PRI Digital Forum:

Climate & Nature Action

Meet our speakers

Margaret Kuhlow, Finance Practice Leader, WWF

Margaret L. Kuhlow leads WWF’s Finance Practice, providing strategic direction and thought and content leadership to WWF’s global engagement with the finance sector. Before joining WWF, Ms. Kuhlow was Vice President of Investment Policy at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, where she also led the agency’s approach to the Sustainable Development Goals. She has worked in development as a member of the team that established and implemented the U.S. Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation, leading the new agency’s approach to environmental and social assessment of major investment projects. She worked on issues of global macroeconomics and development at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and in her 25-year career has lived and worked extensively in developing and emerging markets and has broad sectoral experience in sustainable investment, project finance, and grant making. She holds a Master in Public Policy degree with concentration in International Trade and Finance and Political and Economic Development from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

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Lucian Peppelenbos, Climate Strategist, Robeco

Lucian Peppelenbos works with Robeco as Climate Strategist. In this role, he oversees Robeco’s work on decarbonizing the investment portfolios and integrating climate-related risks and opportunities in the investment processes. Thought leadership and publications are also part of his role, in collaboration with peer investors, academics and policy institutions. Prior to joining Robeco, Lucian was Senior Responsible Investment Specialist at APG Asset Management, where he led their climate strategy. Before that, he helped to set up IDH The Sustainable Trade Initiative, a public-private partnership that co-invests with corporates to enhance the sustainability performance of commodity supply chains. Socio-economist by training, Lucian’s professional career focused on corporate sustainability. He worked as a supply chain consultant for companies operating in emerging markets, and as a policy advisor in the Dutch Parliament. He earned a PhD in social-economic sciences at Wageningen University, and has published various books and articles. Lucian worked and lived for many years in Latin America, and worked across various countries in Africa and Asia.

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Sagarika Chatterjee, Director of Climate Change, PRI and COP26 High-level Champions Finance Co-Lead

Sagarika leads the PRI’s global climate change programme, enabling investors to assess climate-related risks and capture opportunities. This includes co-heading the secretariat of the UN-convened Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance and part-time secondment to the COP26 High Level Climate Action Champion, focusing on finance. Sagarika joined the PRI in 2013 in an investment practices role. In 2015, Sagarika worked with PRI signatories on the Montreal Carbon Pledge, a global investor initiative towards the Paris Agreement. In 2016, she was seconded to Aviva Investors to support development of the TCFD recommendations. Sagarika has also developed the PRI’s green finance collaboration with China, building on PRI input to the 2016 G20 Green Finance Study Group. Prior to PRI, Sagarika worked at F&C Asset Management and at European retailer Kingfisher. Sagarika has served an investment committee member and a charity trustee for over five years. She has an MSc in Development Studies from the University of London and a BA in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge. Sagarika is bilingual in English and Bengali.

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Nathalie Lhayani, Head of Sustainability, Caisse des Dépôts Group

Nathalie Lhayani, graduated from the Graduate Institute of International Studies (Geneva) and the Paris Dauphine University in economics. She began her career in 1999 at the World Trade Organization and the International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development in Geneva.

As of 2002, she dedicated her career to European Union public affairs, as a parliamentary assistant to MEP Philippe Herzog and programme manager of a European think tank. In 2006, she founded the online media Euractiv France and was appointed as its executive director .

She joined the Caisse des Dépôts group in 2009 as assistant to the Permanent Delegate to the European institutions in the Group’s European and International Affairs Division.

From 2012 to 2019, she held various positions within the French Government, first as advisor in charge of relations with the European Parliament and civil society at the Office of the Minister in charge of European Affairs (Bernard Cazeneuve and Thierry Repentin), then as head of the Directorate for Parliamentary relations at the General Secretariat of European Affairs to the Prime Minister and finally as adviser in charge of European affairs at the Cabinet of the Minister for the ecological transition (from 2017 to 2019).

In June 2019, she was appointed as Group Caisse des Dépôts’ Head of Sustainability.

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James Phare, CEO, Neural Alpha

James is CEO of Neural Alpha, a Sustainable Fintech technology and data consultancy based in London. Neural Alpha develops ESG investing software for NGOs and financial institutions and is the lead partner in Trase Finance. James is a financial technologist having spent his career consulting for many of the world’s largest banks and asset managers. Prior to consulting, James was Head of Data at Man Group, the global hedge fund, following roles at Thomson Reuters.

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Sylvaine Rols, Programme Officer, UNEP-WCMC

Sylvaine Rols is a Programme Officer at UNEP-WCMC, overseeing the Centre’s work under the Oil for Development programme. Her work focuses on strengthening capacity of governmental institutions and private partners, especially linked to the energy and financial sectors, to access, interpret and apply biodiversity data for decision-making. Prior to joining UNEP-WCMC, Sylvaine worked as an environmental specialist with the European Investment Bank, appraising and monitoring environmental impacts of investment projects in Europe, Africa and Central America. Sylvaine graduated from University College London with an MSci in Environmental Biology.

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Gemma James, Senior Lead, Environmental Issues, PRI

Gemma leads investor initiatives and research related to nature and climate physical risks. Previously, she was Head of Environmental Issues at PRI with oversight of themes including biodiversity, sustainable commodities, and plastics and the circular economy. She also ran investor collaborative engagements on water risk, methane and fracking. Gemma previously worked for the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM). She worked on water and biodiversity issues with mining companies to develop and share good practice. Gemma holds an MA in Environment, Politics and Globalisation and a BA in Geography, both from King’s College London.

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Barbara Davidson, Senior Analyst, Carbon Tracker

In November 2020 Barbara Davidson joined Carbon Tracker’s Regulatory Team as a Senior Analyst leading research on accounting, auditing and disclosures.  Prior to this Barbara worked as an independent consultant on a climate accounting initiative sponsored by the PRI.

Barbara has obtained over 20 years of advisory, accounting, relationship and stakeholder management experience from working in the US, France, Hong Kong and the UK.  She formerly headed the investor engagement team at the International Accounting Standards Board, where she founded and implemented their Investors in Financial Reporting programme and secured significant relationships in the global investment community.  Barbara’s experience in accounting policy, transaction advisory and audit roles comes from working at international organisations including Morgan Stanley, Nomura, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte. Her background has provided her with significant insight into the financial reporting requirements of the investment community, including, but not limited to, environmental policy and climate-related risks.

Barbara is a member of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board’s Climate Accounting Standards sub-group and writes regularly on accounting and climate issues for the ACCA’s Accounting and Business Magazine.  She is a US Certified Public Accountant with an MSc in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BSc in Accounting from Binghamton University.

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David Pitt-Watson, Executive Fellow at Cambridge Judge Business School, and former co-Chair of the UN Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative

David Pitt-Watson is a leading campaigner and practitioner in the field of responsible investment. He was co-founder, and former CEO of Hermes Focus Funds and Equity Ownership Service. He chaired the UN Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative in the run up to the Paris Climate Conference. He was senior non-executive at KPMG. He currently advises Ownership Capital, Sarasin and Aviva. 

Recently he has led the Climate Accounting Group for the PRI, focussing on ensuring that accounting standards reflect the challenge of global warming.

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Morgan Slebos, Director of Sustainable Markets, PRI

Morgan Slebos is the Director of Sustainable Markets at the PRI. He leads the PRI’s sustainable financial system and driving meaningful data work areas. Morgan has extensive experience in the financial sector, including previous roles as a policy manager for resource and environment issues at the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and as an advisor at the Association of British Insurers.

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Nigel Topping, High Level Champion for Climate Action, COP26

Nigel Topping is the UN’s High-Level Climate Action Champion, appointed by the UK Prime Minister in January 2020. Nigel works alongside the Chilean High-Level Climate Action Champion, Gonzalo Muñoz. The role of the high-level champions is to strengthen collaboration and drive action from businesses, investors, organisations, cities, and regions on climate change, and coordinate this work with governments and parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Nigel was most recently CEO of We Mean Business, a coalition of businesses working to accelerate the transition to a zero carbon economy. Prior to that he was Executive Director of the Carbon Disclosure Project, following an 18 year career in the private sector, having worked across the world in emerging markets and manufacturing.

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My-Linh Ngo, Head of ESG Investment, BlueBay Asset Management

My-Linh has spent over two decades active in the field of sustainable and responsible/ESG investing, working across equity and fixed income asset classes, on ESG focussed strategies as well as integrating ESG analysis into conventional portfolios. She currently heads up the incorporation of ESG at BlueBay Asset Management, a specialist fixed income asset manager, overseeing the firm’s strategy, policies and practices in this area.
My-Linh represents BlueBay externally in a range of committees and working groups focussed on driving best practice on ESG investing, particularly those focussed on the fixed income asset class.  Previous roles have been at Schroders Investment Management where she was an ESG Analyst, and at Henderson Global Investors where she was an Associate Director – SRI Research. She holds a Masters in Leadership for Sustainable Development from Middlesex University/Forum for the Future, a Masters in Environmental Management Systems & Auditing as well as a degree in Environmental Sciences, both from the University of East Anglia.

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Renato Eid Tucci, Head of Indexed Strategies & ESG Integration, Itaú Asset Management

Renato Eid Tucci is Head of Indexed Strategies & ESG Integration at Itaú Asset Management. With over 20 years of experience in the financial and capital markets, he has worked at Banco BBA Creditanstalt and Itaú BBA. He has a degree from FGV (Getulio Vargas Foundation), a master’s degree in Mathematical Modeling in Finance from USP (University of São Paulo) and an MBA in derivatives from B3 (Brazil Stock Exchange).

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Meryam Omi, Head of Sustainability and Responsible Investment Strategy, Legal and General

Meryam Omi is responsible for engagement programmes on key sustainability topics and development of responsible investment solutions at Legal & General Investment Management. She has over 16 years of asset management experience, and led the launch of LGIM’s pioneering Future World fund range and Climate Impact Pledge. She is currently also working as a COP26 UN High Level Champion for Climate Action, leading many Race to Zero campaigns within the finance sector.

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Danielle Carreira, Head of Finance Sector Engagement, Tropical Forest Alliance

Danielle Carreira is an environment and climate specialist with over a decade’s experience in sustainable finance.  As Head of Finance Sector Engagement at the Tropical Forest Alliance, an initiative hosted by the World Economic Forum, she is responsible for the strategic development and coordination of initiatives that bring together global financial institutions into a collective action agenda to eliminate deforestation and accelerate the transition towards more sustainable land use practices.  She has previously worked at the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the Natural Capital Finance Alliance (NCFA), Trucost, FTSE Russell, Reuters and Bloomberg.  Danielle holds an MA in International Finance and a BSc in Economic Sciences.  

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Ana Lima, Head of Environmental Issues, PRI

Ana is an economist and expert in socio-environmental governance, with 20 years’ experience in the design, acquisition and implementation of multi-stakeholder platform projects with an emphasis on conservation, restoration, rational use of resources and energy and optimisation of operational management and awareness programs. 

Ana is responsible for a team with deep expertise in environmental issues and their relevance to companies and financial markets. Ana leads the development of research, analysis and guidance on environmental issues, working with various teams across PRI to deliver first class and consistent content to signatories.

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Peter Betts, Former director of UK policy on international climate & energy

Peter Betts is an independent expert on international climate change. He has a wide range of roles including Strategic Counsel to the UK Cabinet Office on COP26; Strategic Advisor at Willis Towers Watson plc; Senior Fellow at the European Climate Foundation; Expert Adviser to the UK Climate Change Committee; Senior Advisor to the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency; Senior advisor at Macro Advisory; and Visiting Professor of Practise at the LSE Grantham School. He currently advises many others, including the Inevitable Policy Response, the World Bank and the Elders. He is an Associate Fellow at Chatham House.

He spent 35 years in the UK civil service, over half of which was working on environmental and climate issues. His last role was Director, International Climate and Energy in the Department of Business, where he was for 10 years responsible for coordinating overall UK policy on international climate change, including the UNFCCC negotiations, and a £3bn programme of projects in developing countries. From 2010 to 2016 he was also Lead Negotiator for the European Union in the UNFCCC negotiations. He worked in many Govt Depts in his career, including HM Treasury, FCO, Local Government and Transport Ministries.

He attended Mansfield College, Oxford 1978-82 and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration in Paris in 1991-92. He was awarded a CBE in 2010, and a CB in 2020. 

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Lauren Compere, Managing Director and Head of Shareowner Engagement, Boston Common Asset Management

Lauren Compere is a Managing Director and Head of Shareowner Engagement at Boston Common Asset Management, a majority-employee-owned and woman-led investment management firm specializing in U.S. and international responsible investing.  Ms. Compere heads Boston Common’s shareholder engagement program.  She has worked in the responsible investment industry for 30 years and has 18 years of experience in global responsible investing.  She is a frequent speaker at industry conferences in the US, Europe, and Asia and a guest contributor to the Huffington Post and Medium. 

Ms. Compere currently sits on the boards of the Access to Nutrition Foundation (Netherlands) and the Global Network Initiative (GNI).  She previously served on the Governing Board of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and as its Treasurer.  Ms. Compere serves on the Steering Committee for the Investor Alliance for Human Rights (an ICCR project), the Business Ethics and Systemic Risk Committee for the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) and is part of the PCAF (Platform for Carbon Accounting Financials) Core Team which in 2020 developed a global standard for carbon accounting for six asset classes).  Ms. Compere was Co-Chair of the Emerging Markets Disclosure Project (EMDP) and co-lead for the EMDP Korean team (2009-2012).  

Since 2014 Ms. Compere has led a multi-year global investor engagement “Banking on a Low Carbon Future” which has benchmarked the performance of 60 banks on climate risk, strategy, and funding climate adaption and mitigation through the creation of new metrics, reports, and active engagement.  Lastly she sits on the Strategy and Design Team of the Climate Safe Lending Network (CSLN).

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Emma Lindberg, Public Affairs Manager, Folksam Group

Emma Lindberg has been Public Affairs Manager at Folksam Group since December 2017. Prior to this, Emma held positions including Senior Consultant, Public Affairs and Strategic Communications at New Republic, Political Advisor to the Swedish Minister for the Environment, Head of Communications at the Stockholm Environment Institute and Project Leader at the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. Emma holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Uppsala University. 

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