Tekapo Advisors Ltd
Tekapo Advisors is proud to support The Sustainable Investor
Beyond ESG scoring.
The sustainability transitions are going to impact every industry and every company. Its not just about the environment or climate, the social and governance factors are also critical.
But, despite what you may have read, the key is not more data or better ESG scoring. Its about understanding the opportunities, what changes can happen and how quickly, what barriers they face, and what we can do to accelerate the process.
Every solution and every challenge is context specific, there is no one size fits all answer. Which means we need bespoke not mass market.
Our tools
- Context (how the transitions will happen),
- A filter (focusing on what is important),
- The investment actions we can take (the solutions), and
- The tools for real engagement (which goes way beyond voting).
The investment problems are complex, the challenges immense, but we can make a real difference and earn a fair financial return. To deliver this, we need to look beyond traditional investing silos. The better these transitions are understood, the more meaningful our investments can be and the better we can align our capital with our values and objectives.
Why we do this ?
After nearly three decades in the investment industry I want to use all of my experience, as a civil engineer, an equity portfolio manager, in corporate finance, lending & credit, and as an active investment manager experienced in engagement, to help make sense out of the process of investing in the sustainability related transitions.
As owners and managers of companies (both public & private), and as providers of credit, we hold much more power to drive change than we think. Exercising it is not easy, but its necessary. My belief is that our current way of investing is leading us down a blind alley. Our biggest long term risk is a disorderly transition. We cannot rely on others, we need to use our capital to build the world we want.
A personal perspective.
Nearly three decades in the finance industry have taught me that the easy answer is often the wrong one. That we need to dig below the surface, accept that the real world is complicated and messy, and that every choice involves trade-offs and compromises. And every choice is personal to us, we need our own solutions, not ones that are produced for the mass market.
Lake Tekapo in the New Zealand high country is not only beautiful, and a great example of the type of environment we want to protect, but it also encapsulates many of the sustainability related challenges we face. The often eroded high country land around it is seen in very different ways by different groups. The merino farmers, the tourists, the local Maori, the operators of the hydro generation, and the conservationists, all see the land through very contrasting lens. Balancing these often conflicting objectives is challenging.