EMIA Notes - October 17, 2022

Join top investors, ESG experts, and emerging market issuers for the longest-running conference dedicated to ESG issues in emerging markets.

November 17 (In-person in New York & Virtual): Presentations by ESG policy experts, issuers, and investors on corporate and sovereign ESG themes critical to investor engagement on best practices.

November 18 (Virtual Only): Small group meetings with sovereign and corporate issuers to discuss ESG issues. Presentations from leading ESG experts.

Registration details to follow.

The Asset Owners Advisory Board (AOAB) is a group of asset owners with public emerging market investments that comes together to discuss and identify best practices in sustainability in emerging markets. 

This group will meet again in October under the new guidance of Senior Advisor and Board Member Jim Valone. Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker, editor of Responsible Investor, will lead the conversation on what is relevant and useful in ESG for emerging market investors.

Currently there are 9 asset owners in the AOAB and we are looking to expand this group. If you are an asset owner and interested or would like to introduce an asset owner to EMIA, please contact Claire Meier Underhill at cmeier@eminvestorsalliance.org 

This webinar will address the key corporate governance risks arising from concentrated ownership structures prevalent in SE Asia that are maintained via complex control-enhancing mechanisms, such as the use of pyramid structures, different share classes and crossholdings. The webinar will also present an analysis on the issue of “shadow companies” that can be used to circumvent market sustainability demands.  Shadow companies are corporate entities whose beneficial ownership and ties to related company groups are deliberately kept hidden.  
 
Investor engagement opportunities with a leading palm oil producer and an Indonesian food conglomerate whose shadow companies pose deforestation risk will also be presented.

 Speakers
 
Harlan Tufford, Senior Analyst- Governance MSCI ESG Research

Tim Steinweg, Senior Responsible Finance Adviser, Rainforest Foundation Norway

Nadine Cavusoglu, Director of the Agriculture Program, EMIA (moderator)

 
The webinar is open to financial professionals, issuers, and EMIA partners only.

How can investors support education for sustainable nutrition in schools?

The Educated Choices (ECP) program provides food-related education to students (12+ years old) and community members. The program has been very successful in the US and has now moved into Emerging Markets. 

Excessive meat consumption has negative effects on human health and on the environment. It heavily influences heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, and certain cancers. Greenhouse gas emissions from animal-based foods are twice those of plant-based foods. The direct effect of food choices on human and planetary health is especially important for communities with less resources.   
 
EMIA will host a webinar to help investors better understand the role of food-related education and how ECP is exporting its successful US program to Emerging Markets. 

Speakers:

Lorena Mucke, Founder and CEO of the Educated Choices Program (ECP), a multinational academic non-profit organization focused on the issues related to food choices and their impact on human and planetary health. 

Karyn Knox, Chief Development and Partnerships Officer for the Educated Choices Program (ECP). 

Uwe Schillhorn, Director of the Sovereign Social Program, EMIA (moderator).

The webinar is open to emerging markets financial professionals only. 

The recent Jagersfontein failure in South Africa is a repeated reminder that the risk of mine waste disasters is very high due to the increasing frequency of extreme weather events, affecting the communities living near mining operations. 

But, what is wrong and how can we reduce that risk?

In this webinar we will discuss the current tailings management standards by identifying the differences and similarities through a gap analysis in order to understand what still needs to be done in terms of best practices and how investors can get involved.

Speakers:

Jim Kuipers, Specialist on tailings management and Mining Environmental Consultant

Veronica Ayzaguer, Director of the Extractive Industries Program, EMIA (moderator)

The webinar is open to emerging markets financial professionals only.

Will sustainability-linked structures reshape the sovereign debt market?

Join us for a discussion with Simon Zadek, Executive Director of NatureFinance (formerly Finance for Biodiversity), to talk about their recently launched Sustainability-linked Sovereign Debt Hub (SSDH).

This platform aims to create a network to connect all necessary stakeholders in the SLB market and support the development of standards and tools that incorporate nature and climate considerations into the sovereign bond ecosystem.

Speakers:

Simon Zadek, Executive Director, NatureFinance

Barbara Oldani, Director of the Labeled Bonds Initiative, EMIA (moderator)

The webinar is open to emerging markets financial professionals only.

EMIA is honored to host the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) at this webinar showcasing the recently-introduced sustainability/ESG regulations for the financial sector, highlighting rural credit regulations, and elaborating on Brazil’s international role. 

Amanda Gray, of Apollo Global Management and Co-Director of Financial Institutions Program at EMIA, will moderate a discussion on the future of TCFD guidelines in Brazil, application of rural regulations in the Amazon, and what it means for Brazil to be on the Steering Committee of the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS).

 
Speakers:
 
David Valente, Financial System Regulation Department, BCB 

Claudio Filgueiras, Department of Regulation, Supervision and Control of Farm Credit Operations, BCB

Viviane Torinelli, International Investor Relations Department, BCB

Amanda Gray, Co-Director of the Financial Institutions Program (EMIA), moderator
 
The webinar is open to emerging markets financial professionals only. 

The Emerging Markets Investors Alliance seeks relationship managers with at least 10 years of experience in emerging market sales (debt or equity) or relationship management to engage asset managers in our initiatives.

Successful candidates will have a commitment to advancing responsible investing/ESG and a strong client book in their region(s) of focus. The position is remote and candidates may be based anywhere.

Interested candidates should send an email including their resume and/or LinkedIn profile mentioning “Relationship Manager - Asset Management” in the subject line to applicants@eminvestorsalliance.org.

The Emerging Markets Investors Alliance seeks relationship managers with at least 10 years of experience in emerging markets finance to engage stock exchanges in our initiatives.

The ideal candidate will have a commitment to advancing responsible investing/ESG, and a strong understanding of emerging and frontier equity markets, and relationships with stock exchanges. The position is remote and candidates may be based anywhere.

Interested candidates should send an email including their resume and/or LinkedIn profile mentioning “Relationship Manager - Stock Exchanges” in the subject line to applicants@eminvestorsalliance.org. 

The Emerging Markets Investors Alliance seeks volunteers to serve in a range of roles. We welcome interest from those with a range of skilled backgrounds including research and writing, editing, survey design, graphic design, and Drupal web development.

Interested candidates should send an email including your resume and/or Linkedin profile mentioning “Volunteer Opportunities” in the subject to applicants@eminvestorsalliance.org.

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).