SFE YP Blog | Earth Day event review: Finance and the Journey to Net Zero

To celebrate Earth Day (Friday 22 April), the SFE YP Climate and Journey to Net zero sub stream hosted a topical panel event: How Financial Services can Support the Journey to Net Zero. The objective of this session was to raise awareness among young professionals and start the conversation on the impact of sustainable transition across the financial services industry and how this will impact them and their careers. We were lucky enough to have 3 esteemed speakers at the session:

·       Sandy MacDonald, Director of Public Policy & Communication, Scottish Financial Enterprise

·       Dr Vian Sharif, Head of Sustainability, FNZ

·       Maria Nazarova-Doyle, Head of Pension Investments and Responsible Investing, Scottish Widows

The session started with our speakers discussing the changes they have witnessed across the financial services industry in recent years. It was great to hear the positive changes they have seen first-hand and how sustainability is now a priority for most organisations. The panellists also covered the positive changes witnessed across Scotland, particularly given the global spotlight of COP26.

Looking to both opportunities and obstacles, each of our panellists shared what they see as the key opportunities across the industry as a whole and for the young professionals working in it. Additionally, the topic of greenwashing was discussed and how we as individuals can spot this. An important point that was explored was the assumption that the term sustainability refers only to environmental issues, rather than looking to local communities and addressing social issues. Throughout the session, a key theme was the importance of us acting now to influence and drive change whether at an individual, firm or industry level.

We are incredibly grateful to Sandy, Vian and Maria for their time, contributions, and interesting insight. It was inspiring to see how passionate they all are, what they do and the role they think young professionals play in supporting the journey to net zero across the industry. Throughout the session they shared some useful information and I’m sure many of us left feeling so much more informed. The concept of “eco-anxiety” was raised and is something I think many of us have experienced; that feeling of hopelessness when we think of the destruction to our environment, but I left the session filled with hope for the future and empowered to take action and make a difference.