This week I will be joining 6,000+ islanders from around the world at the Island Finance Forum organised by Island Innovation. Following an opening keynote by His Excellency Surangel Whipps Jr, President, Republic of Palau, I will moderate a session on "Building a Blue Future: Harnessing the Hope of the Ocean".

Next week, from March 1st-4th the 9th annual World Ocean Summit Virtual Week will gather more than 150 leading expert speakers, including John Kerry, US special presidential envoy for climate, and 5,000 attendees to discuss what needs to be done to achieve 2030 targets for the ocean. 

A big talking point in the investment world is the financial resilience of companies with high ESG ratings. I am project director of a new Economist Impact study based on two global surveys—one of asset owners and one of companies—to examine how they can find common purpose in ESG.

Engaging the finance sector in Nature-based Solutions is critical. At the World Ocean Summit we bring together people on these cross-cutting issues to help generate positive impact for people and planet. I recently joined IUCN’s Investing For Ocean Impact podcast to discuss the role of the finance sector in protecting our ocean.

I was invited to participate in the Sustainable Finance Leaders Dialogue in Paris on October 25th, organised by the BMW Foundation. The Dialogue addressed the question of how to strengthen the power of green finance with a more efficient and better adapted policy framework to speed up the race to net zero.

Happy to announce the launch of a new Economist Intelligence Unit research project that I led, on how environmental, governance and social factors are shaping our future. The research is based on a survey of 450 institutional investors. It explores the ongoing shift of ESG from risk to opportunity.