

Why ESG and Climate Resilient indices are more sustainable benchmarks?

The speakers will then share a call to action: measure transition and physical climate risk in portfolios; manage portfolio climate risk through BREAM (Benchmarking, Reporting, Engagement, Analysis and Modelling); and shift to ESG and Climate Resilient indices.

(2:55pm) The panel discussion following this will be moderated by Lya Rahman, Advisor to the Institutional Investors Council of Malaysia (35 min).

Panellists:

Nurhisham Hussein, Chief Strategy Officer, Employees Provident Fund.

Azlan Hussein, Director/Head of Equity, KWAP

Michael Salvatico, S&P Global 

Sannya Joseph, S&P Global

(3:30pm) End of webinar

About the Speakers

Michael Salvatico leads environmental, social and governance (ESG) business development in Asia Pacific for S&P Global Sustainable1, based in Sydney.  For more than a decade Michael has been providing sustainable solutions to investors, banks, corporates, regulators, governments and academics. Michael works with these organisations to understand and better Benchmark, Report, Engage, Analyse and Model ESG risks and opportunities across their organisations. Over this time, a key focus has been climate change impacts on global economies, corporates and financial institutions, with deep experience in de-risking portfolios, identifying opportunities and reporting on baseline footprinting and scenario analysis.

Michael regularly presents at events and has been and continues to be involved in ESG initiatives including, ASFI Technical Working Group – Enhancing sustainability/resilience/stability of the financial system, PRI Fixed Income Working Group, Willoughby Council Sustainability Reference Group, IGCC - Policy Advocacy Working Group,  AIGCC - Physical Risks & Resilience Working Group, HKGFA - ESG Disclosure and Integration Working Group.

Prior to joining S&P Global Sustainable, Michael led Asia Pacific ESG Business Development for Trucost, part of S&P Global. Michael was an Executive Director at MSCI Inc. and oversaw the company’s ESG Research in Australia and New Zealand. His career experience involves working in portfolio analytics, quantitative investment analysis and ESG research. Before MSCI Inc., he was part of the highly rated research team at Bank of America - Merrill Lynch where he was head of Emerging Markets quantitative analysis. Michael received a Master of Applied Finance and Investment from the Securities Institute of Australia, and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales.

Sannya Joseph is Quantitative Specialist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, focusses on the Investment Management segment, specifically equities. She began her career with S&P Global in 2009 as part of the technology division that focuses on developing quantitative products. She has an Engineering degree in Information Technology and a certification in Financial Risk and Investment Management from the Indian Institute of Management – Calcutta. She is currently a CFA Level 3 candidate.

Nurhisham Hussein is Chief Strategy Officer of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) where he heads up the Strategy Division, which includes the Strategy Management, People Management and Corporate Affairs departments as well as the EPF Learning Centre. Prior to this role, Hisham was EPF’s Head of the Economics and Capital Markets Department where he oversaw the economic surveillance of over 20 economies across the globe, contributing to the investment process at EPF.

Hisham began his career in merchant banking in the 1990s, and has held several economics and strategy related roles with various financial institutions, including Perwira Affin Bank, Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) and the Malaysian Rating Corporation Berhad (MARC). Hisham holds a Bachelors of Science (Econs) in Monetary Economics from the University of London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and a Masters in Economics from University Malaya (UM).

Azlan Hussein is Director/Head of Equity, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP), this Fund is applied towards assisting the Federal Government in financing its pension liability. 

Azlan has spent most of his career in Asset Management and Investment industry with more than 23 years of working experience in the relevant areas. He is mostly a portfolio manager at heart. Currently, Azlan is a Senior Director of KWAP and heading the Equity Department. He is responsible for the overall investment strategy, specific portfolio/mandate strategy, annual income target and the overall performance of both Domestic and International Equity portfolios.

Prior to joining KWAP in October 2018, Azlan was the CEO and Executive Director of MIDF Amanah Asset Management Berhad managing the investment portfolios for Pension fund, Corporates, Institutional and retail clients. He led an aggressive marketing and business development team with an annual target of RM500 million for new clients’ acquisition. 

An accountant by training, he is well versed in financial and accounting analysis and therefore has naturally thrived in investment and portfolio management. Azlan graduated from Southbank University of London with honours degree in Accounting and Finance and also a graduate of Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants (ACCA) from Emile Woolf College, London.