Climate Resilience and Adaptation: A dialogue with Financial Industry Leaders

The Italian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and Macao and the Green & Circular Economy Committee are excited to host "Climate Resilience and Adaptation: A Dialogue with Financial Industry Leaders", an insightful Business Dialogue which will take place on September 11th, from 2:30 pm to 6:30 pm, at Deloitte China (Hong Kong).

The Business Dialogue, divided into two different panels, will address climate change and its impact on the sustainability management of both financial service providers and corporates. Through presentations and interactive sessions, leading experts in the field of climate change will discuss new strategies to ensure better decision-making and climate resilience.

1st panel discussion: Investing in a Changing Climate: Perspectives from the financial sector

Topics on the first panel will bring together experienced finance practitioners, offering valuable perspectives on risks and opportunities that climate change poses to the financial sector, and giving insights on the best practices for institutions to enhance their resilience strategies and adaptability to effectively navigate changing environmental conditions.

Moderator:

Giuliano Castellano, Associate professor, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), Faculty of Law.

Speakers:

Federica Calvetti, ESG Coordinator for the Asset Management Division, Eurizon Capital;
Alessandro Lavenia, Chief Financial Officer, Generali, Hong Kong;
Michele Leung, Executive Director, Head of Greater China ESG & Climate, MSCI;
Ellie Tang, Director, Sustainable Investing, Fidelity International.

2nd panel discussion: Corporate Responsibility in Sustainability and Climate Resilience: The need for a strong green finance ecosystem

The second panel will open a discussion on how corporates are aligning climate risks with ESG goals, particularly in the context of achieving Net Zero commitments, focusing on their investments while fostering resilience, sustainability and climate-related disclosures.

The panel discussions will also present an overview of global risk regulations and the climate change impacts on Hong Kong.

Moderator:

Barrett Bingley, Head of Growth Partnerships, APAC, The Economist.

Speakers:

Ariel Shtarkman, Managing Partner, Undivided Venture;
Damiano Carrara, Former Head of ESG & Sustainability, Scenario Analysis & Culture Diffusion, Intesa Sanpaolo;
Karen Ho, APAC Head of Sustainable Finance Regulations & Integration, Market Specialist, Bloomberg L.P.;
Matteo Maravita, Head of AI Competence Center, STMicroelectronics.

Availability is limited and registration is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Secure your spot now!

Kindly note the following:

Registration starts at 2:15 PM
Limited seats are available, RSVP to secure your place.
Cancellations must be provided in writing to: icc@icc.org.hk 5 days before the event.
By attending this event, you consent to being photographed, recorded, and/or filmed.
By registering for this event, you agree to Deloitte's Privacy Statement. https://www2.deloitte.com/cn/en/legal/privacy-statement-for-co-events.html
The event will be rescheduled or cancelled if there is a Typhoon 8 (or above) or Black Rainstorm Signal.

For further information, please email icc@icc.org.hk.

Speakers

Barrett Bingley

Head of Growth Partnerships, APAC, The Economist

Federica Calvetti

ESG Coordinator for the Asset Management Division, Eurizon Capital

Damiano Carrara

Former Head of ESG & Sustainability, Scenario Analysis & Culture Diffusion, Intesa Sanpaolo

Giuliano Castellano

Associate professor, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), Faculty of Law

Karen Ho

APAC Head of Sustainable Finance Regulations & Integration, Market Specialist, Bloomberg L.P.

Alessandro Lavenia

Chief Financial Officer, Generali Hong Kong

Michele Leung

Executive Director, Head of Greater China ESG & Climate, MSCI

Matteo Maravita

Head of AI Competence Center at STMicroelectronics

Ariel Shtarkman

Managing Partner at UNDIVIDED VENTURES

Ellie Tang

Director, Sustainable Investing, Fidelity International

Barrett Bingley has been with The Economist Group for 13 years and is currently the head of growth partnerships across APAC, which has a focus on developing the Impact Initiatives with a focus on sustainability and social progress. In recent years, Barrett has lead the multilateral practice at Economist Impact – the division which combines the research, content creation, advertising, events and digital aspects of The Economist Group. In his practice he has worked with UN agencies, development banks, corporations, foundations, NGOs and governments.

Barrett served 4 years as a Board Director with the Society of Publishers Asia (SOPA) and sat on the Finance and Government Relations Committee. He served for 5 years as Chair of the AmChamHK’s Trade Committee and 4 years on the Board of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce HK.

Prior to coming to Hong Kong, Barrett was the Senior Policy Advisor to the Canadian Foreign and Trade Ministers with a focus on the trade and investment in the Indo-Pacific.

Barrett is a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada, a Commonwealth Scholar and holds Master’s Degree in International Relations from the Victoria University of Wellington. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Indonesian Centre for Strategic and International Studies, publishing on trade, piracy and terrorism in the South China Sea.

Federica Calvetti is the ESG Coordinator for the Asset Management Division. She joined Eurizon in July 2021 as Head of ESG & Strategic Activism.

In her role, she is actively involved in the development and implementation of the ESG framework and policies for the entire Asset Management Division, collaborating with senior management and the investment teams to align strategies and products with ESG / SRI principles and standards. Before joining Eurizon, she was the Head of ESG DCM EMEA at Deutsche Bank in London and Milan; she has over 20-year experience in the financial industry.

Federica graduated in Economics of Institutions and Financial Markets Management from Bocconi University of Milan in 2004. She holds Certificates in ESG Investing and Climate and Investing by CFA UK.

Former Head of ESG & SUSTAINABILITY - Scenario Analysis & Culture Diffusion at Intesa Sanpaolo Group (Turin-Milan, Italy), since April 2024 he’s in staff to the head of the ESG Steering Department, within the new Chief Sustainability Officer Governance Area, to support the development of ESG training and communication projects, the management of online sustainability communication, and the contribution of the Group to the public debate for the diffusion of the culture of sustainability.
Previously he was the CSR and Sustainability Manager of a major Italian banking group and he gained strong experience in the development of strategies, policies and action plans, in reporting practices, after experiences as a consultant in administration, management control and IT in industrial sectors, and after performing academic research on artificial intelligence applied to business economics.
He is a member of Sustainability Makers (an Association that brings together Italian sustainability professionals) and a member of working groups at the Italian Banking Association (ABI) and UNEP FI.

Professor Giuliano G. Castellano is an Associate Professor and a Deputy Director of the Asian Institute of International Financial Law, the University of Hong Kong (HKU), Faculty of Law. At HKU, Giuliano teaches and conducts research at the intersection of law and technology, banking and finance, regulation, and regulatory compliance. He holds a Law Degree from Bocconi University, a PhD in Economics and Social Sciences (Management) from the École Polytechnique (Paris), and a PhD in Law awarded by the University of Turin (Italy) for the Inter-University Centre for Law, Economics and Institutions (established by Collegio Carlo Alberto, Cornell Law School, and Gent School of Law). Before taking his current post at HKU, he was an Associate Professor at the University of Warwick and, prior to that, a Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Department of Law.
Giuliano held different academic and research positions, including at the Columbia Law School, the Faculty of Law of the National University of Singapore, the Central European University, Paris-Dauphine University, and the University of Oxford. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed, leading academic journals, and he has led several competitively awarded research grants in Hong Kong, France, and the United Kingdom.

Beyond academia, Giuliano’s research on sustainable development, inclusive access to finance, and financial stability influenced international and domestic policies. For a decade, he served as a member of the Italian delegation at the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), where he contributed to drafting international legal standards supporting access to credit, such as the UNCITRAL Model Law on Secured Transactions.
In 2020, he was appointed as an international expert for the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), where he contributed to the elaboration of the UNIDROIT Factoring Model Law (2023). Since 2017, his research has been instrumental in informing regulatory and legal reforms in over 20 jurisdictions across the globe under the aegis of multilateral development agencies. At the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and Macau, Giuliano served, first, as a Senior Advisor (2021-2022) and then as a Member of the Executive Committee (2022-present).

Karen Ho leads the market strategy and contributes to the development of Bloomberg’s Sustainable Finance solutions in APAC. Specialized in sustainable finance regulations and investment integration strategy, she helps customers to navigate Bloomberg’s comprehensive suite of ESG solutions, including data, scores, estimates, analytics, news, research, index, risk management and regulatory reporting solutions. Karen also serves as the APAC Specialist Sales D&I Co-champion to lead APAC-wide D&I initiatives in the regions.

Karen represents Bloomberg in multiple industry working groups, including Green and Sustainable Finance Cross-Agency Steering Group since 2022, SFC's Climate Change Technical Expert Group in 2020 in Hong Kong, and is an observer for the Australian Sustainable Finance Institute Taxonomy Technical Expert Group since 2023.

Throughout her tenure at Bloomberg, Karen led various equity research and ESG data teams in Hong Kong and London for over 10 years. Prior to her current role, Karen was the Senior Relationship Manager for asset owners and asset managers in Hong Kong.

Karen has a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology and is an EFFAS Certified ESG Analyst (CESGA)®, with assurance and auditing experiences in EY and PwC.

Alessandro Lavenia is the Chief Financial Officer of Generali Life (Hong Kong) Limited and Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. Hong Kong Branch (collectively “Generali Hong Kong”) since 2022.

He has over 20 years of experience in the insurance sector. He has been with the Generali Group since 2002 in various capacities, including Capital Budgeting, Solvency II reporting, Risk and Value management and Strategic Planning & Control across Life, P&C and asset management businesses.

In his previous role, Alessandro was Group Head of Capital Planning & Optimization. In this role he led the development and Group wide implementation of the capital management framework and the introduction of risk-adjusted performance indicators for performance management purposes.

Michele Leung is an Executive Director, Head of Greater China ESG & Climate in MSCI. Based in Hong Kong office, she leads the ESG business in Greater China. With over 18 years of investment experience, Michele has extensive product knowledge across different asset classes and promoted sustainability investing to institutional investors in Asia.
Prior to joining MSCI, Michele has held previous roles at S&P Trucost, Hang Seng Indexes, S&P Dow Jones Indices, JP Morgan Private Bank, China International Capital Corp and HSBC Broking
Services.
Michele is a certified FRM and ESG Analyst®CESGA). She holds a BSc in Civil engineering from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, a Bachelor of Laws from Manchester metropolitan University, a Master of Science in Investment Management from the University of Science & Technology in Hong Kong, and Graduate Diploma in English & Hong Kong Law.

Matteo graduated in Electronic Engineering in 2001 from the University “Politecnico di Milano” and joined STMicroelectronics in Tokyo in November 2006 after other experience in a few other companies in Italy.

In Tokyo, he has been working in ST at the application level and leading the local System Solutions Lab, with the key role of technical promotion and support of ST Solutions to local Japanese customers in Industrial and Consumer applications.
Since 2019 he has enlarged his responsibility to the new Asia Pacific Artificial Intelligence Competence Center, which he is currently leading. From 2021 he moved to Hong Kong taking also the lead of an additional technical team, the APAC Smartphone Competence Center.

In the past 6 years, he has been focused on the new area of Artificial Intelligence.

Based in Hong Kong, Ellie is responsible for the integration of sustainability considerations into
Fidelity’s real estate investments and supporting the firm in areas including as the development
of sustainable investment frameworks, policies, and product offerings, as well as client
engagement in APAC.
Ellie joined Fidelity from the Hong Kong-listed real estate company, New World Development,
where she was Head of Sustainability. Previously, she held sustainability positions at Link
Asset Management and HSBC.
Ellie holds a Master of Public Administration degree in Environmental Science and Policy from
Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies and Environmental
Studies from Emory University. She serves on the Urban Land Institute Hong Kong Executive
Committee and is also a WELL AP.

Italian Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong & Macao

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Climate Resilience and Adaptation: A dialogue with Financial Industry Leaders

Climate Resilience and Adaptation: A dialogue with Financial Industry Leaders