Program

Conversations about biodiversity have focused on ecological conservation efforts, habitat restoration, and on-the-ground fieldwork in specific locations. In recent years, biodiversity reporting frameworks that attempt to capture the total financial impact and dependency of individual corporations have begun to emerge. Frameworks such as TNFD, GRI 101, and ESRS E4 will shape corporate disclosure on how issuers impact and rely on biodiversity, illuminating the financial risks related to this dependence, and highlighting steps companies can and should take to mitigate their impact on biodiversity loss. Dr. Satyajit Bose, Associate Director of the Climate School’s Research Program on Sustainability Policy and Management and Professor of Professional Practice at SPS, will interview a panel of ecology, biodiversity, financial, and corporate disclosure experts about the challenges and potential for corporate management of natural capital.

Welcome Remarks by Dr. Steven Cohen is the Director of the Research Program on Sustainability Policy and Management at Columbia’s Climate School. He is a Professor in the Practice of Public Affairs at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), the Senior Vice Dean at the Columbia University School of Professional Studies (SPS), and the Program Director of the M.S. in Sustainability Management program at SPS and the MPA in Environmental Science and Policy program at SIPA. From 2006 to 2018, he was the Executive Director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute.

Moderator: Dr. Satyajit Bose is the Associate Director of the Research Program on Sustainability Policy and Management at Columbia’s Climate School and Professor of Professional Practice in the M.S. in Sustainability Management program at ththanke Columbia University School of Professional Studies (SPS). He teaches sustainable investing, cost-benefit analysis, and mathematics. His current research interests include the value of ESG information, carbon pricing, the link between portfolio investment and sustainable development in emerging markets, as well as the optimal use of a broad array of environmental performance metrics for long-horizon investment choices. He is co-author (with Dong Guo and Anne Simpson) of The Financial Ecosystem: The Role of Finance in Achieving Sustainability. Dr. Bose has experience in investment banking, asset management, financial restructuring, and automated weather risk management. He was a mergers & acquisitions banker, directed quantitative trading strategies at a convertible arbitrage hedge fund managing $1.5 billion in assets, and developed machine learning algorithms to optimize weather-based decision tools. Satyajit Bose holds a B.A. and a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University.

Panel

Adam Guerino, Associate portfolio manager, Nuveen

Adam is an associate portfolio manager for Nuveen's Global Fixed Income, Responsible Investing strategy, supporting both the senior manager and co-manager on the strategy. Immediately prior to his current role, Adam was a senior research analyst for Nuveen’s Global Fixed Income team, covering municipal bonds. Prior to joining the firm, Adam held various positions in state and local government for 13 years. While working for the New York State Budget Office, he led a reform of state banking regulations, provided support to the Atlantic Yards, Hudson Yards, and Farley Building projects, and was the primary support to Governor’s staff for the Empire Zones tax credit program. As debt manager for the City of Charlotte, he oversaw a $4 billion debt portfolio, was lead support for redevelopment of the local NBA and NFL stadiums, and developed the debt model for a $1 billion capital program.

Adam graduated with B.A., summa cum laude, in Environmental Studies from Binghamton University and an M.P.A. from the Maxwell School.

Gillian Mollod is a Senior Manager at ICE (Intercontinental Exchange) where she sits on the product team within Sustainable Finance. In this role, she conducts research and product development focused on physical climate and biodiversity risks faced by the investment community. Prior to joining ICE, Gillian spent 5 years at MSCI as a Senior Associate and then Vice President focused on ESG, climate, and biodiversity research. Previous to MSCI, Gillian worked in the non-profit sector as a geospatial analyst for the Nature Conservancy, a global nonprofit land-conservation organization. She received a master’s degree in Sustainability Management from Columbia University and a B.A. in Environmental Science from Barnard College.

Dr. Viorel Popescu is a quantitative conservation scientist and wildlife ecologist whose research focuses on biodiversity monitoring, conservation planning, and understanding animal responses to human activities (focused on large carnivores and herpetofauna). He joined the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology at Columbia University as an Associate Research Scientist in 2023 and he was previously an Associate Professor of Conservation Biology at Ohio University. He obtained a PhD in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Maine (2011). Dr. Popescu has two decades of experience conducting applied ecology research with the ultimate goal to inform management and conservation actions for at-risk species. His research relies on a combination of experimental and observational approaches and biostatistical modeling to evaluate wildlife responses to environmental stressors and conservation strategies in systems across North America, Eastern Europe, and China. He has published >70 scientific articles and co-authored a Conservation Biology textbook. Dr. Popescu has rich experience working closely with diverse stakeholder groups, conservation NGOs, and wildlife decision-makers in the US and abroad. He teaches upper-level undergraduate courses and graduate courses in biodiversity conservation and ecology at Columbia University and mentors Master’s students. He is a life member of the Society for Conservation Biology and a member of the IUCN Bear Specialist Group.

Ralph Schmidt is an adjunct professor at the Earth Institute of Columbia University, New York, and is also an advisor for a major international reforestation program for Haiti. His work with forests started in 1970 in Colombia. Schmidt studied forest ecology and economics and received his Master of Forest Science (1978) from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. His good Spanish got him a research assistant job at the US Forest Service Institute for Tropical Forestry in Puerto Rico, where he learned to identify 300 species of trees. He was soon asked to be the head of the Puerto Rico Forest Service. Here, he managed a system of protected areas, as well as tree nurseries and sawmills for five years. After, he went to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome and worked on forestry projects in the developing world. In 1990, he transitioned to the United Nations Development Program in New York to continue that work as the Director of their forestry program. He represented UNDP in the Forestry Advisers Group, the International Forum on Forests, and the Interagency Task Force on Forests, with a strong focus on the economics and finance of sustainable forest management. Finally, he was CEO of a private company, Candlewood Forest Group, owning 250,000 acres of forest in northwest Argentina. They were the first FSC-certified natural forest operation in that country. Along the way, he wrote three reports for the World Bank Inspection Panel, where they carefully examined forest project policies and consequences in Brazil, D.R. Congo, and Cambodia.

To find out more about this event, please view the program here.

RECEPTION

Light refreshments will be served at this event.

This event is free and open to the public.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

For further information please contact Lili Csorba, lcsorba@climate.columbia.edu (SUMA/SUSCI).

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Biodiversity Metrics in Financial Reporting