Green Bonds California 2019

Registration and morning coffee

Environmental Finance welcome address

WELCOME KEYNOTE: How is the state driving its green finance agenda?

• How does the green bond market fit into the wider climate resilience agenda for the state?
• What does the State Treasurer want to see happen with the evolution of the green bond market?
• How is the state providing support mechanisms for issuers?

Speaker: Fiona Ma, California State Treasurer

PANEL: How California can be a pioneer for green finance

• A review of policy action: what has been achieved since the last conference and what else needs to be achieved? Updates on:
• The establishment of a Responsible Issuer Program
• California Green Bond Credit Enhancement
• Regional Municipal Issuer Fund
• Creating a Green Bond Bank
• A Green Taxable Bond Program
• What does a green California look like from both the public and private perspective?
• Shifting to 100% renewable energy by 2045: Is this attainable and is the state on track? What role can green bonds play?
• Opportunities instead of problems: public-private parentships, tax incentives and grassroots ideas – what are the options now and in the future?

Moderator: 
Nuin-Tara Key, Climate Resilience Program Director, California Governor's Office of Planning and Research

Panelists: 
Cris Liban, Executive Officer, Environmental Compliance and Sustainability, LA Metro
Tim McRae, Vice President, Energy, Silicon Valley Leadership Group
Timothy Romer, CEO, Fundamental Infrastructure Opportunities
Julie Underwood, Chief Financial Officer, CalSTRS

CASE STUDY: Utilities and renewable energy - managing risk and options for refinancing

• What are the refinancing options for utilities in California?
• How will the California Wildfire Fund impact how utilities approach wildfire risk?
• What are utility providers thinking about green bonds and what are their green plans?

Moderator:
Peter Cripps, Editor, Environmental Finance

Panelists:
Glenn Pomeroy, Chief Executive Officer, California Earthquake Authority
Michael Schneider, Vice President of Risk Management and Compliance, SDG&E

COFFEE

PANEL: Market makers huddle – what are the key questions on issuers’ and investors’ minds?

• Do green bonds lower the borrower’s cost of capital? 
• When might green bonds see a pricing benefit?
• Issuers on the fence: what are they thinking about? What hurdles do they have to overcome?
• As the green bond market evolves what lessons have been learned and what pitfalls need to be avoided?
• Why are some issuers choosing to self-label versus certify as they scale up?
• How is the market moving from use of proceeds to linked instruments?
• How are investors approaching opportunities in the market and bondholder engagement?

Moderator: Ritu Kalra, Managing Director, Head of Western Region & Higher Education Public Sector & Infrastructure Finance, Goldman Sachs

Panelists: 
Ronda Chu, Capital Finance Director, Business and Finance, San Francisco International Airport
Lisa Marie Harris, Director of Finance/Treasurer, San Diego County Water Authority
Laura Levenstein, Chief Risk Officer, Build America
Stephen Liberatore, Managing Director/Lead Portfolio Manager, Responsible Investment Fixed Income, TIAA Investments

PRESENTATION: International and domestic shifts in the green bond market

• The status of international green bond taxonomies and standards across the world
• The potential impact on California and North America

Speaker: John Shideler, Climate Services Manager, NSF International

PANEL: Disclosure and impact reporting – what is the point of them?

• How is it best done and when is it needed?
• How are issuers/investors using the SDGs to shape their impact investing and reporting?
• Aligning with SDGs and other standards: what data should be collected and shared?
• Where are the opportunities to more broadly communicate wider community and social benefits investors and other stakeholders?
• Behind the scenes from an issuer: how was data collected, calculated and shared? What can other issuers learn from their experience?
• How are issuers thinking about reporting on social and sustainability bonds versus and how disclosure and reporting requirements differ from green?

Moderator: 
Peter Ellsworth, Senior Director, Investor Program, Ceres

Panelists:
Michael Brown, Environmental Finance Manager, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC)
Zach Knight, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Blue Forest Conservation
Nancee Robles, Acting Executive Director, California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank
Zach Solomon, Executive Director, Public Finance Group, Morgan Stanley

LUNCH

SPOTLIGHT: Sustainability bonds – the next big thing in the ESG in fixed income universe?

• Who has issued sustainability bonds in California and beyond?
• What are the main considerations for investors when expanding into labeled bond investing?
• How are issuers and investors approaching the structure and reporting of such bonds?
• What can the burgeoning sustainability bond markets learn from the green bond market and vice versa?
• What are the sectors that stand to benefit most from growth in sustainability bonds?

Moderator:
Christopher Flensborg, Head of Climate & Sustainable Finance, SEB

Speaker: 
Heike Reichelt, Head of Investor Relations and New Products, The World Bank Treasury

PANEL: Financing California’s infrastructure – critical strategies for sustainability

• An update on the momentum behind the Green Bond Pledge and its related initiatives
• Embedding of adaptation and resilience into investment decisions and the built environment
• How are cities, county and state governments and corporations approaching climate risk when designing future infrastructure and capital projects?
• Which state issued public projects are potential candidates for green finance?
• Environmental infrastructure bonds: what are they and are they worth doing?
• What are the latest developments and innovation in water resource management and infrastructure?
• SDG bonds: how do you market them and what criteria differentiates them from ESG/green/social bonds?

Moderator: 
Chad Spitler, Chief Executive Officer, Third Economy

Panelists:
Natalie Brill, Chief of Debt Management, City of Los Angeles
Justine Leigh-Bell, Deputy CEO, Climate Bonds Initiative
Marla Bleavins, Deputy Executive Director & Chief Financial Officer, Port of Los Angeles
Eric Letsinger, CEO, Quantified Ventures
Andy Nakahata, Managing Director and Regional Head of Public Finance, West Region, UBS Financial Services

PANEL: Piecing together the ESG puzzle of risk, pricing and credit worthiness

• How ESG is incorporated into credit ratings
• Implications for issuers and need-to-know emerging methodologies 
• What are the key ESG and credit risks for Californian issuers?
• Is there enough data to track the correlation between the underlying creditworthiness of issuers and their ability to address climate change?
• How can scientific assessments help in unpacking the nature of specific and localized risks?
• Do the environmental benefits and lower risks of green bonds have a positive impact creditworthiness? What does this mean for possible “greenium” benefits?

Moderator:
Peter Cripps, Editor, Environmental Finance

Panelists:
Bruno Bastit, Senior Corporate Governance and Sustainable Finance Specialist, S&P Global Ratings
Sandra Brinkert, Senior Vice President, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Ann-Marie Griffith, Managing Director, Fixed Income, APG Asset Management
Prof. Mark Merrifield, Head, Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation, Scripps Oceanography

COFFEE

CASE STUDY: Waste management – could green bonds flourish?

• What does the landfill mandate require and where are we in terms of progress?
• Scaling up of anaerobic facilities: what are the opportunities for investors and issuers of green bonds?
• What infrastructure needs to be built and invested in? Is there a green bond opportunity here?
• How many potential green bonds deals would need to come to market to deal with the issue?

Moderator: Renee Webster-Hawkins, Executive Director, California Pollution Control Financing Authority
Speaker: Yaniv Scherson, Managing Director, Western US, Anaergia

PANEL: Smart cities and the clean economy

• How should cities and local government leaders be thinking about long-term financing?
• What are the inefficiencies and bottlenecks holding such strategies back?
• What are some of the clean economy options for the state and how should municipalities and investors be approaching them;
• Broadband
• Underlying base infrastructure
• Precision resource management for water and energy
• Smart cities and connected devices
• How do you finance such strategies?

Moderator: 
Tim Schaefer, Deputy Treasurer, Public Finance, California State Treasurer's Office

Panelists:
Zach Birmingham, Senior Environmental Specialist, Energy, Port of San Diego
Kiran Jain, General Counsel & VP of Policy, curbFlow, Principal, Urban Resiliency, CityFi
Tony Nahas, Executive Director, SmartBlock Communities
Ian Parker, Managing Director, Municipal Finance, RBC Capital Markets

PANEL: Financial Innovations Lab ®

The findings and results of the Day One Financial Innovations Lab will be presented. The Innovations Lab brings together researchers, policy makers, and others to generate market-based solutions designed to overcome major challenges to Green Bonds. With a focus on innovative structures, market function, investor interest, and market standardization issues, the Innovations Lab will address barriers to investment in green bonds in the United States.

Moderator:
Caitlin MacLean, Senior Director, Innovative Finance, Milken Institute

Panelists: 

Ann-Charlotte Eliasson, Head of European Fixed Income Listings, Nasdaq
Michael Paparian, California Representative, Climate Bonds Initiative
Alfredo S Quintero, Senior Managing Director, Ramirez & Co
Jan Whittington, Associate Professor, Department of Urban Design and Planning, University of Washington

Close of Conference