Agenda

This year, a record number of voters in 76 countries plus the EU (over 4 billion people) will participate in elections. Investors should watch for global and local political shifts, market impacts, and the safety of U.S. investments amid this unprecedented electoral activity.

Hear from former US Ambassador to the EU (2014 – 2017), member of the Biden re-election National Finance Committee and Managing Partner of Private Equity Group Brookfield in this session. 

10:20 - 10:40 Sponsored Session 1: Janus Henderson
Head to Breakout Stage 3 

In an era where artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the landscapes of industries, economies, and societies at large, ensuring the technology is developed, deployed, and governed responsibly has never been more critical. This session will cover both the risks and opportunities of AI to foster a discussion around the social and environmental implications to explore the pathways towards creating AI systems that are not only groundbreaking but also ethical, transparent, and accountable.

As the planet heats up, so does the enforcement of laws and regulation in the form of climate litigation. In this session we will discuss the strategies, potential impacts and recent examples of legal actions Client Earth and its peers are pursuing to protect life on earth.

The impending climate crisis demands both innovative and actionable solutions. At the forefront of this challenge are institutional investors, asset managers, and environmentalists, all of whom play a pivotal role in shaping our planet's future. The panel will dissect the long-standing debate between engagement and divestment strategies in the context of climate transition. Having moved past the discussion, the consensus is that divestment alone is not the silver bullet solution to the crisis. Instead, the focus has pivoted to strategic engagement – evaluating how companies can holistically contribute to a sustainable transition. 

Areas of Focus Include: 

· Assessing methodologies to accurately evaluate companies' actions toward climate transition. 

· Understanding the role of asset owners in delineating their ethical preferences and effectively communicating their narrative to stakeholders. 

· Exploring investment options post-divestment, considering both risks and returns, and framing them within the context of ethical investment. 

· Balancing transitional risks against opportunities that present themselves in a shifting climate landscape. 

· Highlighting the relevance and applications of the Low Carbon Transition Readiness (LCTR) index. 

12:20 - 12:40 Sponsored Session 2: Schroders

13:00 - 13:20 Sponsored Session 3: Fidelity International

Head to Breakout Stage 3

Asset owners are increasingly seeking tailored impact solutions to align investments with their values, address specific social and environmental challenges, and achieve measurable positive outcomes. By creating customised portfolios, asset owners can better manage risks, meet their financial goals, and focus on the specific positive impacts that matter most to their stakeholders. This session will explore opportunities and challenges in developing customised impact solutions across asset classes, from defining impact themes and allocation planning to implementation and reporting.

COP16 is a significant milestone in the calendar, focusing on the resource mobilisation and implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which aims to halt and reverse biodiversity by 2030, achieving a full recovery by 2050. Join us as COP16 draws to a close in discussing the road ahead for companies in tackling nature preservation, emerging best practices in nature reporting, deep dive into how investors can mitigate climate and nature risks in their portfolios and explore product innovation driving new investment trends.

Investors are increasingly turning their attention to investee companies’ governance of sustainability issues. Climate remains center stage, but wider issues such as human rights, employee and stakeholder engagement, and responsible use of technology are becoming more prominent. This has raised key questions over who on the board should hold responsibility for such issues, how governance of sustainability links to the overall corporate strategy, and how to respond to changing investor preferences on how to signal accountability. Our panel will discuss what’s current and what’s changing in these areas. 

· Board oversight of sustainability, link to financial performance, stakeholder management solutions) 

· Specialist climate expertise vs whole of board competence

· Accountability: Votes against management vs support for Say-on-Climate votes / Shareholder proposals

In Europe, the corporate sustainability disclosure standard (CSRD) is making a lot of headlines, but meanwhile the International Sustainability Standards Board is making progress rolling out what aims to be the global sustainability reporting baseline for capital markets: the ISSB Standards. Global investors and other users of sustainability data are keen to see regulations and standards alignment convergence, to lower the reporting burden and to increase transparency and comparability. How are we doing on convergence of reporting regulations?

In this interview, we will discuss the ISSB's objectives, its progress in working with countries to adopt the standards, interoperability with CSRD and other standards, and what we can expect to see next.

14:35 - 14:55 Sponsored Session 4: Invesco

Head to Breakout Stage 3

The Challenge: Climate change requires immediate action, but financial constraints limit communities' response capabilities.

The Solution: Strategic alliances between private capital and public sector investments can create innovative solutions, promoting sustainability and resilience in at-risk regions.

Why Attend? Gain insights into emerging markets, learn about impactful investments, and join the movement for positive change.

Join Us: Discover how impact investing can transform our world for a thriving future.

This session is held under Chatham House Rule.

Evolving regulations place an emphasis on double materiality, most prominently in Europe. While the market is preparing to meet the connected due diligence requirements, there are some shared hurdles on how to translate the two perspectives into existing strategies and processes.  

In this fireside chat, we want to bring the spotlight to a practitioner reflecting on steps they are taking to establish the relevance of the two lenses to their various investment strategies, and what tools work well to unleash the value proposition this represents.   

Climate change represents a key structural growth theme for many European capital goods suppliers as a highly diverse range of industries increasingly embrace a range of technologies, equipment and solutions that facilitate the decarbonization of the global economy. Such solutions include technologies that improve energy efficiency, increase electrification, enable the further uptake of renewable energy technologies and/or address challenges in hard to decarbonize sectors. 

Investment returns and different degree of sustainability: what does it mean to be a sustainable investor? what should you be doing as an investor to balance financial and sustainable outcome? How to balance a sustainable portfolio to withstand different market and macroeconomic scenarios?

With increasing importance for companies to establish ambitious goals to manage the impact of their operations on the environment and the economy, coordination between sustainability teams that implement the strategy to achieve goals and financial teams that integrate sustainability reporting into their financial objectives has become crucial. In this breakout session, we will explore the collaborative efforts between these teams.

The primary bottleneck in the energy transition is the grid. The European Commission estimates that grid investments must double to meet the EU's 42.5% renewable energy target by 2030. This presents significant investment opportunities for grid operators but also raises potential funding challenges.

In this session, we will delve into optimizing portfolios with cutting-edge Climate data, ensuring compliance with evolving regulations, and creating customized reports that highlight your commitment to sustainability. Learn how to tackle common challenges in the portfolio construction workflow with practical solutions that drive meaningful impact.

Join us for an engaging session on the latest developments in the climate investing space, where we will explore how the Sustainalytics Low Carbon Transition Rating can guide your investment strategies. Discover how these ratings underpin the new Low Carbon Leader Indexes, designed to help institutional investors make impactful, sustainable investment choices.

An in-depth look at Impact investing in the private markets, examining where capital is flowing and what the opportunities are to generate market-rate returns alongside social and environmental ones. The presentation will highlight infrastructure as one of the key opportunities to do so for investors in the private markets.

There is only a narrow path forward for the global economy that can boost growth and deliver development aspirations within increasingly binding environmental constraints, of which climate change is just one. 

Professor Kapoor will draw on his 25 years of interdisciplinary work across five continents with policymakers, institutional investors, MNCs and academia to map the contours of this narrow path to a thriving future. He will discuss the financial, macroeconomic, technological, governance, trade, sustainability and geopolitical risks and opportunities that are likely to arise on this path. He will conclude with concrete ideas for what policymakers, institutional investors, sustainable finance and businesses can and should do in the near future. 

This speech will be anchored in his ongoing policy research at the European University Institute and advisory work for multilateral organizations including the G-20, IMF, UN and the EU and several Sovereign Wealth Funds.

Invite only, separate registration required.
THIS SESSION IS FULL.

Once you have been accepted to join, this session will show up on "My Schedule" on the event app. 

Ahead of the event please email events.eu@morningstar.com to find out more.
On site at the event please head to the Registration Desk to find out more. 

17:00 - 18:30 Boat Reception on the Canal sponsored by Morningstar Direct

18:30 - 21:30 Gala Dinner Sponsored by Morningstar Indexes

This showcase is a must for industry professionals that are looking to stay up to date on cutting-edge ESG technologies transforming Digital Finance, Wealth and Asset Management. 

As finance increasingly moves toward sustainable and responsible investments, this showcase offers valuable insights into the latest innovations driving this change. Join us for breakfast to see demonstrations of these advancements.

These include:

• BeZero Carbon: Carbon credit ratings for the voluntary carbon market.
• Etcho: Personalized sustainability insights using values profiling and storytelling.
• KnowYour Funds: Automated ESG oversight and reporting.
• Oxia Initiative: Simplified net-zero strategy platform.
• Prets: Democratizing the energy transition for homeowners.
• Qvonto: SFDR reporting automation for asset managers.
• Sopiad: Portfolio creation aligning with client’s ESG goals and risk tolerance.
• U Impact: Sustainable fund promotion using gamification and transparency.
• Weefin: Tools to empower sustainable investments.
   

We are thrilled to announce that the following individuals will be serving as judges for the Showcase:

• Raymond Frenken, Managing Editor at Investment Officer Luxembourg, has accepted the invitation to be a judge. He writes and talks about private equity, financial crime, sustainability, financial markets and alternative Investments. He was previously Director and Head of Communications and CSR for the European Banking Federation.

• Samarth Shekhar, who heads the EMEA presence of SixThirty Ventures, a global venture capital firm that works with the bold on big ideas in fintech, insurtech, privacy and digital health.

• Hans van Loenen. Partner at RSM. Hans has over 30 years of consulting experience and is one of our ESG thought leaders within RSM Netherlands. 

Join us!

Transitioning to a net-zero economy creates risks and opportunities for fixed income investors. This session will explore the upside and the downside; how to identify and select the leaders, from the traditional green bonds to broader transition related fixed income investments as well as how to identify and incorporate downside risk. 

With Stewardship functioning as a key pillar of investors’ sustainable investing programs, Asset owners are increasingly looking to their asset managers to execute engagement programs that deliver real world outcomes and impact. Asset managers must meet these expectations through clearly defined strategies, well executed company engagements, and ongoing impact reporting with performance measurement. This session will outline best practices and industry challenges that are pushing asset managers to continually raise the bar on their engagement initiatives.  

Join us for an insightful breakout session to discuss the growing demand for socially responsible investments and the increasing availability of data driving this trend. Discover the importance of integrating social considerations into your investment strategies for long-term success and explore examples from Morningstar's range of socially focused indexes. 

More investors are looking to invest sustainably, but they need to be aware of biases. Join this session to hear which biases has been identified among core sustainable strategies for the equity part of a portfolio and how you can review your portfolio to include sustainable strategies while avoiding large return deviations and unnecessary risks. 

The speaker will discuss: 

• The global ESG fund flows over Q3
• The biases in core equity strategies
• How to include sustainable equity strategies in a portfolio 
• How to construct your sustainable portfolio

Over the past five years, assets in ESG open-end funds and ETFs have surged five-fold, reaching EUR 3 trillion globally. As ESG strategies have diversified to meet various investor needs, regulatory frameworks have also evolved, introducing anti-greenwashing rules to safeguard investors. This session will explore the latest regulations reshaping the ESG funds landscape, including the anticipated results of the SFDR review in the EU, updates on the UK's SDR labeling, and comparisons with regulations in other parts of the world. We will also provide predictions for the 2025 ESG fund landscape in terms of number of funds, assets, and ESG strategy types.

In this panel we will dig into some key thematic human rights issues. Speakers will provide insights and case studies from their own perspectives and experience, highlighting best practice on, as well as challenges to, investor respect of human rights in the context of the key themes.

11:05 - 11:25 Sponsored Session 5: Carmignac

Head to Breakout Stage 3

In this presentation we will outline how we observed ESG impacting, or indeed not impacting, markets during 2024. 

What do Amsterdam, AI, Art and Supervision have in common?

In this session we will give the stage to 2 surprisingly complementary experts: 

· Constant Brinkman, co-founder of the world’s first AI-dedicated art gallery, introduces the transformational creativity AI has to offer and the role of their artificial curator. 

· Damian Borstel, senior supervisor on AI for the Dutch regulator AFM and PhD researcher on “Supervision on AI within the financial sector”, guides you through the complex web of emerging regulation on AI. 

This session is held under Chatham House Rule.

This debating style format session will discuss what is the single industry wide action that should be prioritised to secure the future of ESG? Should we prioritise systemic stewardship, clarity of asset owner mandates or a more effective regulatory path? 

In this engaging session, the audience will have the final word on which of these single areas can deliver the future of ESG. 

In this session, Dave and Ama will inspire and challenge the audience by demonstrating that action speaks louder than words. Through the work of Buzz Women, they will showcase how personal, community, and systems transformation can be achieved on a large scale. They'll illustrate how sustainability, finance, technology, and human rights are practically integrated into their mission, driving meaningful change. 

By sharing powerful stories of empowerment, they aim to touch hearts and minds, culminating in a reflection exercise that encourages each person to consider their own role and potential impact to end the two day conference. 

A session not to be missed!