Time is precious. Building sustainable ecosystems is no longer a choice, it’s about survival. Climate change is inevitable, but with urgent and collective action we can slow it down and give our planet time to heal. We’ve had two decades to change our ways. It’s time to do more.
Let's Talk.
The world is racing to slow down. We are the first generations to feel the effects of climate change; be it longer hurricane seasons, more intense wild fires that result in dying animal species, ongoing droughts or heavy flooding. We might also be the last generations in a position to do something about it.
Climate choice or climate challenge?
In our second Critical Conversations virtual event on sustainability, we focus on climate change. We will talk about the impact of climate change on people, communities and the planet. We’ll ask the experts: “What is the real impact of climate change on South Africa, what should we do to become more climate-resilient and do we have a choice, or is this simply a challenge we must overcome?”. We will delve into the impact of climate change events on financial markets and explore the circular economy as a means to sustainable, local economic development.
#ClimateChange #CriticalConversations
About Critical Conversations
Critical Conversations is a platform for innovative, courageous discussions that tackle the dynamics of sustainability and impact investing. It highlights the need for educated and authentic conversations, that explore the right ideas with the right people, to continue moving the best solutions forward.
What’s your view?
We don’t need to worry about climate change in South Africa
Ready to talk?
Date: Monday 13 September 2021 | Time: 10.00 – 11.30 SAST
We are in the process of certifying Climate choice or climate challenge? for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) points with the Financial Planning Institute (FPI). In line with the FPI CPD policy, CPD certificates may only be provided to participants who joined the CPD activity using their unique link and whose attendance for the full duration of the CPD activity can be verified by the attendance data.
Meet our panel.
Lerato Mbele
Business and News Presenter
Lerato Mbele is a business and news presenter well known for raising Africa’s profile in world news and current affairs. Lerato has spoken at and moderated televised debates for the World Economic Forum on Africa, the World Bank and IMF annual meetings, African Development Bank summits, the UN Climate Change Summit COP-17 and has hosted the televised presidential debates for the Nigerian Economic Summit Group. Lerato is a previous business presenter for BBC World Television and was the host of Africa Business Report. Before that, Lerato was a senior business anchor for CNBC Africa and a national public broadcaster of South Africa.
Lerato Mbele will be facilitating the conversation.
Professor Guy Midgley
Distinguished Professor
Stellenbosch University
Guy Midgley is a distinguished professor on global change ecology at Stellenbosch University. He has been working on fields such as global change and biodiversity since the 1980s. He has played lead roles in the IPCC 4th, 5th and 6th Assessments, and IPBES Global Assessments. Professor Midgley has over 170 publications and has been globally recognised as a highly cited researcher since 2014. He is regarded as one of the top 200 most influential climate change scientists in the world by Thomsons Reuters (2021) and has been awarded the SA Royal Society Marloth Medal and Humboldt Foundation Research Award for lifetime science contributions.
Ramez Naam
Co-Chair, Energy and Environment
Singularity University
Ramez Naam is a computer scientist, startup investor, advisor and award-winning author. He is the co-chair of Energy and Environment for Singularity University at NASA Ames. He focuses on climate change, innovation, exponential technology and disruptive energy technologies. Ramez also spent 13 years at Microsoft leading teams working on artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing and internet search. He’s authored over 20 patents and his work is referenced by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Atlantic, Slate, Business Week, Discover, Wired and Scientific American. He’s appeared on MSNBC and Yahoo Finance, and spoken to corporate CEOs and boards across six continents.
Dr Lucian Peppelenbos
ESG Climate Strategist
Robeco
Dr Lucian Peppelenbos works with Robeco as a climate strategist. He oversees Robeco’s work on decarbonising investment portfolios and integrating climate-related risks and opportunities into investment processes. Socio-economist by training, Lucian has always focussed on corporate sustainability. Prior to joining Robeco, Lucian was the senior responsible investment specialist at APG Asset Management, where he led their climate strategy. Before that, he helped set up IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative. He also worked as a supply chain consultant for companies operating in emerging markets and as a policy advisor in Dutch Parliament. He has a PhD in social-economic sciences from Wageningen University.
Jason Liddle
Head of Institutional
Sanlam Investments
Jason Liddle is the head of institutional distribution at Sanlam Investments. He joined Sanlam Investments in 2019 after heading up institutional clients at ABSA Investments. Prior to that, Jason was Chief Investment Officer at Satrix, having initially joined as a portfolio manager in February 2014, focussing on the institutional market specifically, while assisting with their quantitative research capability. Before that, Jason was an investment analyst for Sanlam Investments’ multi-manager business. He holds a BCom from UCT, a Higher Certificate in Financial Markets and Instruments (cum laude) and is a certified financial risk manager with the Global Association of Risk Professionals.
Looking back.
In our first Critical Conversation we discussed Africa and South Africa as sustainable investment opportunities. We honed in on infrastructure, energy and job creation. We also debated the role of local and global investment players in creating robust local opportunities.
The FPI has awarded 1.5 CPD points for this first episode of Critical Conversations. If you missed it live, you can watch the offline event using one of these links and complete a short quiz, to earn your points.
We’ve included a few highlights from the first event discussing The (South) Africa investment opportunity.
