Sustainable investing veteran, Jeff Gitterman, joins hosts Chris and Georges to discuss bridging divides in ESG investing and climate change debates. Gitterman advocates pragmatism - finding common ground between proponents and skeptics. Key highlights include investment opportunities in climate solutions like infrastructure, recognizing physical risks as warning signs, and widening the sustainable investing tent to diverse viewpoints. While addressing challenges, Gitterman underscores the necessity of open dialogue, consensus-building, and reframing ESG around stakeholder capitalism over political divisions. Listeners gain insights into navigating complexities, advancing sustainable investing through understanding, and meeting investors where they are.

Jeff Gitterman - CEO, Gitterman Asset Management

Jeff Gitterman is a pioneering leader in sustainable investing. With over 30 years of experience as a financial advisor, he is the Co-Founder of Gitterman Wealth Management where he created the SMART Investing Solutions for climate-aware portfolio allocation. He launched Gitterman Asset Management in 2020, focusing on ESG strategies and thought leadership for financial and institutional markets. Jeff co-hosts TheIMPACT TV, contributes to major media, and champions the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Beyond investing, Jeff serves on the board of the Child Health Institute of New Jersey and supports autism awareness.

• Highlights the importance of finding common ground between proponents and skeptics of ESG investing and reframing the ESG/sustainable investing debate around stakeholder capitalism vs shareholder primacy, rather than getting mired in political divisions over "values."
• Explains the critical role and significant opportunities in the climate solution space around infrastructure investment. Physical risks associated with climate change act as a catalyst for investors to recognize and act on these opportunities.
• Advocates the need for more clarity and consistency in messaging and labeling around ESG investing to reduce confusion, especially from regulators like the SEC.
• Urges pragmatism in the face of climate challenges – recognizing the complexities and divisions in society, investors need to meet people and other investors where they are and be open to listening to differing viewpoints.

In this episode, hosts Chris Ito and Georges Dyer engage in a captivating conversation with a trio of students from Presidio Graduate School, who were members of the team that emerged victorious in the IEN's 2023 Student Corporate Engagement Challenge in the Graduate category. The challenge encourages students to pitch an investment in a publicly traded company, coupled with a shareholder engagement strategy. The conversation focuses on their investment pitch for First Solar and its groundbreaking thin-film cadmium telluride technology, offering a more sustainable alternative to traditional solar panels.

Guests

The winning team members from Presidio Graduate School include Callie Greene, Stephanie Motta, Claire Nevels, Kate Vachon, and Lauren Novak.

In this episode, Georges and Chris talk with Callie Green, Steph Motta and Claire Nevels

Highlights

• Explores the rationale behind an investment in First Solar
• Underscores the importance of engaging on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), especially in leadership, as an area where companies can improve and unlock economic value.
• Illustrates the pivotal role of educational institutions in empowering students to advocate for systemic changes towards a more sustainable and just world.
• Showcases the proactive steps being taken by the next generation in aligning investment strategies with the urgent need for environmental and social justice.

This episode features Ian Fuller, CEO and Co-Founder of Westfuller Advisors, a minority and women-owned investment advisory firm and Outsourced CIO dedicated to impact investing. Georges and Chris talk with Ian about his personal journey from New York’s Lower East Side to Wall Street as context for Westfuller's mission to drive change through ethical investments, and challenging traditional notions of money's role in building a sustainable future.

Ian Fuller - CEO and Co-Founder, Westfuller Advisors

Ian Fuller is CEO and Co-Founder of Westfuller, a Black-majority, woman- and LGBTQ-owned investment advisory firm. As specialist in evidence-driven, global wealth advisory and planning, strategic investment management, and philanthropic giving, Ian works closely with people and institutions to empower wealth with purpose. He is a believer in the promise of money and financial systems to drive a flourishing democracy and economy. Ian co-leads the firm’s commitment to support efforts building: a just and equitable society, public purpose finance for All, and community infrastructure and assets.

• Sheds light on how to define impact investing and how it is fundamentally different from ESG integration or responsible investing.
• Addresses the nuances and differences between net zero and a just transition, and the challenges around implementing an investment strategy that prioritizes both concepts.
• Discusses the challenges of being a minority-owned investment firm and how asset allocators investing in diverse managers are generating returns.