Finance for Impact
Session One
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is an emissions control initiative of the Northeast & Mid-Atlantic States. It includes a cap and trade program and is to be enacted in January of 2009. Experts in the field will discuss how programs like RGGI will affect businesses as they navigate different standards at the regional, national and international level, and what the role of business will be in the formation of these new markets. Panelists weigh in on whether regional carbon markets are helping or hindering the effort to reduce carbon emissions and how federal legislation, international pressures and the recent Presidential election will impact the future of the U.S. carbon market.
Moderator: Kara Rinaldi, Policy Lead, Environmental Resource Management
Panelists: Peter Fusaro, Chairman, Global Change Associates
Lisa Jacobson, Executive Director, Business Council for Sustainable Energy
Jason Patrick, Vice President, Merrill Lynch
Jonathan Schrag, Executive Director, Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
Supplementary Reading:
Global Change
OpenCarbonWorld
Environmental Markets Association
Session Two
Environmental Commodities
Solving the global climate challenge will require environmental externalities like pollution, and use of natural resources, to be priced and considered in valuations of corporate projects. This means massive transfers of capital in new ways and across borders, requiring new forums for exchange, new rules, new instruments, and new risks for any company with a carbon footprint. Hear experts in the field discuss the implications managing and hedging exposure to costs imposed by emissions regulation.
Panelists: Kellee James, Economist, Chicago Climate Exchange
Megan Morgan, Business Development, Chicago Climate Exchange
James Salo, Vice President, Strategy and Research, Trucost Plc
Supplementary Readings:
Trucost Research
SRI: A Venture Capitalist’s Perspective
This panel will explore how venture capital firms value socially responsible companies, including the weighting of social and monetary returns. It will also examine how venture capitalists determine which companies are using the promise of social returns to lure in investors versus those that are truly focused on the triple bottom line. The panel will give budding social entrepreneurs insight into how to secure sources of venture capital.
Moderator: Alex Edmans, Assistant Professor of Finance, The Wharton School
Panelists: Elizabeth Bailey, Principal, Commons Capital
Brad Gambill, Managing Director, Innosight Ventures
Fran Seegull, Managing Partner, Funk Ventures
Supplementary Reading:
Does the Stock Market Fully Value Intangibles? Employee Satisfaction and Equity Prices
Session Three
Harnessing the Power of Remittances for Economic Development
With 200 million migrants worldwide annually supporting even more people back home with over $300 billion in remittances, remittances may actually reach almost a tenth of the world’s population. They have an impact on development, affecting economic behavior and distributive issues, but that does not mean that they are a solution to the problems of underdevelopment — in fact, they have the potential to cause harm. Proponents argue the potential of remittances to increase productivity — others argue that if migration brought development, India would now be Switzerland. This panel brings together thought leaders from the development agencies along with practitioners and commercial leaders in global money transfers to discuss the current landscape of private and public sector initiatives to harness the potential power of remittances for economic development.
Moderator: Dilip Ratha, Lead Economist, World Bank
Panelists: Leticia Jauregui, Co-founder, CREA
Robert W. Meins, Remittance Specialist, Multilateral Investment Fund, Inter American Development Bank
Liz Alicea-Velez, Executive Vice President, Latin America & Caribbean Region, Western Union
Gabriela Enrigue, Co-Founder, CREA
Supplementary Readings:
Western Union Foundation
Western Union Global Migration
The Western Union Conversation
Media Coverage:
Interview with Liz Alicea-Velez of Western Union, Altenative Channel, December 8, 2008
Session Six
Sustainable Consumer Finance: Issues in America Today
Consumers and experts alike see clearly, now more than ever, how products as simple as savings accounts, mortgages and credit cards hold profound implications for companies and for the economy as a whole. Outside the corridors of high finance a quiet revolution is stirring as retail financial institutions are going back to the future with products and strategies that are not just profitable, but genuinely good for the consumer, the company, and the world as a whole. Join this panel of experts to learn how credit unions, banks and lenders are reinventing sustainable finance ... from the ground up.
Moderator: Steve Delfin, Executive Director, National Credit Unions Foundation
Panelists: Daniel Schneider, Doctoral Student, Princeton University
Tammy Williams, President & CEO, Best Advantage Credit Union
Monica Touesnard, Managing Director, Learning Labs, Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise, Cornell University
Supplementary Readings:
Back to the Future: Integrating Sustainability into Credit Union Strategy
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