New Zealand Sustainable Finance Forum: Risks and Opportunities

Dr Amelia Sharman is Director Sustainability Reporting at the External Reporting Board (XRB), responsible for managing the execution and coordination of the climate-related disclosure framework for Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as the XRB’s wider sustainability reporting work programme. Dr Sharman has an extensive background in climate and sustainability policy areas, most recently as Head of Policy at Ara Ake, focused on supporting the transition to a low-emissions energy future. She has held a range of project and policy roles across the public and private sectors in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

She has a PhD from the London School of Economics, an MSc from the University of Oxford, and an MA(Hons) from the University of Auckland.

Simon Tucker is Director of Global Sustainability, Stakeholder Affairs and Trade at Fonterra. In this role he leads teams responsible for Fonterra’s global trade strategy, its corporate sustainability, environmental partnerships and community and social investment programmes, the company’s relationships with local and central government in New Zealand and with foreign governments, and Fonterra’s industry partners.

Simon has spent over twelve years in the New Zealand dairy industry including in leadership roles at DairyNZ, the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand and with Fonterra’s US-based business.  During his career, Simon has also spent considerable time working for the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade with assignments in Tehran, Washington and as New Zealand’s High Commissioner to Canada.  He also spent several years working in Parliament as adviser to the Minister for Trade.

Dean has spent more than 25 years in financial markets covering equities fund management and debt capital markets, both in New Zealand, the UK and continental Europe. Dean joined ANZ in 2006 on his return from London, where he had been responsible for interest rate and credit distribution to key UK and German investors. In 2008, Dean was appointed Head of Capital Markets, a position he held until March 2020, when he was appointed to his current role as Head of Sustainable Finance NZ.

Dean was also part of the Aotearoa Circle’s sustainable finance working group in 2021, which contributed to the report, ‘Roadmap for a sustainable financial system by 2030’. He is currently a member of the Centre for Sustainable Finance, banking implementation group.

His passion is to help foster the development of New Zealand’s sustainable finance market, with a particular interest in impact investment.

Sue is a Senior Manager in BNZ’s Enterprise Sustainability team and specialises in developing business sustainability strategies, frameworks, and opportunities across BNZ in both Sustainable Financing and Responsible Investment areas. Sue was a member of the Aotearoa Circle Sustainable Finance Roadmap Technical Working Group, a member of the industry led Steering Group that developed a Stewardship Code for New Zealand and on the Infinz Advocacy Committee. Sue has a CFA Institute Certificate in ESG Investing.

Prior to joining BNZ’s Sustainability team Sue worked in Financial Markets in Australia with National Australia Bank and in New Zealand with BNZ, in particular working with Investors on Fixed Income and Structured Investment solutions.

Jonas leads BNEF’s sustainability and climate research. His team analyses the transition of the finance industry and empowers companies and investors to manage their transition risk and understand and score the progress of companies in transition. Before this, Jonas lead BNEF’s research on the transition of the European power sector and its impacts on utility and investor strategies and was author of BNEF’s New Energy Outlook for Europe.

Jonas previously worked in sustainable energy consulting and holds an MSc in sustainable energy from Imperial College London and an MEng from Cambridge University.

Jonathan Luan is the Head of APAC Sustainability Research for BloombergNEF, based in Shanghai. He has a decade of experience in coal and renewable energy policy, power market and economics, and corporate sustainability.

He currently leads BNEF’s coverage on the green transition of Asia Pacific’s finance sector. BNEF is a strategic research provider covering global commodity markets and the disruptive technologies driving the transition to a low-carbon economy. Jonathan holds a master’s degree from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Vicky Cheng is Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs Asia Pacific, overseeing government relations and regulatory developments impacting Bloomberg and its clients in the region.

Before joining Bloomberg, Vicky worked in both the public and private sectors. Her focus has been policy and regulatory development, advising senior management on related requirements and implementations. Vicky drove advocacy and public affairs programs for various organizations including global corporates and financial institutions. During her time with an international law firm, Vicky led business development and thought leadership strategies for the Financial Services Regulatory and Dispute Resolution practices. She began her career with a Government providing policy analysis and communications.

Nick Burrough is Bloomberg Australia’s Market Specialist. He joined Bloomberg in 2015 and is based in Sydney and helps clients across Australia & New Zealand.

Nick has 30 years of experience across Sell Side Fixed Income Trading, Consulting and most recently Bloomberg, and has worked in London, Toronto and now Australia.

Daniel joined Bloomberg in 2017 and is the subject matter expert on performance, risk and climate analytics. In his role, he works with portfolio managers, sustainable analysts and risk managers providing with innovative solutions for portfolio construction, risk analysis and climate analytics.

Daniel holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Master of Applied Finance – Investment Management and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Wollongong, Australia.