Preventable Surprises recently concluded its fifth online dialogue, a three-day virtual gathering of 67 positive mavericks representing a cross-section of stakeholders in the responsible investing world. We put forth our ideas on how to accelerate reductions in global greenhouse gases–and participants engaged with our proposals and contributed many more of their own.
We are now assessing how best to coordinate our work with the many strategies at play in advancing a sustainable financial system, in particular those that allow for forceful stewardship. As always, we are grateful to our participants for their time, energy, and commitment to preventing the surprises baked into business as usual. While the dialogue is invaluable to us, it is gratifying to know that our participants also find the event a good investment of their time.
Kirsty Jenkinson, managing director and sustainable investment strategist at Wespath Investment Management, has participated in multiple dialogues with us. “Preventable Surprises’ dialogues challenge you to think about what can be possible and how to really make change happen,” she said. “The online format allows you to plug into a wealth of ideas openly shared among fellow participants and cleverly shaped and summarized by the organizers.”
In a post-event survey, others shared similar thoughts:
“I was impressed by how thoughtful, robust, respectful, and on-point the conversations were.”
“It’s always motivating to engage with others – enthusiasm for urgent action is infectious, and that is what is needed. It helps to stretch the vision for what could be possible, which we have to keep doing. The scenario discussions, particularly the current CCS assumptions, was interesting for the work we are about to get into.”
“Such a trove of stellar information, intelligent debate and inspiration.”