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The Inaugural ESG/Sustainable Finance Fall Conference is hosted by the CIBC Office of Sustainable Finance under the Auspices of McGill’s Sustainable Growth Initiative (SGI) and McGill Business Law Platform.

This conference brings together experts in sustainable corporate governance, management, and finance, responsible investment consulting, and civil society sustainability advocacy and policy-making. This event aims to foster a day-long conversation addressing challenges in these domains, with a focus on three concrete spaces of organizational and conceptual transformation.

Our event aims to provide the space for a deep and engaged dialogue on how to effectively advance ESG and sustainability goals and how to best coordinate public and private activities in that regard. Realizing that climate change is a societal problem, the responsibility lies with governments and markets, with citizens, consumers, corporations, regulatory and quasi-regulatory agencies, and with all of us. Our Fall Conference is the first in a series of events meant to facilitate a long-term dialogue that allows for a cross-sectional stock-taking of learned lessons – what works, what doesn’t, and why? – and for the exploration of concrete steps that can be taken in the public and private sectors and in coordination between both.

Theme: Sustainable Finance and ESG: From Policy Concerns to Transformative Tools

Date/Time: Friday, November 24, 2023 from 10:30am – 5:45pm

Location: Room 365/370, Armstrong Building, McGill University, 3420 Rue McTavish, Montréal, QC H3A 0E2

Agenda:

• 10:30 - Arrival and Registration
• 10:45 - Welcome Remarks: Zahoor Chughtai, Peer Zumbansen, McGill's Sustainable Growth Initiative, the Office of Sustainable Finance and the McGill Business Law Platform
• 11:00 - PANEL 1: Climate Change Challenges for Public and Private Actors: How to Put Sustainability from Theory into Action
  • Panelists: Chloe Soucy (GI Quo Vadis), Ryan Hillier (Founder & Partner, Novalex), Rosella Carè (University of Waterloo), Hope Moon (Climate Reality Canada)
  • Moderator: Marvin Shahin (Spiegel Sohmer)
• 12:30 - Lunch
• 13:30 - PANEL 2: Sustainability as Cognitive Challenge: Developing and Implementing Robust Sustainability Strategies within your Organization, across your Value Chain, and with key Collaborators in the Academy and Civil Society
  • Panelists: René Demers (Banque Nationale), Delia Cristea (Power Sustainable), Marc Barbeau (Air Canada); Amr Addas (John Molson School of Business – Concordia University).
  • Moderator: Professor Robert Yalden (Queens University, Faculty of Law)
• 15:00 - Coffee
• 15:15 -  PANEL 3: Sustainable Finance – A ‘zero-sum game’ or an opportunity to transform the economy for future generations? Public expectations, governmental interventions, and Fiduciary Duties of Pension Fund and Asset Managers
  • Panelists: Kevin Skerrett (OMERS); Olaf Weber (Schulich School of Business); Simon Archer (Goldblatt Partners); Sebastien Betermier (McGill University, Desautels Faculty of Management); Krystel Papineau (Sortons la Caisse du carbone).
  • Moderator: Shivani Salunke (McGill University, Faculty of Law)
• 16:45 - Global Reflections
• 17:00 - Networking
• 17:45 - End of Conference