In just over a month, we’ll welcome area investment professionals to the CFA Society of Boston 2018 Sustainable Investing seminar. It is our 6th annual seminar, and will take place on Wednesday, November 28th at the Omni Parker House in Boston.
This year, I am particularly pleased to welcome Jeremy Grantham as our keynote speaker. Jeremy is one of the investment world’s most compelling speakers on virtually any topic he chooses to address. His was an early voice for both the investment imperative and the investment opportunity in addressing climate change. When I talked with him earlier this year, he had just completed a research project I was particularly interested to include in his remarks at our event. He had examined the impact of divestment – not simply the highly-charged question of fossil fuel divestment – but divestment of any sector from a diversified portfolio over a long time period, and found that it had a negligible impact on long-term returns.
That said, Jeremy has been casting a wide net. By the time our conversation was over, we had covered a range of topics of equal or even greater potential interest for our sustainable investing audience – the implications of decarbonizing the world economy, agriculture in a warming world with a growing population, the changing role and mix of commodities and secular changes in commodities cycles that represent a departure from historical experience, the underappreciated impact of chemical and environmental toxins, and the implications of all of the above for asset allocators. By the time November 28th rolls around, Jeremy may have added a few more ideas to the mix.
We will of course have much more on the agenda – conversations over a range of sustainable investment focused topics that practitioners can leverage and build on in their practice:
- Gender Diversity in the Investment Management Industry
- Adapt or Die: the Future of Electric Utilities
- Data Privacy and Cybersecurity
- Leveraging Capital Markets to Slow Down Climate Change
- Impact Investing Paradigm Shift: How Competitive Returns and Social/Environmental Impact
Can Unlock Capital Flows - Materiality and Evidence for Sustainable Investing
I would be remiss if I did not highlight the important role you – our attendees – have in the success of this event. We design and structure the day to encourage interaction and conversations among our diverse audience of investment practitioners and other industry professionals.
Please join us at the Omni Parker House in Boston on November 28th!