CFA UK’s new community and its Community Champions aim to build an ambitious agenda and tackle key issues for the industry.
Join the CFA UK Sustainability Community
CFA UK is launching a new Sustainability Community to move the needle on sustainable investing through engagement, events, networking, shared experiences, and debate. The community aims to create a friendly and collaborative space that allows members to learn from one another.
While many CFA UK members have deep knowledge across many aspects of sustainable investing, such as the energy transition, ESG, impact investing, and climate change, there is a need for a more connected experience.
Sustainability has become a key part of the investment landscape, and members believe that regulatory scrutiny has made it even more critical for them to connect and engage with one another, starting conversations that will support them in building a more sustainable future. The new Sustainability Community aims to navigate the complexities around sustainable investing by breaking down specialism silos. It will create a friendly and collaborative sense of place and purpose that allows members to grow together and share key learnings and experiences.
“Being part of the community gives us the opportunity to engage with professionals with common goals and interests, to facilitate discussions and debates across a wide range of ESG-related topics, and to build rapport during the process,” said Elaine Xu, CFA, Associate at First Sentier Investors, and one of CFA UK’s new ‘Sustainability Champions’.
Introducing Our Sustainability Community Champions
CFA UK’s Sustainability Community Champions are a talented group of investment professionals who are providing thought leadership on the key issues, resources, collaborations, community interactions and connections that will drive the sustainability agenda forward. They are building a programme of interactive and inclusive activities that will focus on expanding the knowledge and networks of members.
Combining a new online presence with this programme, the community will act as a jumping in point for investment professionals who are new to the area of sustainability, as well as for those who are looking to expand their knowledge through connecting with one another.
The Sustainability Community Champions met in person for the first time informally in November last year and talked about the reasons why sustainability has become such a critical issue for the investment industry.
A lack of education and awareness around sustainability issues, regulatory impacts and complexities around standardisation, the gap between the approaches taken by businesses and the specific needs of investors, as well as a lack of high quality data available in the market, are all issues that need to be tackled, believe the group.
Other concerns include the persistent challenge around greenwashing, and the fact that regulation could be in danger of becoming a box ticking exercise, one that is being approached in disparate ways in different geographies. Moreover, the gap between business disclosures and investor requirements on ESG, and some of the issues around data collection and measurement through ESG, are also issues that need to be addressed.
Underpinning this is CFA UK’s mission to educate, connect and inspire the investment community to build a sustainable future. The community and its champions want to support investment professionals to grow their skills in sustainable investing and thrive in their careers. The community hopes that by facilitating connections, sharing member expertise, and adopting a variety of different perspectives, there will be increasingly better-connected conversations in this space, helping individuals to become subject matter experts and move the dial in their workplace.
“Sustainable investing is unfortunately faced with many challenges including greenwashing, poor ESG data, and increasing regulatory scrutiny. I believe that the Sustainability Community will help to raise awareness about these challenges, at least, at the level of the financial services industry and, later on, propose some potential solutions to them. Moreover, given the relatively new nature of sustainable investing, many retail investors may still be vulnerable to greenwashing due to lack of ESG knowledge. Therefore, I believe that as a community we can create educational content that would help public to learn basic ESG principles and, thus, be able to distinguish between good and bad sustainable investing opportunities,” said Anastasia Kuznetsova, Associate Business Analyst, ESG Products at Adenza.
Adopting Best Practice
Our Sustainability Community Champions are particularly passionate about the role the Community will have as an educator around sustainability, tackling some of the issues and challenges the industry faces.
“I hope this community mobilises and inspires CFA UK members to integrate best ESG practices in their day-to-day activities and to advocate for the advancement of sustainable investing. I hope to give members the opportunity to learn more about sustainable investment through workshops, conferences, debates and other engaging activities and to create a network of experts where, through shared knowledge, we can discuss and address some of the most pressing global issues,” said Beatrice Methe, Legal Counsel and ESG Committee Member at Hayfin Capital Management.
“I am looking forward to working with likeminded individuals in the industry from all different angles, allowing collaboration and sharing best practice in this space. I do not see the sustainable investment space as competition between peers and believe that the best way to develop the space is to work together, learn from one another, and pass these learnings on to the wider community,” said Francesca Wheble, Responsible Investment Analyst at Guinness Asset Management.
Join the CFA UK Sustainability Community
CFA UK’s New Sustainability Champions
Katriona Baker, Group Lead, EU Sustainability Ambassadors
Charles Boakye, CFA, ESG and Sustainable Finance Equities Analyst, Jeffries
Jacopo Gadani, CFA, Vice President, ESG Solutions, Santander CIB
Anatoliy Konyakhin, CFA, ESG Risks Taskforce Chair, Deutsche Bank
Anastasia Kuznetsova, Associate Business Analyst, ESG Products, Adenza
Beatrice Methe, Legal Counsel and ESG Committee Member, Hayfin Capital Management
Jonathan Quiogue, CFA, Senior Treasury Manager, Bank of the Philippine Islands
Francesca Wheble, Responsible Investment Analyst, Guinness Asset Management
Elaine Xu, CFA, Associate, First Sentier Investors
Eric Yim, CFA, Manager, KPMG
Vishal Hindocha, Global Head of Sustainability Strategy, MFS