A few years ago I wrote about Risk, CFOs and the Sustainability Business Case. I believed then, as I do now, that the CFO holds a pivotal role in the sustainable business challenge — a role that is still largely unfulfilled at most companies.
Please join us 7pm this Wednesday, May 18, at New Resource Bank in San Francisco, where I’ll be talking about this important topic with Paul Herman. We’ll explore:
– the cutting edge of sustainable finance;
– how both CFOs and investors are re-thinking the business case for sustainability;
– how to overcome the market-distorting impacts of subsidies and externalities; and
– the critical challenge of “getting the prices right.”
We both have a lot to say on the topic, and each has a book-load (literally!) of examples too. It should be a fascinating evening; we hope you’ll join us.
Natural Logic has long maintained that
“business is on a collision course with a set of global shifts that almost no one has adequately prepared for. These inevitable surprises are coming fast. For those who are ready, these shifts will be platforms for change. For those who are not ready, they are traps.”
As Senior Associate Chauncey Bell puts it:
“From force of habit, companies are spending good money accounting for obsolete waste, while overlooking other kinds of waste that are far more costly for you.”
This frames the challenge of sustainable finance, and the buck stops right at the CFO’s door. The CFO “owns” risk — and in most companies, the understanding of “sustainability-related risk” is conducted with incorrectly drawn boundaries and flawed analytic models, overlooks materially significant factors and hidden subsidies. If it is conducted at all.
As a result, most companies will sub-optimize at best, leaving money on the table – and potentially violating fiduciary responsibility in the process – in completely avoidable ways.
Please join us as we explore these important questions – and what to do about them.
This event is part of Natural Logic’s “In Conversation” series, which brings you frank, unscripted, personal dialogs with people who are making a remarkable difference.
Paul and Gil have been in conversation for years, exploring the new possibilities their shared experiences can generate. We invite you to share in this exciting public dialog.
Gil is CEO of Natural Logic, Inc., author of the acclaimedThe Truth About Green Business, and widely acknowledged as one of the fathers of the sustainability movement, with nearly 40 years in the field — from Buckminster Fuller’s World Game to the California Governor’s Office to his present work advising Fortune 500 corporations on designing, implementing and measuring profitable sustainability strategies. He was recently named a finalist for the International Institute for Sustainability Professionals’ Pinnacle Award, for “contributing significantly to the emerging field of sustainability”.
Paul is Founder, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of HIPInvestor.com (“HIP = Human Impact + Profit”) and author of The HIP Investor: Make Bigger Profits by Building a Better World. HIP advises investors and manages portfolios focused on sustainability results, like the HIP100 and Global Sustainability 100 managed accounts. He’s a Wharton grad and a McKinsey veteran. (R. Paul Herman is a registered representative of HIP Investor Inc., an investment advisor registered in the States of California, Washington and Illinois.)
We promise you a valuable and provocative evening. We hope you’ll join us.
Sustainable finance, CFOs & getting the prices right
Wednesday May 18, 2011, 7:00 – 9:00 PM
New Resource Bank, 405 Howard St #120, San Francisco, 94105
Early Bird Price of $49 expires at midnight TONIGHT; $79 thereafter.
Register now; space is limited.