Agenda

08:00

Registration and morning coffee

08:45

Environmental Finance welcome address

08:50

PANEL: A year in review and looking ahead to 2021

How did GSS-themed funds and bonds fare in 2020?
Did they outperform other fixed income instruments?
How did the green US muni market respond to market events?
How is green finance is coming into lens of policy makers at a local and nationwide level?

09:30

PANEL: Transition bonds – a headwind or an opportunity?

How do we define and demarcate the transition from brown to green?
What work is being done to identify credible transition metrics? Should there be any thresholds or absolutes?
How do investors feel about transition investment strategies? Can fossil fuel divestment strategies exist alongside transition strategies in sustainable investment portfolios?
Where does the line between greenwashing start and transition end?

10:10

PANEL: SDG-linked bonds and the wider potential for KPI-linked instruments

What is the potential of sustainability/key performance indicator-linked loans?
The roadmap for KPI-linked bonds: which KPIs make sense and how do you structure such a bond?
Why would you choose to issue an SLL or SDG-linked bond over a green bond?
Do such structures complement and bolster the sustainable finance market or jeopardise its progress?
What do investors think of these products? Are they a new form of greenwashing or a key entry point for issuers who would not be able to issue a green bond?
How can greenwashing be avoided?

10:40

CASE STUDY: Enel

Can the Enel bond be a template? Who invested and why? Were the targets impactful and meaningful? Why did Enel try this route? Which sectors are expected to follow suit?

10:50

COFFEE

ESG in fixed income stream	Labelled bonds stream
11:20 PANEL: ESG data and factors for analysis To what extent is conventional ESG data fit for purpose for fixed income investors? What can be done to improve the availability, quality and coverage of ESG data in general? How we address data gaps and address challenges that are unique to fixed income? How can emerging technologies help with understanding ESG factors?	11:20 PANEL: Making sense of a proliferation of labels How do you choose the right label as an issuer or an investor? How can issuers, investors and underwriters work together to ensure the best structure is chosen? What are the commonalities and overlapping ESG objectives between the GSS bonds? What are the differences? Will diversity of labels help grow these markets or is conformity needed? How can scale and consistency be ensured? How will regulation help here? How to make sense of the different standards and frameworks available to GSS bonds
12:00 PANEL: ESG ratings – how to apply and understand them How is the role of ESG in credit ratings evolving? What does the market want to see from the assessments and methodologies? What are the challenges in assessing the credit materiality of ESG issues? What definitions and parameters are most useful? How should the weightings be balanced? How can conflicting ratings and indices be better understood? How much do investors rely on these ratings?	12:00 PANEL: Impact reporting – a fine balance How can the market collaborate to reduce the resource constraints that issuers might have? What do issuers feel is important to tell investors? What is missing? How does reporting differ for the different bonds? What does a lack of standardization and the proliferation of labels mean for the future of impact reporting? How applicable could the EU taxonomy and other related frameworks be? To what extent is impact verification growing in importance? How do you make sure the bonds deliver the impacts expected?

ESG in fixed income stream

Labelled bonds stream

11:20 PANEL: ESG data and factors for analysis

To what extent is conventional ESG data fit for purpose for fixed income investors?
What can be done to improve the availability, quality and coverage of ESG data in general?
How we address data gaps and address challenges that are unique to fixed income?
How can emerging technologies help with understanding ESG factors?

11:20 PANEL: Making sense of a proliferation of labels

How do you choose the right label as an issuer or an investor?
How can issuers, investors and underwriters work together to ensure the best structure is chosen?
What are the commonalities and overlapping ESG objectives between the GSS bonds? What are the differences?
Will diversity of labels help grow these markets or is conformity needed?
How can scale and consistency be ensured? How will regulation help here?
How to make sense of the different standards and frameworks available to GSS bonds

12:00 PANEL: ESG ratings – how to apply and understand them

How is the role of ESG in credit ratings evolving?
What does the market want to see from the assessments and methodologies?
What are the challenges in assessing the credit materiality of ESG issues?
What definitions and parameters are most useful? How should the weightings be balanced?
How can conflicting ratings and indices be better understood?
How much do investors rely on these ratings?

12:00 PANEL: Impact reporting – a fine balance

How can the market collaborate to reduce the resource constraints that issuers might have?
What do issuers feel is important to tell investors? What is missing?
How does reporting differ for the different bonds?
What does a lack of standardization and the proliferation of labels mean for the future of impact reporting?
How applicable could the EU taxonomy and other related frameworks be?
To what extent is impact verification growing in importance? How do you make sure the bonds deliver the impacts expected?

12:40

LUNCH

13:40 PANEL: The potential for ESG-themed securitized products

How visible is the ESG nature of the underlying collateral in securitized products?
What are some of the innovative ways and sectors that securitized ESG products could be applied and made available to investors?
How much of an impact could future development in these products make?

13:40 PANEL: Sovereign ESG bonds – a Latin American case study

How are sovereigns thinking GSS bond issuance?
How do you set up a program?
Mexico and Ecuador as case studies: how did they integrate the SDGs and what data was used?
What are the benefits for sovereigns?

14:20 PANEL: What does the EU sustainable finance action plan mean for fixed income?

EU green taxonomy plans – opportunities and challenges
How has market feedback been addressed?
Will the EU green bond standards be replicated in North America and beyond?

14:20 CASE STUDY: SDG-mapping for issuers

What is it and how does it work?
What is the potential for municipal issuers?

15:00

COFFEE

15:30

PANEL: The legacy of Covid-19

What we can learn from recent market challenges and how this impacted fixed income markets?
How are related social and Covid-19 bonds structured?
How effective are such products and in which other situations could similar bonds be utilized?

16:10

PANEL: The EU taxonomy – what does the North American market need to know?

How should a fixed income portfolio be understood through an ESG lens? Where does ESG fit into different product mandates?
How does ESG factor investing compare with impact investing?
How should the SASB Standards and TCFD framework be integrated into the fixed income investment process?
In what way are investors' approaches going beyond just green? Where and what are the intersections between environmental, social and impact funds?
How do you incorporate ESG data, service providers and second party opinions?

16:50

Speed networking

17:30

Close of conference and networking drinks reception

ESG in Fixed Income Americas 2020

Agenda