Thread by @SouthWestMutual

Launch event for '2021 Report of the UK Financing a Just Transition Alliance' is in 2 minutes!

Join us at one of @GRI_LSE's final #JustZero webinars: lse.ac.uk/granthaminstit…

We'll share some key takeaways in the thread below ⤵️

@GRI_LSE While we're waiting for the webinar to begin, download the @GRI_LSE report: lse.ac.uk/granthaminstit…

It sets out action needed across finance, place, and policy for the UK to hit a #JustTransition to #NetZero.

Required reading ahead of #COP26 👀

@NVJRobins1 introduces the report's co-author, Sabrina Muller, @GRI_LSE.

"Ensuring the transition is socially equitable" is a critical factor for the #JustTransition – and "the financial sector has an essential role to fill."

We're delighted to have been an #FJTA member.

@NVJRobins1 @GRI_LSE The report has five key recommendations, ranging from embedding the #JustTransition into climate strategies, to measuring the impacts of the journey to #NetZero .

We're at a pivotal moment. Sabrina says that "Common approaches and standardisation are key here."

@GRI_LSE have published a framework of #JustTransition expectations: lse.ac.uk/granthaminstit…

It's great to hear just how important Place and regional SMEs are to our understanding of a #JustTransition.

"It will be crucial to provide... local supply of capital."

@lorddeben points out how noticeable it is that financial bodies are much more interested in sustainability than they were even a couple of years ago.

"I want to celebrate that – it's a remarkable alteration."

@lorddeben Lord Deben is impressed by the detail, processes, and case studies in FJTA's #JustTransition report.

A reminder than you can download it here: lse.ac.uk/granthaminstit… #JustZero

"If you're investing in an industry, one of the things you have to say is: among your demands, in terms of climate change, is that you are not going to try to undermine people who are doing the job properly."

Climate leakage is an issue we need to watch out for, says @lorddeben.

"Levelling up is about fairness," says @lorddeben, and commends the report's focus on locality.

Communities need to work together. Parish councils need to take this seriously. Quite right! #JustZero

Over to @sarahgor now, Chief Executive at @ImpactInvInst.

"The #JustTransition in our world encompasses not just the transition to #NetZero, but also tackling the biodiversity crisis, which is just as critical as addressing global warming."

@sarahgor @ImpactInvInst "We need to get massive social change underway."

Without local action, the huge changes that need to take place won't happen, says @sarahgor.

We think a key part of that is #MutualBanking on a regional basis.

Sarah points out what a huge impact that small changes in investing in place (regarding capital in local government pension schemes) could have.

#PensionSchemeInvestment #RegionalFinance

@FedHermesIntl's CEO Saker Nusseibeh is now sharing his thoughts, including why the idea that the free market and the green economy are different entities is a fallacy. #JustZero

Saker Nusseibeh says: "I *do* like your report because it *does* go local... the people that are going to be the most hurt are the most vulnerable in our society."

What are your thoughts on the #FJTA #JustTransition report? Let us know! lse.ac.uk/granthaminstit…

@NVJRobins1 asks CEO of @triodosuk, Bevis Watts, for his thoughts on what the role of the #BankingSector will be in the #JustTransition.

Bevis says #ESG is the bare minimum of what we should have been doing for years...

...a true #JustTransition to #NetZero is about embedding deeply in organisations the consideration of social and environmental issues.

Scrap corporate responsibility programs as we know them today, says Bevis. Banks need to look at reinventing products, services, and approaches.

A key issue Bevis Watts, @triodosuk CEO, points out, is about being intelligent with financing.

For example, not accidentally creating mortgage prisoners – it's typically lower-income households that live in the least energy efficient homes.

"There is quite a lot of greenwashing. I think that will come out in the next few years. Banks really have to transition... otherwise, they're going to miss this key seminal moment."

It's time for all financial institutions to get behind the #JustTransition to #NetZero.

Bevis gives a shout-out to Devon-based @Riverford 🥳

@triodosuk helped their transition to employee ownership 👏

Over to @nowak_paul, Dep General Secretary
@The_TUC.

The TUC represents 48 unions, 5 and a half million members.

All of the issues discussed at the webinar today certainly matter to the TUC's members, especially those in #CarbonIntensive industries, says @nowak_paul. #NetZero

@nowak_paul @The_TUC @nowak_paul points out we need to turn "Just Transition" from a slogan into action, pointing out that many people on the ground won't fully understand the meaning of the phrase.

Paul also calls for a step-change in government investment towards #NetZero.

@The_TUC released a report last month outlining just how many jobs could be at risk if the UK fails to transition to #NetZero as fast as other nations:
tuc.org.uk/news/600000-jo…

Green jobs need to be good jobs, says @nowak_paul, and we agree.

We're now going into the Q&A section of the webinar.

Three questions (including ours) focus on the local and place-based aspects of the report and its findings.

What do the panellists think about the local dimension of a #JustTransition to #NetZero?

We need "a very close partnership with local authorities", says @FedHermesIntl's CEO Saker Nusseibeh. They're looking for guidance.

@FedHermesIntl Sometimes the lack of connection is to do with lack of networks, and sometimes it's the lack of finance, and it's the former that's usually the challenge, says @sarahgor. #JustZero

@sarahgor would like more innovative financing structures.

There's an exciting opportunity, Sarah says, for government to act as a "catalytic capital provider" taking on the riskier parts of an investment, using their presence to help private investors get involved. #JustZero

We need strategies to reflect the differences between regions, says @nowak_paul, from devolved resource usage to regional-level bodies.

Sometimes it's easier to get things done locally than nationally.

Paul shouted out @The_TUC's Voice and place report:
tuc.org.uk/research-analy…

Regarding local action on the #JustTransition to #NetZero, some authorities are good to work with, and some aren't, and that isn't underpinned by party political affiliation, which is fascinating, says @lorddeben.

@lorddeben "Every place is different – there's no one size fits all. There's a real problem, as Paul raises, in rural areas." - @lorddeben.

"The government has to think seriously about how it deals with rural areas."

Bevis Watts says that what financiers need is detailed information on which assets need finance. Are the barriers affordability, or risk profile?

Too much of the idea gets stuck in mechanisms, says Bevis, rather than engaging in the gaps in financing frameworks. #JustZero

@NVJRobins1 is bringing this session to a close now, and asks each of the panellists for closing thoughts, and how #COP26 could help.

@sarahgor has two asks of #COP26.

Sarah supports a #JustTransition commission, reminding us "this is urgent, we need to make this happen in the next five years."

She also wants the developed world to step up to the commitments made back at #COP21.

@sarahgor Saker says the key is transparency; not to focus on staging point on #JustTransition, but that all entities should publish as much information as possible, allowing assessments at all levels (from international to local). "Publish what you do."

@lorddeben is integral to #COP26 of course. He says "we did a great deal of damage" in cutting international aid to .7 to .5 – it's unacceptable to kick others just because you're in a hole.

"We have undermined people's belief in our commitment."

#JustZero

@lorddeben "If we're going to have a #JustTransition at home, we have to have a #JustTransition internationally. We wont have a transition if we don't make it just."

@lorddeben says these events are important in making nations face up to doing the right thing.

"I want to see more countries recognising that a #JustTransition is the passport to being part of the world." - @lorddeben

@lorddeben Reflecting on previous COPs, Bevis Watts says: "I don't believe voluntary agreements have been proven to cut it... so I'd like to see mandatory methodologies for reporting."

#JustTransition to #NetZero needs a common taxonomy.

@nowak_paul returns to the phrase "nothing about us without us" - he wants to see workers engaging with this debate, as it will impact everything. "We need to get people feeling that they have agency in the process."

@NVJRobins1 thanks all of the speakers for their contributions and time, and all of the members of the @GRI_LSE's Financing a #JustTransition Alliance for their contributions to what we all hope will be a truly impactful report.

End thread.

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