Finding Ways
Ahead
ESG and Sustainable Finance Advisory
Evidence-based ESG approaches that work
ESG, sustainable finance and impact investing have been on the corporate and investor agenda for over 20 years.
This is good news – obviously they have not been the fads that some made them out to be early on.
However, many are still struggling to define the ‘right’ ESG approach for their organization.
This is where I can help: I bring 25 years’ experience in the corporate world, including some 13 years focusing on ESG, to the table.
My approach
In advising clients, I focus on:
Efficacy
Identifying objectives comes first: what do you want to achieve? Which problems are we trying to solve? Then comes the implementation – the selection of the right tools for the job. And a focus on tools that ‘work’.
Simplicity
ESG and impact can be bewildering: so many ‘E’, ‘S’ and ‘G’ factors, 17 Sustainable Development Goals, “Paris” & “Net Zero”, an abundance of data, and new regulations coming out every month. I can make sense of the complexity and boil it down to the essentials: what do you need to know. And what do you need to do.
Evidence & Facts
The academic world has learned a thing or two about ESG in the last 20 years. But companies are not always paying attention to academic papers. One day a week, I work with the experts at the University of Zurich Center for Sustainable Finance & Private Wealth which keeps me firmly grounded in rigorous thinking and evidence-based approaches, and up-to-date of the latest developments and insights.
You
What kind of organization are you? What are your purpose, your strategy, your objectives? An ESG policy or impact strategy needs to be aligned with all this in order for it to be effective and credible.
Finding Ways Ahead?
The name Finding Ways Ahead is a paraphrase of something I heard Jane Goodall, the primatologist and anthropologist, say on a podcast interview about protecting the environment:
“And so it’s a whole area that we need to address, not pointing fingers, but working out ways ahead.”
This perfectly captures my thinking about the field of sustainability, where we are often more concerned with “pointing fingers” than with solving problems.
With Finding Ways Ahead I want to contribute to … working out ways ahead.