EMIA Notes - April 11, 2023

1. Volunteer Opportunities

As an investor, governance and accountability are important variables to consider when investing across borders. The Open Budget Survey (OBS) is “the world’s only comparative, independent and regular assessment of transparency, oversight and participation in national budgets in more than 100 countries,” says the International Budget Partnership.

We invite you to join our webinar on the International Budget Partnership’s latest initiatives, including the 2023 OBS and its three pillars: public participation, transparency, and oversight. The webinar will cover how Moody's Investors Service uses the OBS in its Sovereign Rating Methodology. You will also have the opportunity to learn about investors’ advocacy experiences involving the OBS results and recommendations.


Speakers:

Claire Schouten, Senior Program Officer, International Advocacy, International Budget Partnership

Suad Hasan, Program Officer, International Budget Partnership

Viktor Szabó, Investment Director on the Emerging Markets Debt team, abrdn

Lucie Villa, Vice President & Senior Credit Officer, Moody’s Investors Service

Roger Scher, Head of Public Sector Programs, EMIA (moderator)

There is a significant challenge when looking at decarbonizing a portfolio in the context of a small, carbon heavy market. But domestic investors need and want to remain invested.  

EMIA will host Waleed Hendricks and Safiya Karjiker, both from Old Mutual Investment Group, to discuss Old Mutual's strategy for achieving their net-zero targets in the South African equity market. As they navigate the challenges that the South African market presents, they are actively developing a distinctive benchmark that could serve as a model for other emerging markets.


Speakers:

Waleed Hendricks, Head of Quantitative ESG Research, Old Mutual Investment Group

Safiya Karjiker, ESG Analyst, Old Mutual Investment Group 

Claire Meier Underhill, Head of Memberships & Partnerships, EMIA (moderator)

The financial sector plays a critical role in limiting global warming to 1.5° C above pre-industrial temperatures via their lending and investment activities. 

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) released a new framework in October 2020, which allows financial institutions to set science-based targets that align lending and investment activities with the Paris Agreement. 

This webinar will provide an overview of the SBTi framework for financial institutions. Following the overview, we will host a discussion with Taiwan’s Cathay Financial Holdings and South Korea’s Hana Financial Group about the framework’s challenges and opportunities based on their own experience setting up their respective net zero targets.


Speakers:

Howard Shih, Technical Manager - Financial Institutions,  Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)

Sophia Cheng, Chief Investment Officer, Cathay Financial Holdings

Yoo-Na Ha, Senior Manager ESG Strategies and Planning, Hana Financial Group

Maria Tinedo, Director of Financial Institutions Program, EMIA (moderator).

Global plastic waste generation has more than doubled over the past two decades, posing serious threats at all levels. The plastics lifecycle contributes significantly to global carbon emissions and public health issues related to toxic chemicals and air pollution. Besides its environmental and human health threats, plastic pollution has resulted in lost economic value ranging between $80 and $120 billion.

In this upcoming webinar, Rosa Pritchard from ClientEarth will explore the global plastics crisis, the role of plastic packaging in perpetuating the problem, and offer solutions. She will discuss best practices and help investors understand the requirements they should demand of food and beverage companies. Additionally, she will present existing investor activities focusing on European multinationals to demonstrate the positive contributions institutional investors can make.

The webinar will also feature Miko Aliño from Break Free From Plastics, who will present the most problematic form of plastic packaging used by South East Asia’s food and consumer goods sector. 


Speakers:

Rosa Pritchard, Plastics Lawyer, Client Earth

Miko Aliño, Project Coordinator for Corporate Accountability, Break Free From Plastics

Nadine Cavusoglu, Head of Private Sector Programs, EMIA (moderator)

The Emerging Markets Investors Alliance could not function without its many volunteers who contribute their skills to our future. If you want to be part of our project, please send us an email at applicants@emia.org including your resume/ or LinkedIn profile, and mentioning "Volunteer Opportunities" in the subject line.

The Emerging Markets Investors Alliance (EMIA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to enable institutional investors to use the power of their collective capital and voices to advocate for a more sustainable future. EMIA "Programs" are activities that bring together investors, policy experts, and governments or companies for the purpose of improving ESG best practice adoption. EMIA Programs focus on sovereigns (e.g., Government Debt and Fiscal Governance Program, Sovereign Decarbonization) and on sectors (e.g., Agricultural Program, Extractive Industries, Financials Program and Telecom, Media, and Technology Program).