Building Bridges 2.0: Unlocking Climate Capital - For People, Planet, and Profit

The Fletcher School at Tufts University and K&L Gates are hosting Building Bridges 2.0, our annual series on global institutional investment. This year’s symposium will examine the very real challenges, but also tangible opportunities invoked by the evolving climate transition. We will explore the current state of institutional investment, and contributions of private capital, as global investors navigate pathways to a low carbon future.

Welcome and opening remarks by Dean Kelly Sims Gallagher, Dean Ad Interim and Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy at The Fletcher School, Tufts University. 

Session 1: A Fireside Chat with Daniel F.C. Crowley and Robert G. Eccles

Speakers will frame current challenges to asset managers and policy makers, arising from the anti-ESG movement with implications specifically for investments in climate and environmental solutions.

• Daniel F. C. Crowley, Partner, K&L Gates
• Robert G. Eccles, a visiting Professor of Management Practice, Said Business School at University of Oxford
• Moderated by Thomas F. Holt, Jr., Partner, K&L Gates

Session 2: Climate Risk and Investment Decisions

This panel will examine the current state practices of asset managers when incorporating climate risk into their investing calculus. Our panelists will discuss a range of climate exposures, the significance of materiality and horizon, and discrete impacts on their investment analyses.

• Joseph Aiello, Senior Fellow, Center for International Environment and Resource Policy, The Fletcher School, Tufts University; former North American CEO, Board Member, Meridiam Infrastructure
• Lance C. Dial, Partner, K&L Gates
• Alex Cheema-Fox, CFA, FRM, Managing Director, State Street Associates
• Robert Fernandez, CFA, Director, ESG Research, Breckinridge Capital Advisors
• Jess Gaspar, Managing Director and Head of Research at FCLTGlobal
• Margaret E. Niles, Partner, K&L Gates (Co-Moderator)
• Professor Patrick Schena, Barton L. Rachlin, E59, A85P Professor of Practice, Dept of Economics and Adjunct Professor, the Fletcher School, Tufts University (Co-Moderator)

Closing Remarks by Scott Kalb, Director, Responsible Asset Allocator Initiative, Former CIO and Deputy CEO, Korea Investment Corp.

Networking reception immediately to follow.