 Well, good morning, good afternoon and good evening. I'm very pleased to open up this session on financing the net zero transition. I can't think of anyone better than I'd rather have this conversation with the panel we've assembled today. I've got some great diverse perspectives on this challenge of how we're going to increase rapidly the flow of capital into solutions for climate change. I'll just introduce our speakers and then we'll have an open conversation which hopefully we'll dive into this topic and find out their views. So we're joined by Sonny Harvard, who is the president of asset management business for UBS and then and looks after their sustainable investment business. We have Commissioner Mered McGuinness, the Irish commissioner in charge of the financial services commission within the European Commission. We also joined by Philip Hildebrand of Blackrock, who is vice chairman and responsible for sustainable investment at Blackrock. Thank you and welcome. And finally, and not last but not least, Bill Winters, chief executive of the Standard Chartered Bank and a member of the task force on the voluntary carbon market. Thank you all for joining me. I know it's all different time zones and hopefully we all had a strong coffee. And I wanted to just kick off this session by asking your views on what are some of the barriers and enablers in your experience of how we get these large sums of capital reallocated into solutions for climate change. These are going to be physical infrastructure assets that are often going to be long lived. So how do we do risk investment and get that flow moving? And perhaps I come to you, Sonny, first, would that be okay? Sure. And thanks for having us at UBS. I think there are a lot of barriers, one less with the change of the administration in the United States. I think what President Biden has done to rejoin the climate of the Paris Accord and all of the things he's following on in his policies to allow more freedom of flow for investments into climate and other ESG products, I think will help us a lot, giving the private markets an ability to be global in our approach as opposed to carving out the U.S. and our issues is one of the first. Look, I think we've got tremendous demand among our clientele around the global. I think we've got the private sector very, very engaged in designing products. The missing link right now is data, consistency of data around the globe so that we can create more products to meet that demand. That becomes even more difficult when you think about many investors want to get into financing renewables and a lot of the pre-IPO products in the capital that we really need for that project finance as the private markets. How do you get the data even away from general meetings and away from proxy votes and all of that will be another barrier that we have to face. But I have to say, I think we've come a long way in just the last two years at pulling down a lot of those barriers. And I feel pretty good about the prospects for the climate aware universe, if you will, of products and investment. That's wonderful. Coming to you next, Mered, if that's okay. Obviously, sometimes it's going to take a public move to de-risk some of these investments because many of them are becoming cost-competitive and profitable, but there's still a lot of solutions which are still too high up the cost curve. So could you talk briefly about the role you see the Commission playing in helping with that challenge? Well, I'm going to pick up on this point about information and data. I think that's absolutely clear because what's happening at the moment is awareness is very high and we have, if you like, both the demand and the supply issues, I think beginning to come into balance. The issue, as I hear it from companies and investors, is knowing what exactly is sustainable. We know what's not working and we know the brown industries, but in terms of other sectors and your headline is about transition. We, for example, at the EU level have our taxonomy on sustainable activities, which is very clear and science-led and we're debating that with stakeholders at the moment. And what that is is both a destination and a signpost. And our greatest concern is that we make sure that those industries that want to transition to net zero and need investments, that they get the finance to do that. And it's very reassuring to hear that the industry aside, the financial side is also wanting to do that. And I suppose I think that's been driven by a lot of talk about climate over a long period of time. I think that the COVID-19 crisis has also been quite a catalyst to shake up the globe and realise our vulnerabilities and how we need to tackle these things. I suppose there are other issues at the EU level that we are also aware of. There's a global need to be coordinated. So we tend to be ambitious, perhaps more so. And I think we want to be leaders in this field, but we also work globally with the international platform on sustainable finance. And to your point about public-private, I mean, this is key. But I do believe that the political will, and this is the most important thing, the political will is there to do more and to do it more rapidly. The leaders at the EU level have agreed that the ambition for 2030 will be higher than we currently have. So the parliament wants 60% reduction in emissions by 2030. The leaders have said 55%. And those are tough targets to meet. And it's a very short period of time. So mobilising capital for these investments would be absolutely critical, as will ongoing research and innovation. And we're also involved in that space. But in one sense, the big debates are over. Now we're looking at let's talk about how to get the money flowing, because we will not have carbon neutrality, net zero, unless the finance flows towards sustainability. And I'm really pleased to hear some leaders in this area who perhaps have not been speaking out in the past, now coming to the table and wanting to be part of this very big movement. Yeah. There's so much I'd love to come back on. But I'm going to move on to Philip and ask Philip, you the same question from Blackrock's perspective. How are you feeling? What are some of the remaining barriers and what's been enabling in recent months and years? Of course. Thank you for having us here this morning. So I'd say, first of all, it's important to frame just how big the problem is. We're going to need to mobilise somewhere in the neighbourhood of three to six, seven trillion dollars per year for many, many years to come. So the challenge is enormous. And so the question of what blocks it, what enables it, I think is very important. The positive news, of course, is that as the Commission has said, we now have over 120 countries that have explicit regulatory legislative net zero goals. The US has joined. That's a very big step. The change is certainly fundamentally the whole landscape. We also have a period where fiscal spending is very much alive and going on. And countries, again, the Commission with its recovery fund at the forefront of this, is spending a lot of money, a lot of public money. And it's clearly saying a significant part of this 30%, let's say in the European case, has to go into spending for climate transition. The key now is to use this regulatory convergence and the willingness to use public money as an enabler, as a catalyst to get private money flowing. Because no matter how big the commitment will be from the public side, it will not be enough to get to the trillions of dollars per year for many years to come. So we desperately need the mobilization of private capital. And the way that can happen is by having, and this has been mentioned by the Commissioner, we need a global standard that allows capital to respond to the public policy incentives and start to help mobilize these enormous sums of money that we will need to fund the transition to net zero. Thank you so much. And Bill, from your position in the standard chart, how are you seeing this lens? And if you could say something a little bit perhaps about Asia, that would be really fantastic. Because of course, there's so much long-lived assets there that do need to transition and be fascinated to hear your views. Yeah, thanks for having me. First of all, I'll pick up on a few of the comments that Philip and Merid and Suni all made, which I think are spot on. The need certainly across a sustainable development goal is probably $10 trillion per year of which climate, as Philip said, is probably something like $6 trillion four years to come. The substantial problem that we have right now is where the framework is reasonably well established in Europe and well done to the European Commission for making sure that happens. It's not well established on a global basis. And the ability for that capital to move into many of the developing economies, which are both the source of a lot of the emissions that we're all struggling to contain, but also at the highest risk of the consequences of climate change, we're far from having a framework that's suitable. So whereas we can see a path to getting to something like 80% or more of the financing requirements in Europe and I think the Americas, the U.S., now that we've got an administration in the U.S. that's supporting the cause, the available financing in emerging markets is less than 10%, less than 10% of what's needed. And as Philip said, without having a coordinated private and public sector approach to that huge financing gap in emerging markets, most notably in South Asia and sub-saharan Africa, but as you mentioned also other parts of Asia that are in addition to everything else, particularly badly impacted by the COVID pandemic. So the private sector capital that was finding its way into emerging markets is much less likely to do so when the risk profile has increased so much on the back of all the stresses and strains around the COVID pandemic. So I would say the most substantial barriers to achieving the financing targets that we've all got, one would be getting that re-established coordination between the public and the private sector in order to, as Philip said, to catalyze private sector capital. The public sector will need to step up that certainly in many cases will be led through blended finance type transactions led by the multilateral agencies, but direct government assistance will be helpful at times as well. This problem can be solved. If you've looked at this from the other side and I know we've got two experts on the panel who can speak directly from the asset management perspective, but there's a $50 trillion opportunity here, investment opportunity. These are interesting assets. These are assets that that savers want to invest in both for social reasons, but also because they should generate an acceptable return on a risk-adjusted basis. But what we'll need to do to really tap into that $50 trillion opportunity is get the standards right and then get the public sector partnership right. Fantastic. I wonder if you mentioned that Bill, the word risk, and it fills me that the way that the finance sector views risk has got to be fundamental to this transition, both in terms of what I worry about, which is physical risk of climate change, the sort of cascading impacts that we're starting to see even at just one degree warming. The globe is not experiencing that as an average. There are parts of the world which are seeing really substantial changes far faster than we expected. So physical risk feels like it's accelerating. Then you've got transition risk of again, the globe is not equal. There are some countries highly dependent on carbon and supply of carbon and the consumption of carbon. Their risk is what do we do? How do we cope with that huge shift that's about to happen? So that does make it a really complicated challenge. I completely agree with you. I think the technologies are there, but we do need that political will. So, Mered, if I could come back to you and when you think about Europe, Europe's quite nice. It's our kind of microcosm of the world in some ways. You've got very cold dependent countries. You've got very agricultural dependent countries like your own. How do you politically manage that risk of transition? Well, I think your introduction to this point speaks to the problem that we're not all equal and things are not fair. But I was interested in how some of my colleagues, if you like, prefaced this debate, the amount of investment needed is enormous. But remember, there was an amount of investment put into brown technologies up to now. And it was enormous too. So it's about redirecting. And I'm glad that what Bill said, it's not impossible, but it does need coordination. So yes, even within Europe, there are worries from some member states, some sectors about what this will all mean to them. And I really answered that very plainly by saying, look, we've made a commitment both by 2030 and then 2050. So the direction of travel is in one way only. There is no way back. And in order for us to meet that target here at EU level, and we have a global commitment to do that, you start by looking at each sector, identifying what is sustainable and helping industries move towards it. So I think finance is absolutely crucial. I think the political context is crucial. And here's one thing I think is really missing from the piece. I think we need to understand how difficult this is for individuals on the ground. So if we close down peak factories in the region I come from, workers are really affected. Are we looking after their interests really well? Because unless we get buy in from society, and I was listening again to Bill about Asia and the problems there, we need citizens to buy into this. There is a willingness among citizens to address climate change. But when it impacts on their particular life or job, we have to be there with the public supports in order to make sure that the transition is just. And I think if we don't do that, that will be a bigger barrier to progress. Let me also say that companies, asset managers have a duty of care and a responsibility to deliver on this. So we don't have choice in this. And I would really love to hear this morning from those who are in asset management, the three key things they need. And maybe not just looking at it from their perspective, that's obviously the job, but also looking at it in the wider global context that if they fail, so in other words, if we fail to deliver on this, really, that's quite a shocking thought. And given that we are currently in a world where we're all stuck where we are, we don't mix with people because a pandemic we never prepared for has hit us. I think this is a real wake-up call for the world about what can happen. And it's not as if it's decades away. It's very close to us. So I love my ask here this morning, it's why I want to listen in. With clarity, what do you need, but also don't think of it only from your perspective. What are investors asking for? Today it's not just about that crude return on investment. It's about a wider issue of delivering on sustainable future environment, all of those things around that biodiversity and climate change. So it's complicated, it's messy. But if we don't do it, then we won't be talking in 30 years time, it will be over. I think you've hit on something there, which is the extent to which we might be expecting the finance sector to try and do this. I sometimes worry that the finance sector is there to do what it does, which is to make a return and to oil the wheels of business. And I worry that it's on politicians and public will to sort of create the right conditions, rather than expect the finance sector to solve it. And I worry sometimes we think to put too much emphasis on that. But Sonny, Merritt asked a very direct question there. Do you have a wish list that would help in terms of driving these things forward? I do and I agree completely. I'll start by saying I think the definition of return has shifted for many years. And again, even in the United States very recently, it was all about just a financial return and an absolute measure. I don't think that's the way it is. The world of investing has moved for years into outcome-based investing. So whether it was income or absolute return or relative value, whatever, adding a social return on top of that is not as big a shift as many people think. And we are seeing that grassroots demand. So I think a lot of that is there already. I think in terms of what we need, I'll maybe shift it, Commissioner, back to you. We do need consistent and available data. And I think the regulators and legislatures have been great about getting that. We need more of it and we need it globally. I think a consistent approach around the globe would be good. Again, big steps recently in the U.S. to pull us online. But as much as I think we can get a lot of help on what data we have available, I will caution the legislatures to stop short of telling us how to use the data. And I'm just going to pick up on something you said. Transition is absolutely critical here. So there are two types of investing that we can do now and generally in the parlance, which is exclusionary, right? You cut off whole sectors or you cut off investments. And the number of people will tell us, if we don't do that, it's not sustainable investing. And then there's the transition side. And we very much believe in engagement of companies and bringing them along and helping them with that transition. Every company will be at different phases. And how we do that is important. And I think we do have a critical role to play as in achieving that. So if we have definitions of what is sustainable that are too narrow or can't change over time as new data sets and new analytics come in, we might stifle innovation. So again, cutting off fossil fuels from an investment is eco-friendly for sure. Transitioning companies and or maybe even a long short strategy where you're going along those that are transitioning more readily versus short those that aren't caring at all about it, these are all different ways to approach that mobilization of capital that the commissioner talked about that we need to see. So it's just a cautionary tale, not too definitive in terms of what we're coming out with, but more data for sure and consistency of that data are on top of our list. Yeah, fantastic. Turning to Philip, from Blackbrox perspective, do you have a wish list? Are there innovations that you're driving that are going to help in this challenge? The good news is the asset management, the capital owners as well as the asset managers are now at the front end of what's going to be a tectonic shift towards sustainable investing. That's clear. And we firmly believe that's only the very beginning. The reason this has been triggered is because policy has converged around a global net zero framework as everybody has stated here. So the beginning is set. What we now need is clarity on how we're going to get there and it needs to be just and equitable and fair. I think everybody has rightly pointed this out. It's going to take time. And then what we urgently need, rising carbon prices, that's a policy matter ultimately. And then finally, I think the key to have definitional standards that clearly quantify or define what is climate compatible, net zero compatible investment and what isn't. And I think again, the commission deserves a lot of credit for having set out first on this journey through the taxonomy. What we now need is a concept that can be applied globally. And I think the joining of the US into these discussions, of course, is a great opportunity. The more convergence we have around global standards, the more clarity what that's going to be, the more rapidly we can then see this tectonic shift take place in order to mobilize the trillions that we need. So this is a classic case of, you begin with good public policy to use public money as a catalyst and then private money flows. I think it's very important when we talk, this is a kind of a private sector in many ways agenda, but we have to always remember that at the outset, you need a coherent good policy incentives through public spending, which we now have, and then private money can solve. Yeah, I have to say, I witnessed the transition of the electricity sector in the UK from a policy makers perspective and saw the power of successive policies, consistent policies that enabled the de-risking and that we kind of need that to spread globally. But I'm going to come to you, Bill. To get specific here on this global standards question. I mean, it is going to be different at a global level from a European level because the scale of the challenge, let's just take China, for example, replacing all of that thermal coal infrastructure. It might mean that our definitions, as Sunni said, need to be relatively flexible to allow those innovations to come through that can really replace those thermal assets. And so do you sort of have a sense that there will be, what's the right fora in which we can discuss this globally? Will it be a combination of the US, China and Europe kind of converging? Well, I think that there's clearly an opportunity for multilateral discussions around standard settings and shared objectives. But I go back to the title of this conference and the word that we throw around a lot, which is transition. At the end of the day, governments have made their own net zero commitments. Businesses, for the most part, have been making them in one way or other even earlier. And at the end of the day, the people who are going to reduce emissions are businesses and individuals who are engaging with businesses. So I think we have to start with a good understanding of what is the net zero transition for each one of the people that are making these commitments at the ground, individuals to the extent that we want to do that, but certainly businesses. And as Philip said right at the outset and others, we need to get some common understandings around the metrics. How are we measuring the progress that we're making? Governments can be helpful in that. But as much of the reduction is going to need to come as a result of actions taken by businesses around the world, this needs to be a business-led initiative as well, informing government policy and obviously following government policy as that policy comes out. And there will be a continuous and iterative process. And the very essence of communicating a net zero commitment and recognizing that many companies have made 1,500 companies, that's by my count, have made net zero commitments, relatively few have said exactly how they're going to do that and how they're measuring it along the way because the standards aren't clear yet. I think as we get convergence on what we think are acceptable standards, and there are pure private sector initiatives, spend a fair amount of time here at the WEF this week talking about those, we're getting real backing for that. Taking that agreed set of standards and then having that go back into the interplay with whether it's the eutaxonomy or other global or multilateral negotiations around what are the agreed standards is a critical piece to that. Now, we all know that most businesses aren't going to be able to get to net zero entirely through their own reduction activities. That has to be the first and overall priority is for every business to reduce its own carbon emissions greenhouse gas emissions. But ultimately, there's going to have to be some facility for people who get to net zero by transferring money to other people who are able to actually remove carbon from the environment, which may not be the businesses that we run. And I don't want to front run the task force on scaling voluntary carbon markets too much, which we're talking about this evening. But having a robust market will also be very supportive in terms of helping us all agree those common standards because there will be a market attached to it. I'm going to end with a quick fire round if that's okay. Mered, what did you want to come back on that? Really helpful from my side, but can I just say the issue of having science-based taxonomy, which identifies sustainability and loosening it up to much wider, I think is difficult, even though there are pressures to do that because I think you've got to follow the science. I do think that we need also to look at the transition and that's less clear about sectors, how they will do that and how they will get access to finance. But we don't have a choice. And even today, we didn't have a choice. We couldn't fly. We couldn't meet because the world said a pandemic, a virus stopped us. Climate change is the same. We don't have choice here. And while the role you're saying of the finance sector, it can't do it all or whatever point that you said earlier, I think there's also a duty on the finance sector and asset managers to be part of what is the best future for the next generation. And I'm really happy what Sony said that we're not just looking at the cold hard return on investment statistics. There is a wider debate here. It's difficult for some companies to take that on board, but there's no choice. Thank you so much. Right. I'm going to end with a quick, rapid question if everyone can just give me their top succinct answer to this. It does feel as if there is this alignment now, but there's so much change that needs to happen. And there's probably decades of built-in biases within all our systems, whether governmental or the finance sector. So culturally and within our own frame of influence, what are some of the things that we can do to shift that cultural backdrop to this challenge? And if you've got a kind of idea within your own business in what you're seeking to do to try and spread this awareness out of sustainable investment across much broader into the sector, quick answers would be wonderful. And then we'll be wrapping up and going into a private session. So I'll usually start with, I'll go in reverse order. So Bill. Clear commitments, clear metrics and a high degree of transparency. Fantastic. Thank you, Philip. I would say the same. I can only tell you in addition that the motivation internally of our staff is extraordinary. So I count a lot on the kind of the personal commitment that we have. I've never seen our staff so excited as they are right now, as we issue these new guidelines on how we're going to do this. Excellent. And Marat, you know, I've kind of answered that in a way and I'm glad to hear that at asset management level, there is this commitment and we need to see it delivered on. I think at the political and societal level, I said earlier, we need to make sure that everybody is on this journey and that the transition is just. And I think that's not just a European wish. I think across the globe, we know that there are injustices around climate change. So we need to get that right because if we don't have support from the ground up, then we will have real problems. Thank you. Anthony, culturally, how do we shift culture? I think it's a combination, maybe of all of them. I think every company has a purpose and expanding that purpose or refining that purpose to ensure that includes socially acceptable, the social dynamic ESG type goals would be critical. That starts the grassroots that Philip mentioned in terms of the culture of your entity and then it expands to all of your clients, vendors, everybody else that's engaged. So a purpose driven company, including ESG and that purpose. Fantastic. Just a reflection that we've obviously, as you've touched on, we have gone through this extraordinary couple of years, a year of complete disruption and that moment kind of takes stock and think about how fragile is the sort of structure that we've created. And hopefully we'll see some lessons learned about that public-private engagement that has led to record speeds of vaccine development, the capital system mobilizing, government creating purchase guarantees to sort of make markets. It has been a real challenge. I think just reflecting personally, the problem with climate is how do you make it feel as urgent as these more direct threats to human health? Because I think, Mered, you summed it up, that it is not a long distance threat. This is something that's unraveling now. So how do we get that urgency into this question? And maybe it is going to be a case of looking at what's worked so far in sectors that are decarbonizing, but also learning from the COVID experience. Thank you so much for your comments this morning. I really appreciate everyone joining us at different hours of the day. Thank you, everyone, for watching. Thank you for coming.