Brazil-Canada Talks: Unveiling ESG: A Practitioner's Perspective
The Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Proactiva and Cescon Barrieu, is pleased to invite you to the next Brazil-Canada Talks: Unveiling ESG: A Practitioner's Perspective”, that will take place on November 26th at 9:00 AM EST.
It’s often said that crisis accelerates or accentuates current trends, and the COVID-19 global pandemic has shown this statement to be true in many different ways – including with the discussions around ESG practices.
Throughout the years, many companies have been incorporating ESG strategies for either risk management or as an opportunity to contribute to social and economic developments as part of their CSR strategies. Most recently, discussions around climate change and the significant and lasting impact that it will have on economic growth and prosperity are reshaping finance.
The evidence on climate risk is compelling investors to reassess core assumptions about modern finance. Research from a wide range of organizations – including the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the BlackRock Investment Institute, and many others, including new studies from McKinsey on the socioeconomic implications of physical climate risk – is deepening our understanding of how climate risk will impact both our physical world and the global system that finances economic growth.
With investors putting sustainability at the center of their investments approach, companies are realizing that ESG has to be part of a business framework, a long-term strategy. It moved from being aspirational and philanthropic to being part of the company’s core business. The matter is whether the purpose of the corporation is being questioned and whether ESG parametrization is a tool to test this new role of the corporate actor. All aspects of the ESG conversation should be at play, not only the E (climate change, GHG, water usage, etc.) but also the S (human rights, inequality, gendered impacts etc.) and the G (governance of corporations as an intra-corporate, as well as an inter-corporate issue).
We invited a group of experts to discuss how the players (companies, financial institutions and consultants) have concretely stepped up ESG practices in 2020 and what is expected for 2021. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear from our speakers about real examples of how strategic and structural changes in operations and markets are opening a new chapter in ESG practice.
Thursday, November 26th
9:00 AM | Opening remarks
DR. DANIELA CHIMISSO, Senior Advisor, Governance at Proactiva
9:10 AM | ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION: A PRACTITIONERS' PERSPECTIVE
Moderator: RAFAEL BENKE, CEO at Proactiva
ARTHUR LIACRE, VP Public Affairs, Sustainability; Strategy & Business Development, Brazil at The Mosaic Company
ALEX MONTEIRO, Corporate Finance Executive Manager at Neoenergia
FELIPE GUARDIANO, VP Sustainability and Strategic Planning at Nexa Resources
TOM EVESON, Director, Sustainable Finance Solutions at Sustainalytics
BRUCE KEITH, Senior Investment Officer, Latin America for Climate Finance at IFC – World Bank
MICHAEL TORRANCE, Chief Sustainability Officer at BMO
10:20 AM | CLOSING REMARKS
MARCOS FLESCH, Partner at Cescon Barrieu
FREDERICO MARQUES, Of Counsel & Head of North America at Cescon Barrieu
10:30 AM | END OF EVENT
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Speaker's Bios in order of appearance
Dr. Daniela Chimisso
Senior Advisor, Governance at Proactiva
Dr. Daniela Chimisso dos Santos has practiced law in the extractive industries (oil, gas, and mining) for more than 20 years. She is Senior Advisor, Governance, at Proactiva, a boutique sustainability consultancy firm, and Principal at Invenient Solutions Consulting. She is a member of the board of directors of Transparency International – Canada, the Canadian Chapter of the world's leading non-governmental anti-corruption organization. She is also one of the Canadian representatives to the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR Task Force on “Addressing Issues of Corruption in International Arbitration.” In British Columbia, she has been appointed to the Environmental Appeal Board, Forest Appeals Commission, and the Oil and Gas Appeal Tribunal. Daniela has lectured at several law faculties, including at Western University, University of Toronto, and Osgoode Hall Professional Development.
Rafael Benke
CEO at Proactiva
Since founding Proactiva, Rafael has shaped the company into a consultancy of reference on ESG, sustainable finance, sustainability, and human rights in Brazil and internationally. Before founding Proactiva, Rafael was an executive at Vale (2006–2014) and worked in leading global positions in the Brazil’s Foreign Trade Secretary, the Organization of American States, the Brazilian Textile Industry Association, the Federation of Industries of São Paulo (FIESP), the World Trade Organization, and Steptoe & Johnson LLP. Rafael is an attorney with a master’s in international law from Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and an LLM in international economic law from Warwick University, at the United Kingdom. He has a degree in international environmental law from the HEID/Graduate Institute in Geneva and degrees in business from International Institute for Management Developmen (Lausanne) and Getulio Vargas Foundation/ISAE. He was also a visiting scholar at Georgetown University.
Arthur Liacre
VP Public Affairs, Sustainability; Strategy & Business Development, Brazil atThe Mosaic Company
Arthur has extensive experience in Strategy, Business Development and Corporate Affairs (Government Relations, Communication and Social Performance and Investment) in several locations (Europe, USA and Brazil) in the Natural Resources, Agriculture and Infrastructure sectors. He currently leads the areas of government relations, sustainability, social performance, communication, strategy and business development at Mosaic Fertilizantes. Before that, Arthur led the Corporate Relations area at Anglo American. Arthus is also the President of the Board at Sinprifert (Brazilian National Union of Raw Materials for the Fertilizers Industry), a Board Member of IBRAM and a Board Member of ANDA (Besides presiding over Sinprifert, he is also a member of the Board of Ibram (Brazilian Mining Institute) and Anda (National Association for Fertilizer Dissemination). Arthur holds a Master’s in Business Administration from ESCP Business School Europe and a Master’s in International Relations from Columbia School of International and Public Affairs.
Michael Jantzi
CEO at Sustainalytics
Michael is the CEO of Sustainalytics, which provides research and support to asset owners and managers to help them integrate environmental, social and governance factors into their investment processes. He was the founder of Jantzi Research and the creator of the Jantzi Social Index®. Michael has been active in the responsible investment (RI) field since 1990 and is a global thought leader on RI and corporate social responsibility issues. Michael is the co-author of The 50 Best Ethical Stocks for Canadians: High-Value Investing. In 2006, Jantzi Research won the Capital Markets Award for Sustainable Investment & Banking, awarded by the GLOBE Foundation and The Globe and Mail as part of the prestigious GLOBE Awards for Environmental Excellence program. In June 2010 Michael was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Social Investment Organization in recognition of his contributions to the Canadian sustainable and responsible investment market through leadership, initiative, collaboration and innovation. Sustainalytics was also internationally recognized in 2012, 2013 and 2014 as the best independent responsible investment research firm in the Thomson Reuters Extel IRRI Survey.
Alex Monteiro
Corporate Finance Executive Manager at Neoenergia
Alex is an economist from UFRJ, with executive training in Strategic Business Management from MIT - Boston, MA and in Leadership from IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland. With over 20 years of experience in Corporate Finance, 5 of which as head of finance in Norway and VP in Canada, Alex has relevant experience in Mergers and Acquisitions. He also worked as head of treasury of Neoenergia for over 4 years.
Bruce Keith
Senior Investment Officer, Latin America for Climate Finance at IFC – World Bank
Bruce Keith recently joined the IFC’s new Upstream team with a focus on Climate Finance across Latin America and the Caribbean. Upstream was created to unlock and/or create new opportunities for which IFC is both willing and likely to be a financial partner. Part of Bruce’s role in Upstream is to create or support new, innovative investment and business solutions across the Climate Financing spectrum. Bruce brings extensive experience as a business executive and entrepreneur across multiple industries and countries. He possesses leadership, operations and transaction execution experience in both start-up and established corporate environments. Much of his career has been in designing and executing comprehensive and proactive international business and economic development initiatives designed to promote financial sustainability and independence with positive social and environmental impact. Born in the Dominican Republic, has worked throughout Latin America and the Caribbean for 25 years and has lived in the Dominican Republic, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica and the USA. He holds a BA with Honours from Queen's University, Canada and a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School, Tufts University. He speaks Spanish, English, French and is learning Portuguese.
Michael Torrance
Chief Sustainability Officer - BMO
Michael Torrance Chief Sustainability Officer at BMO Financial Group, overseeing sustainability strategy and leading bank-wide initiatives on environmental and social risk, climate change strategy, ESG focused investor relations, sustainability-related disclosure, operational sustainability and sustainable finance. Prior to joining BMO Michael was a Partner at a major international law firm where he led client advisory on environmental and social risk matters. He has served on the Steering Committee of the Equator Principles Association and Chaired the Social Risk Working Group and North America Working Group.
Marcos Flesch
Partner at Cescon Barrieu
Marcos is a Founder/Partner with outstanding performance in the areas of Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity, Corporate and Corporate Governance. He represents domestic and foreign clients in local and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, sale or acquisition of assets, joint ventures and other corporate transactions, involving different sectors of the economy. Marcos is recognized as one of the leading lawyers in Brazil in the areas of Corporate and Corporate Governance, Mergers and Acquisitions and Private Equity, by Chambers and Partners, IFLR1000 and Legal 500.
Frederico Marques
Of Counsel – Head of North America Toronto at Cescon Barrieu
Frederico Marques is a lawyer and strategic consultant in the areas of Corporate Law, Capital Markets and Mining Law at Cescon Barrieu Advogados, being the leader of Cescon Barrieu Advogados in North America (Toronto, Canada). Frederico represents foreign companies, financial institutions, investment and private equity funds, public companies and investors in IPO operations, mergers, acquisitions, asset sales, joint ventures, project finance, among other corporate and financing transactions involving companies in mining, energy, technology and infrastructure.