Seb Beloe of WHEB AM - Investing In The Transition To A Zero Carbon And Sustainable Economy
Episode 28, Apr 24, 2020, 01:20 PM
WHEB Asset Management is a positive impact investor focused on the opportunities created by the transition to a low carbon and sustainable global economy.
Seb Beloe is the Head of Research and leads the integration of sustainability analysis within the investment process, as well as overseeing engagement activities. Previously, Seb was Head of SRI Research at Henderson Global Investors where he led on the identification and analysis of sustainability themes and company-level corporate responsibility analysis. Prior to Henderson, Seb was the Vice President of Research and Advocacy at SustainAbility. He has published several reports on sustainable business, and has been a member of numerous corporate advisory boards and awards panels. Seb has two degrees in environmental science and technology, from the University of East Anglia and Imperial College and is a Chartered Environmentalist.
Highlight:
- You must have a long term perspective in investing.
- “...what’s really changed is the level of interest in sustainability and impact investing from institutional investors and retail investors as well.”
- We see an ESG stampede around some particularly high profile companies that are clearly providing some kind of low carbon solution. The most obvious example is Tesla.
- Methodology on measuring the impact and taking numbers from a company e.g. Kingspan and translating the impact into energy saved and carbon emissions.
- Engagement during company Annual General Meetings and proactive engagement to speak with companies’ management.
- You have to analyse companies and be actively looking at how they are reducing carbon emissions.
- It is important to frame the conversation around the business case, not just because its good for the planet.
- Large institutional investors are required to at least think about ESG issues, but they are also under a lot of pressure from their own beneficiaries to invest in a more responsible way.
- Financial sector is not beloved by people, it’s not trusted very much, but they like to invest in funds with people that they think they can trust.
- The partners have majority of their own money invested in the fund.
- THe EU green taxonomy is a very strong signal where the european economy is heading.
- “it's been a real privilege working with people who have that real sense of mission around environmental issues“.
Time stamps:
[03:35] Impact investing and sustainable investing
[06:10] History of WHEB
[10:00] Growth of the fund and its challenges
[17:00] Amazon’s performance is ultimately about consumerism and volume
[21:35] Is there actually more impact in the environmental themes than the social themes?
[29:00] Relevance of the allocation in a company to have engagement conversations
[33:56] You have to be commercial to make the business sustainable
[38:10] The positive effect in performance and not holding positions in oil and gas companies
[40:10] What type of clients come to WHEB
[53:10] Impact of government policies
[58:00] Why it’s important to have a sense of mission
[58:00] Why it’s important to have a sense of mission
Useful links:
BBC on FTSE & Dow Jones fall - Worst day since 1987
HSBC report - ESG stocks did best in COVID-19 slump , by Ashim Paun, Co-Head, ESG Research
FT article on Nordic Investor - Lessons from my $600m gamble on renewables, by
HSBC report - ESG stocks did best in COVID-19 slump , by Ashim Paun, Co-Head, ESG Research
FT article on Nordic Investor - Lessons from my $600m gamble on renewables, by
Jens Ulltveit-Moe
EU taxonomy for sustainable activities
EU taxonomy for sustainable activities
Connect with JP Dallmann on Linkedin, Twitter, or Instagram.
Contact us to help you transition into Sustainable & Impact Investing - ILA & Partners
How to incorporate SDGs into your business - Fast Forward 2030
Find talent and careers with impact - Realchangers
Impact Leaders is produced by Podcast Publishing