InvestmentEurope's Pan-European ESG Summit has kicked off at the Dolder Grand in Zurich.
The two day summit will meet and greet an audience of around 45 fund selectors from across Europe to a wide range of ESG topics and trends that are currently relevant for the industry.
The event's opens with fund selectors panel discussion on how mandates are changing in response to the growing demand for exposure to ESG orientated investment vehicles. Jonathan Boyd, editorial director, InvestmentEurope, is currently moderating the panel.
Acadian AM, BLI - Banque de Luxembourg Investments, Invesco and SPARX are some of the leading asset management groups presenting at the event.
Thierry Feltgen, head of Product Management & Client Services at BLI - Banque de Luxembourg Investments, will address equity ESG concept, implementation of voting policy, development of the ESG approach in fixed income and BLI's approach within third party fund selection.
Asha Mehta, senior vice president, portfolio manager, director of Responsible Investing at Acadian Asset Management will focus on how quantitative approaches to ESG investing work and explore ways to overcome challenging market complexities and important investment signals to capture.
Michael Fraikin, Global Head of Research, Invesco Quantitative Strategies, Invesco will address quantitative approaches to ESG investing and share results of empirical analysis of ESG factors from a return and a risk perspective.
Thomas Kuh, head of Index of Truvalue Labs will discuss the growing interation of AI with ESG data is an important trend as investors seek to extract value and manage risks.
Hortense Bioy, Director, Passive Strategies and Sustainability Research, Morningstar will talk about the key questions investors should consider when deciding between passive or active routes.
The future of sustainability will be addressed by Phil Davis, assistant director, Sustainability & Climate Change at PwC.
Sven Rump, CIO at Schweizerische Mobiliar Asset Management will also provide insight into their how their investment approach incorporates ESG, the adoption of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the investment strategy, how impact is traced and measured, and how fiduciary responsibilities are undertaken via stewardship, engagement and voting.
Yu Shimizu, Lead Portfolio Manager, SPARX Group will focus on the shifting and improving ESG landscape in Japan, including investment opportunities.
InvestmentEurope will be tweeting live from the event and a full event report will appear in the next issue of the magazine.
