42 Ethical investments and financial services
The transition to a more environmentally sustainable future is already underway but you wouldn’t know it from the way that climate change is reported in the news Climate change stories are invariably about extreme weather events like floods, heatwaves, and droughts. It’s because these images are so captivating that another important climate-risk doesn’t get our attention.
What is this overlooked risk? This risk is known to the fi nance sector as ‘transition risk.’ It is a matter of great concern to government regulators and policymakers tasked with implementing regulation to guide the world’s economies towards a more environmentally sustainable future. It is also a matter of great concern to every company, every bank, every insurer, and every investor in the world, who are adjusting their business models and developing credible plans for the great transition.
How Urgentem are looking to tackle this risk It’s precisely because ‘transition risk’ is of great importance that a new breed of specialised hi-tech fi rms have emerged to supply the fi nance sector and the businesses they serve. These eco-fi ntech
specialists provide the climate data and analytics that enable fi nanciers to make decisions about how to manage their climate risk and implement their transition plans. Urgentem are the company to watch in this new space. The company have consistently punched above their weight, winning a coveted industry award for their technology platform, Element6. Urgentem also have a suite of global blue-chip clients
such as banks, pension funds, asset managers and hedge funds. Earlier this year Urgentem helped a central bank pioneer the world’s fi rst climate-risk stress-test which evaluated the future viability of 4 million companies worldwide.
Learn more about Urgentem’s innovative products and services Visit the website at urgentem.net. You can also book a demo of their award-winning climate risk platform, Element6, at demo@urgentem.net. To view their insightful infographics on a wide range of climate and sustainability topics, follow them on @Urgentem
The Net-Zero Atlas*
Question and answer session with Girish Narula, Urgentem’s CEO What is the secret of Urgentem’s success? “The fi nancial sector has a pivotal role to play in the transition by acting as a catalyst for change. But it can’t play its part without data and science-based analytics on which to base its decisions. Our strategy was to create a new kind of company that provides data and analytics that have three ‘trust markers.’ The fi rst trust marker is transparency. Transparency about data is essential to decisionmaking. Our clients can unpack the details that lie behind our data collection and processing so that they can understand it. We also provide them with a complete understanding of the analytics and methodologies. The second trust marker is granularity, or detail. For many participants in the fi nancial sector, a high-level rating for climate risk is not sufficient or fit for purpose, so we knew we’d need to provide in-depth carbon emissions data at a granular level. Our customers can capture the subtle nuances of climate-risk in their portfolios and identify sustainable investment opportunities at a level of detail that’s hard to match. The third trust marker is collaboration. Our analytics are produced in collaboration with climate scientists and academics as well as research institutes and climate-risk focused NGOs so that they are aligned with the latest scientific reports and frameworks.”
So, it’s all about data? “Trustworthy data is our foundation but it’s not enough if clients can’t use this data easily to make decisions. So, we created our climate risk platform, Element6,
to provide the analytics that can be used to make decisions. The platform is easy to use and allows our clients to understand their exposure to climate-risk at the company, sector, and portfolio level, as it stands now, and in the future, based on different climate scenarios. The forward-looking analysis is backed by state-of-theart technological capabilities and a suite of advanced analytics. It’s essentially a one-stop climate-risk management product, offering easy-to-understand and use tools.”
What would you say to anyone looking to join you? “We are privileged to have an incredibly diverse and brilliant team of people who are all experts in their fields. They’re committed to the company’s purpose because they know that our success contributes to the wellbeing of the biosphere that supports all life on earth. If that sounds like you, get in touch with us.”
Carbon neutrality commitment by law
United Kingdom
European Union (approved by European council)
New Zealand
2035—2045
$4 trillion
2050
is the annual clean energy investment needed by 2030 to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 globally 1
2060—2070 2050—2100 No target announced yet
checklists.co.uk
@checklistsocial
*Selected countries; target year covers varying levels of commitment: proposed law, policy, law. Few countries have implemented targets into law. INFOGRAPHIC DATA SOURCES: Visual Capitalist, Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, Carbon Neutrality Coalition, Climate Action Tracker, European Commission SOURCE: 1IEA Net Zero by 2050 – A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector report 2021
Is data the key to a sustainable world?
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