During the course, we have spoken about several finance-led or policy-led initiatives that are seeking to change the financial system: Renewable Energy and Environmental Finance Report, UCD, Ireland

During the course, we have spoken about several finance-led or policy-led initiatives that are seeking to change the financial system. They are building the business case and the evidence base to influence investors, lenders, and other financial sector stakeholders to integrate ESG considerations into financial decisions based on financial risk and financial opportunity. These include: Carbon Tracker Initiative Principles of Responsible Investment Climate Action 100+ Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) EU sustainable finance policy broadly You are a junior associate at a large asset management fund.

Your manager has seen a lot of discussion on a particular ESG initiative in the news and in senior management meetings recently and thinks it would be good for the team to be brought up to speed on it. She asks you to prepare a 2,000-word briefing paper for your team on the topic. Within this briefing paper, you should explain what this initiative is, the sustainability/ESG topic that it seeks to address, the expected outcomes from the initiative, and anything else you feel interested in the topic.

After reading this paper, your team should all have a thorough understanding of this initiative and the outcome it seeks to deliver. Please choose from one of the following initiatives Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets The EU sustainable corporate governance proposal [1] The EU Taxonomy and SFDR – with a focus on real estate funds. Finally, the net-zero whole of life carbon in buildings is about moving beyond operational emissions to include embedded carbon also. What are the levers/arguments YOU would use to engage the real estate investors and lenders and other financial sector stakeholders that they should be thinking about embedded carbon and raising their expectations on net-zero for the real estate sector?