We look forward to announcing the expert speakers coming to the 2023 Sustainable Investment Forum Europe. Take a look at 2022’s speakers.



Jakob Thomä
2° Investing Initiative
Jakob Thomä is one of the leading global experts on sustainable finance and long-term risks. He co-founded the 2° Investing Initiative network in New York and Berlin and serves as Executive Director of 2° Investing Initiative Deutschland.
Jakob led the development of the first methodology in the world to measure the alignment of financial portfolios with climate goals (PACTA). PACTA remains the most widely used alignment methodology in the world, endorsed by a number of governments and financial supervisors to track financial sector alignment. Over 1,000 organizations have used PACTA to conduct portfolio tests to date.
In 2020, Jakob launched the 1in1000 research programme designed to integrate complex and long-term risks into financial supervision and decision-making. As part of the programme, Jakob authored the first COVID-19 stress-test scenarios, informing the regulatory response of supervisors in Europe and the United States to the crisis. His work has also informed the climate stress-test scenario design of major central banks and financial supervisors.
Jakob is Special Research Fellow to the Japanese Financial Services Agency, and previously served as Academic Advisor to the Bank of England and EIOPA. He holds a PhD in Finance from the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers. Jakob is also Senior Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, where he teaches a Green Finance course.



James Lockhart Smith
Verisk Maplecroft



James McMahon
TCS, an S&P Global Company
James McMahon founded The Climate Service with the vision that every economic decision on Earth should incorporate climate change. The company’s risk analytics software as a service gives investors and corporate managers the financial information they need to incorporate climate-related risk into their decisions.
McMahon began his career in global change by studying physics at Harvard University, and atmospheric chemistry at MIT under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Mario Molina.
McMahon went on to accumulate 10 years experience inside a multinational corporation, including managing Coca-Cola’s consumer marketing technology group. He then led three small technology firms as COO and CEO. He served for 6 years as Senior Advisor to the Director of NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. He was CEO of The Collider – a groundbreaking nonprofit innovation center for climate solutions.



James Vaccaro
Climate Safe Lending Network
James is a strategist and systems thinker with a background in sustainable finance. He runs the strategy consultancy Re:Pattern and is the Executive Director of the Climate Safe Lending Network. With over 20 years senior management experience, James designs and facilitates learning, development, strategic and innovation programmes to accelerate progress in sustainability sectors worldwide.
James serves as a member of several advisory groups on sustainable finance at a UK, European and international level such as Triodos Bank, Finance Impact Hub, Club of Rome, Regen, Finance Watch, UNEP FI and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Business Banking and was one of the founding developers of the UN Principles for Responsible Banking launched in 2019. He’s the author of several reports and papers and speaks regularly on the subject of sustainable business and positive impact finance. James is a tutor with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership for their Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business.



Jamie Broderick
Impact Investing Institute
Jamie Broderick is a deputy chair of the Impact Investing Institute, an independent, non-profit UK organisation that aims to accelerate the growth and improve the effectiveness of the impact investing market. The Institute is supported by the UK’s Government Inclusive Economy Unit, the City of London Corporation, and a number of financial services organisations in the UK.
Jamie was head of UBS Wealth Management in the UK from 2013-2017. Jamie joined UBS after nineteen years at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, latterly as Chief Executive of its European operations. He joined J.P. Morgan in New York in 1993 and moved to London in 1996. He started his financial services career at Wellington Management Company, an independent asset management partnership in Boston. He studied Arabic Linguistics and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard College and continued those studies in a Ph.D. program at the University of Chicago.



Jane Stevensen
JS Global Advisory
Jane has over 20 years’ experience supporting businesses in addressing the challenge of climate change, building on expertise in creating global engagement programmes and developing sustainability-driven strategies for long term understanding of risk and opportunity. She established J S Global Advisory Services in 2018 to focus on sustainability and ESG strategy and practice, the energy transition and achieving the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Jane led Grant Thornton LLP’s global Sustainability Advisory Practice, creating corporate engagement programmes & advising on sustainability strategies across sectors.
She is a former Managing Director of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board, was Chair of the Oil & Gas Advisory Group at CDP and led CDP’s engagement with the TCFD supporting the secretariat and corporate members in the development of the recommendations and framework. She has advised the UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative and the UK-City of London Green Finance Initiative.
Jane began her career in upstream oil & gas exploration with BP, holds an MBA from INSEAD and is a postgraduate of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. She writes on sustainability-related topics with articles published in Nikkei/FT, Forbes, Top 1000 Funds, Responsible Investor, Financial Director, Environmental Finance, Business Green, Investor Relations.
She is a Non-Executive Director and co-Chair of Levin Sources, global specialists in responsible mining, has a strategic partnership with international energy research consultancy Wood Mackenzie, and works with Lansons financial communications and reputation management consultancy, supporting on climate-related reputational risk issues. She is on the list of the top 50 women to follow in climate.



Jean Pesme
World Bank
As Global Director, Finance in the Finance, Competitiveness & Innovation (FCI) Global Practice, Jean leads the World Bank’s work to promote the development of sound, stable, sustainable, and inclusive financial systems. His global team of experts works with governments and partners to make financial systems more resilient, to open access to finance for poor and vulnerable people, to support economic activity and to develop financial markets. Their strategy and its implementation emphasize development of digital financial services, addressing climate change and sustainable finance and creating opportunities for women by bolstering their financial inclusion.
Previously, Jean led the World Bank’s Financial Stability and Integrity global team, which assists countries in building and restoring robust and resilient financial systems operating with integrity, transparency and in compliance with international standards and recommendations. He has extensive experience working on financial sector issues, notably in the Middle East and North Africa.



Jesica Andrews
UNEP FI
Jes Andrews is Investment Lead at the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative, where she leads the Investment Leadership Programme, including the UN-Convened Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, where she also focuses on portfolio target-setting with investors, and the Legal Framework for Impact. She is also a member of several GFANZ workstreams, and the Expert Advisory Groups for Science Based Targets Initiative and UNFCCC’s Race to Zero Campaign. Prior to working with UNEP FI, she worked on climate change projects across with multiple UN agencies, governments and private firms across some 35 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. She’s the author of the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group Paper: High Level Recommendations for Credible Net Zero Commitments and has several times been served as an invite reviewer of the UNEP Emission Gap Reports. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of New Mexico with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Economics and holds a Master of Finance from the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School.



Jessica Smith
UNEP FI
Jessica Smith (BES, MA, MCom finance in progress) joined UNEP FI in August 2020 to lead the ecosystems workstream. For the past 7 years she has directed a consultancy firm undertaking environmental finance project development and evaluation, and leading secretariats for the Equator Principles Association (environmental and social risk in Project Finance for 100+ financial institutions) and the Cross-Sector Biodiversity Initiative (applying IFC performance standard 6 on biodiversity in oil & gas, mining, and finance). Her key areas of interest are mobilising private and blended finance for ecosystems (SDGs 14 and 15) and managing biodiversity-related risks in banking and investment.



Joël Prohin
Caisse des Dépôts
Joël PROHIN (56) heads the investment management department of Caisse des Dépôts (CDC) within the Asset Management Division. He is responsible for ca. 225 bn€ of AuM, invested in fixed income, equities, real estate, private equity, infrastructures and forestry, mostly managed internally. He manages 5 asset management teams (85 people in staff). He is also member of the French institutional investors association (Af2i) Strategic Committee on behalf of CDC and head of the Responsible investment commission of this association.
Before joining CDC in 2011, Joël was head of investment strategy division in Allianz France. He worked beforehand in ALM, both in the insurance sector (AGF) and in the banking sector (Crédit National).
Joël studied economics, finance and statistics; he graduated in 1988 from ENSAE (Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Economique) and from University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne.



Jorge Fernandes
World Food Programme Innovation Accelerator
Jorge is the Head of Innovative Finance, Frontier Innovations and Venture Launchpad at the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) Innovation Accelerator, based in Munich, Germany. Leading a team of innovative finance specialists and technology experts — including those specialising in Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, blockchain and crypto assets — Jorge is driving the development of new solutions aimed at: improving the efficiency and effectiveness of WFP operations; attracting
impact investments towards humanitarian aid; and promoting financial inclusion of the people WFP serves.
Prior to joining WFP in 2021, Jorge was the Global Head of Innovation at a Portugal-based integrated energy company. His private sector experience in the preceding 20 years was at an international and executive level, where he was focused on advancing strategic innovations in leading organisations operating in the food and nutrition, cleantech and renewable energy sectors. Jorge is experienced in both B2C and B2B environments, and he has supported several high-tech startups.
Being purpose-led and impact-driven, Jorge is passionate about advancing solutions linked to Financial Inclusion, Food and Nutrition Security, and Sustainability, and he strives to develop technologies and innovations that contribute to a more sustainable, and inclusive world.
Originally from Portugal, Jorge now lives in Munich with his wife and their 4 daughters.



Judson Berkey
UBS
Judson Berkey is a Managing Director in the Chief Sustainability Office at UBS based in Zurich where he has worked since 2003 on global risk, regulatory and compliance topics. He currently focuses on sustainable finance policy and regulation including engagement with policymakers and standard setters. He graduated from Harvard Law School and the University of Virginia and is on the board of ECOFACT. He currently chairs the Institute of International Finance Sustainable Finance Working Group and is a member of the Task Force for Nature-related Financial Disclosures.