MEDIA: Toitū Tahua: escalating capability
By Ross Pennington, for the October 2022 Sustainable Finance Kanga News online magazine
A year since its launch, Toitū Tahua Centre for Sustainable Finance is living up to its promise to be “about action not words”, says Ross Pennington, who helped establish the centre in 2021 and remains a close collaborator and a member of its implementation network.
As New Zealand speeds toward mandatory climate-related financial disclosure and sustainability is increasingly recognised as a mainstream business necessity, capability has become a central feature of the centre’s programme.
It is not the only priority, as more than a dozen active projects aim to galvanise courageous leadership and innovation, change norms and standards, and promote inclusion. These efforts are already bearing fruit, with burgeoning and increasingly joined-up markets emerging across the impact and sustainable finance formats.Positive network effects are a natural product of the efforts of Toitū Tahua and others to bring together market participants to drive the work programme forward, share experiences, and set new directions. We update the centre’s work and current priorities.
GOVERNORS AS GUARDIANS
A key priority of the New Zealand Sustainable Finance Forum’s Roadmap for Action, in which the centre’s work is anchored, is to provide impetus and resources, enabling leaders to embrace and champion sustainability.
This is a target of several complementary initiatives, including an investor-focused stewardship code, legislative reform to clarify directors’ duties and promote a broader conception of governance, and director upskilling for the new world of climate-related disclosures.
Fulfilling a key commitment, the stewardship code has been signed up by its founding signatories and was launched at the September Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) Aotearoa New Zealand Conference. RIAA and the centre have partnered to support the implementation phase of the code and on-boarding of more market participants, to make a meaningful commitment to integrate sustainability principles and practices among capital providers.
Stewardship promotes sound corporate governance and business practices, including responsibly allocating and managing capital for long-term value. The code is a principles-based framework that sets outs how investors can achieve these goals, drawing together stewardship expectations – including engagement and collaboration – in one place.
Also on the governance radar for larger corporates and financial institutions, and voluntary adopters, is the fast-arriving climate reporting regime. The regime is based on international norms expressed in the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
The accounting standards External Review Board (XRB) has been assigned the task of local adoption and adaptation, taking account of the International Sustainability Standards Board’s upcoming release of a set of global sustainability-related disclosure standards.
Building on previous thematic consultation documents, XRB has just closed its third and final consultation, which brings together the entire climate-related financial disclosure framework. The XRB’s process will culminate in December with the issuance of the Aotearoa New Zealand climate standards and associated guidance. In late 2021, an amendment bill was introduced to reform directors’ duties to make it clear that they may consider recognised environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors when determining a company’s best interests.
This is more a question of transparency than law, as legal opinions commissioned by the Aotearoa Circle indicate that ESG factors are already a legitimate, and in some circumstances may be a necessary, consideration under fiduciary duties. In either case, the legal framework is catching up to planetary needs.
IMPACT INVESTMENT
Still emergent locally, impact investment is undergoing exponential growth – a path that will be underwritten by the interest and engagement that are increasingly evident across the investment community.
Much remains to be done to speed the articulation, origination and distribution of impact investments to satisfy this demand and to support the innovations of impact entrepreneurs and sustainability projects. To accelerate development and to underpin the integrity of the nascent market, Toitū Tahua, PwC and the Impact Investing Network have been collaborating to develop guidance for impact investment.
The objective of this work is to develop principles and guidelines for impact investing in New Zealand, including metrics, performance indicators and examples of current best practice. The guidance seeks to give investors confidence in the integrity of impact investing in New Zealand and a better understanding of the impact investing landscape. It is in its final stages of preparation and due to be released in October.
TAXONOMY TOOLKIT
Taxonomy is an unlovely word but an important concept. It is the glue that binds the science to projects, underwriting intentionality, measurability and additionality. Comprehensive and credible taxonomies are also a key input and precondition for market developments in sustainable finance, and enable reliable and comparable data for climate-related reporting, policymaking and governance.
The tough grind of formulating sector-level definitions of sustainable economic activity, fit for local conditions while being consistent with international frameworks, is therefore a key priority.
In recognition of this and of the need for a common language and metrics, Toitū Tahua is collaborating with public sector officials to determine a path for developing a core definitional toolkit to direct and guide green investment. This will be coordinated with the Australian taxonomy Technical Advisory Group, which will release its recommendations to the Australian government at the end of this year.
In New Zealand’s national adaptation plan, released in August, the government has also committed to developing definitional tools to encourage greater investment in mitigation and adaptation projects. The plan recognises the crucial role a green taxonomy has in supporting climate- and nature-positive investments and in staving off greenwashing.
ENHANCING CAPABILITY
Building capability is a heavy emphasis. Key Toitū Tahua initiatives include establishment of a Sustainability Academy, climate governance workshop series, CFO labs and net zero community of practice. A common feature is collaboration across the finance and sustainability ecosystems.Recognising the mainstream nature of sustainability investment and scarcity of resources, this element has widespread support.
In the first of the centre’s semiannual partners’ gatherings, participants reinforced that education and coordinated leadership – from industry, the financial sector, government and regulators – are paramount enablers for achieving the level of transformation required to enable sustainable finance at scale and realise an equitable transition to net zero by 2050.
RESEARCH: FINANCING THE TRANSITION
A key input in the drive to finance the transition is to understand clearly market participants’ and stakeholders’ sustainability aspirations and initiatives, and roadblocks preventing progress.Building on the Sustainable Finance Forum’s recommendations, the centre has worked with KPMG to conduct a market research project gauging the extent to which stakeholders are taking measurable and effective steps toward sustainability. A report will be launched at the end of October that presents key themes, recommendations and case studies of sustainable finance in practice.
YEAR TO DATE SCORECARD
A point of emphasis for Toitū Tahua is backing aspirations with accountability. Progress is tracked regularly through a dynamic momentum map across the multiple priority project areas and themes that reflect the key domains in the sustainability roadmap.
Toitū Tahua continues to draw on the energy and contributions of participants and stakeholders in the financial ecosystem, encompassing the private sector, central and local government, iwi, NGOs and academia.
Though a product of necessity, this gives the centre much of its power, increasing the profile and relevance of sustainable finance, yielding real time and ongoing access to stories and experiences, and generating network effects to accelerate development of markets and common infrastructures including taxonomies, education resources and guidance.
With the recent appointment of Nicola Shepheard as senior communications adviser, in 2023 the centre will double down on efforts to bring positive international trends and developments to bear in Aotearoa.
Working back from its 2030 roadmap, the team will turn its focus to advocating for investment decision-making frameworks that are aligned to a science-based transition, and ensuring global best practice is embedded into the leadership, culture and practice of the Aotearoa New Zealand financial sector. •