IE University and International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds Host Seminar on Carbon and Sustainability Reporting

IE University’s Center for the Governance of Change hosted, in partnership with the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF), a seminar about the impact that institutional investors have on the rapidly changing landscape of climate change and how these long-term investors can drive progress. The event highlighted the hurdles that investors have faced in dealing with sustainability reporting and how public sector regulations are rapidly evolving.

The event followed the publication of IE University’s annual Sovereign Wealth Funds Report, in partnership with ICEX-Invest in Spain, and the IFSWF’s release of its first comprehensive survey of sovereign wealth funds’ attitudes to climate change, in partnership with One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds.

“It is a pleasure to have the support of our partners in this endeavor to share knowledge and ideas regarding carbon and sustainability reporting in relation to sovereign wealth funds.”
Susana Malcorra, Dean of IE School of Global and Public Affairs

Susana Malcorra, Dean of IE School of Global and Public Affairs, opened the event. “The IE Center for the Governance of Change’s Sovereign Wealth Research, which has been focused on the activity of funds for more than ten years, has highlighted in our most recent annual report how sovereign wealth funds are engaging with big corporations to execute green asset rotation strategies through co-investments in renewable energy – including green hydrogen power generation plants or by investing in carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies – or divesting carbon-intensive portfolio companies,” said Malcorra.

Isabela del Alcazar, Global Head of Sustainability at IE University, moderated the first panel about the regulation and practice of sustainable investments in the private equity space, speaking with Maryanne Hancock, CEO of Y Analytics/TPG, and Tim Mohin, Chief Sustainability Officer of Persefoni AI.

IFSWF CEO Duncan Bonfield led the second discussion, which focused on how sovereign wealth funds must change in 2021 in order to invest sustainably and included Derek Rozycki, Head of Responsible Investing of Mubadala Investment Company, and Rodrigo Madrazo, Managing Director of COFIDES.

“What is clear today is the urgency and shift taking place in the investment world,” said Javier Capapé, Director of Sovereign Wealth Research at the IE Center for the Governance of Change. “Corporations and investors alike are moving quickly from working with best practices and recommendations to operating under mandatory carbon and sustainability disclosure and reporting.”

Capapé concluded the event saying, “Sovereign wealth funds’ funding of critical technologies such as green hydrogen, new alternative energy sources or carbon capture utilization and storage is an investment that will increase these technologies’ expansion, and this is key for progress in regards to climate change mitigation and adaptation.”