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Supported by Environment & Energy Committee

Speakers:

Alistair Monument, Conservation Impact Director, Asia Pacific, WWF International

Ashley Bang, Head Data Scientist, ADMCF

Carolin Leeshaa, Director, Natural Capital & Biodiversity Global Lead, KPMG 

Joanne Lee, Responsible Investment Specialist, Asia, First Sentier Investors (Hong Kong) Limited 

Marine de Bazelaire, Group Advisor on Natural Capital, HSBC

Moderator:

Mark Harper, Group Head of Sustainability, John Swire and Sons (H.K) Limited

Business and Biodiversity - The Business Case for the Planet

Nature is declining at an unprecedented rate, with nearly 1 million species facing extinction because of human activity. Current production and consumption patterns, land use and urbanisation, population dynamics, trade, industry and governance models underpin this loss. Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse was ranked by leaders from business, government and civil society as one of the top five threats the world will face in the next 10 years in the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Risks Report. Biodiversity and the services provided by the natural environment are essential to economic development and our ongoing prosperity and wellbeing. It is estimated that half of the world’s GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services and, as a result, exposed to risks from nature loss. Nature loss matters for most businesses – through impacts on operations, supply chains, and markets. And yet to date, business action on biodiversity has been limited.
 
It is within our power to change this, and business can play a crucial role in this.  By putting nature at the core of their processes and decision-making and systematically identifying, assessing, mitigating and disclosing nature-related risks to avoid severe consequences, businesses can be part of the global movement to protect and restore nature.
 
 
Join us for this event where our speakers will address the following:
• Why biodiversity loss is a material risk to business and the economy?
• What is the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures, and how will this impact business? 
• Natures role in businesses carbon reduction strategies; and
• What can business do to help restore nature?

About the speakers

Ashley is a data scientist who applies her expertise in climate and biodiversity to inform policymakers and financial institutions. Some of her recent projects include assessing climate risks to investments, developing metrics to value biodiversity, and modelling regional fisheries resources economics for conservation. Ashley is a former Fulbright Scholar and holds a degree in Geology and Biology from Brown University.

Carolin has been at the forefront of global social & sustainable finance for over twenty years. As a trusted impact strategist she works at the intersection of government policy, capital markets and communities across developed and emerging markets. Equipped with a systems view of complex challenges, she has a deep commitment to catalyse social prosperity and regenerative economic growth. A common thread throughout her career has been the application of creativity, collaboration and finance to design and deliver transformative, impactful solutions to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

With a background in global capital markets and structured finance, she leads the firm's global Natural Capital & Biodiversity mandate, market engagement and thought leadership. One of her principal areas of expertise includes advising government, financial services and corporate clients to integrate nature as an opportunity in policy, strategy, business, investment-and risk management decisions, design of nature-based decarbonisation solutions, and innovative, blended cross-sector funding mechanisms across the full spectrum of the capital continuum to close the climate and biodiversity financing gap. She has been actively involved in national policy, global biodiversity accounting standard setting and reporting change and is a member of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).

She is a graduate of the Oxford Impact Finance Innovation Programme at the Said Business School, University of Oxford and holds masters’ degrees in banking and finance and post-graduate qualifications of social impact from the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, University of New South Wales.

Based in Hong Kong, Joanne Lee works on the strategic development and implementation of First Sentier Investor’s (‘FSI’) responsible investment initiatives with a particular focus on biodiversity. In close collaboration with investment teams in Asia, she supports corporate engagement, capacity building, research, and ESG-related regulatory compliance. Prior to joining FSI, Joanne was Senior Manager, Sustainable Finance at World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), providing thought leadership and analytic research on net zero portfolio alignment, natural capital and green financial solutions. She also worked on renewable energy financing at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Abu Dhabi and with climate consultancies in the US. Joanne is a CFA Charterholder with a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.

Working in sustainability for over 20 years, Marine joined HSBC as Head of Sustainability for France in 2004. She then oversaw the function for Europe before acting as HSBC’s Group Advisor on Natural Capital since January 2021. 
In this newly created position, she coordinates the Group’s response to nature related risks and opportunities, liaising with business lines and functions and bringing in insights from external working groups such as TNFD, Accountability Alignment, CISL Biodiversity working groups.

Marine is also professor at Sciences Po Paris, a leading Higher Education Institution in France, where she teaches “Finance & Biodiversity” to student enrolled in the Environmental Policy Master.

A Board member of Friendship, a Bangladeshi nonprofit, and of the Fondation Egalité des Chances she is also Colonel of the citizen reserve of the French Air Force and acts as Auditor of IHEDN (Institute of higher studies in National Defense) and CHEE&DD (Institute of higher studies in Environment and in Sustainable development). Marine holds a MSc from University Paris IV, a MSc and a BBA from Pace University, New York.

About the moderator

Mark Harper is the Group Corporate Sustainability Manager at John Swire and Sons (H.K) Limited, where he is responsible for Group ESG disclosure as well as guiding the development of Group strategy on Waste Management, Water, Biodiversity and Climate Resilience. He also sits on the Board and Executive Committees of a number of Hong Kong NGO’s and Initiatives including Business Environment Council and Drink Without Waste. He has over 15 years’ experience in the field of Corporate Sustainability across both the Public and NGO sectors, in Europe, USA and Asia.

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And starting from Tuesday, 31st May 2022, the third stage of the Vaccine Pass will be implemented and requirement for entry to Blueprint will be raised to three doses of vaccine. You are highly recommended to input all the necessary information into your mobile device prior to entering Blueprint in order to facilitate the registration process.

Pricing

• Member: HK$175
• Non-Member: HK$250

Terms & Conditions

• Reservations in advance are required. Please consider your booking confirmed unless notified otherwise.
• Cancellations must be made in writing 24 hours prior to the event. No shows will be charged.
• This event is closed to the media.
• The event will be cancelled if the No.8 Typhoon signal or the Black Rain Storm warning is in force.
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