Announcing one of the conference speakers, Bristol 2021 – Dr Joanna Burch-Brown

The ITFA Board is more excited than ever to host you all in Bristol. Join us at the 47th ITFA Annual Conference being held between 6-8 October. Please click here to register at your earliest to avoid disappointment. The conference programme is continuously being updated – click here to view the programme. 

We are pleased to announce Dr Joanna Burch-Brown as the speaker of the session being held on Wednesday 6th October at 2.30pm titled: ”Green Finance and Environmental Risk: Can we diversify our way to carbon neutral?”

As investors, we have the potential to transform what happens to our planet. We have a unique opportunity and responsibility to invest now, to protect people, animals, plants, forests, islands and oceans. The EU Taxonomy is a new tool aimed to help us make these sustainable investments. In this talk, Dr Burch-Brown shows that the taxonomy offers a landmark stride forward for green finance, but that it also has important gaps. These gaps mean that each of our investment could appear to be in keeping with the taxonomy, while our investments collectively fail to achieve what is needed for people and planet. We can reduce these gaps by understanding where they are and how they arise, and creating cultures of expertise and communication amongst investors. Joanna proposes 3 principles beyond those in the taxonomy, that can help us achieve green investment, each linked to the theme of diversity. Together these principles offer a blueprint for diversifying our way to green. 

Burch-Brown is an academic philosopher who has worked with leaders nationally and internationally on a wide range of topics in practical ethics, including how to achieve environmental justice, how to manage environmental risk, how to diversify the workplace, and what to do with toppled statues and contested heritage. She is Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of Department for Philosophy at University of Bristol; co-founder of the University of Bristol’s Centre for Black Humanities and MA in Black Humanities; and director of the US-UK Fulbright Commission’s Bristol Summer Institute. In 2020 the Mayor of Bristol invited her to join the Bristol History Commission, set up after the fall of Edward Colston’s statue to help the city ‘understand our past, so we can better shape our future’. As co-chair of the History Commission she is directing Bridging Histories www.bridginghistories.com. Her innovative model of research, leadership and teaching aims to help people connect across political difference and creatively address the most important current social and environmental problems.

We look forward to welcoming Joanna in Bristol!