In a rare gathering of global wealth, and under the High Patronage of Prince Albert II, key decision makers of leading SWFs and UHNWI’s have come together in Monaco to discuss their leadership role in responsible investing.
Invited attendees at the closed meeting on 4th October were representing hundreds of billions of assets under management and included representation from EU, UK, Australasia and Gulf Countries (GCC). The meeting was organised by ZEL Business Advisory Group and supported by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation (FPA2).
“It is unusual for such an influential group of investors – rather than NGOs – to come together to discuss impact investing and ocean conservation in the same sentence,” said Zsolt Lavotha, Executive Chariman of ZEL Business Advisory Group. “This reflects the high regard in which the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation is held by sovereign wealth funds, as the Foundation has long been a pathfinder in ocean conservation before it became fashionable, and impact investing maybe even before the phrase was invented.”
Invited speakers included Olivier Wenden, CEO Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, and Honourable Lord William Cadogan of Cadogan Estates, among others.
It was the first roundtable of its kind in Monaco and, according to Zsolt Lavotha, resulted in a cross pollination of strategies and discussion of outcomes on impact investment made by different SWFs (Sovereign Wealth Funds) and large family offices, and expanded the knowledge base for all through hardcore examples of projects implemented and planned.
Another hot topic, revealed Lavotha, was “green washing”: “An intense debate around ‘green washing’ is taking place on a global basis. Our goal in this roundtable was to filter out nonsense and focus on the most important progress made by truly responsible investment initiatives. It is critical to leave the receivers/the audience with a better understanding of what impact investments do, why they are done and in what manner [responsible] the projects are carried out. It is not about ticking ‘politically correct’ boxes but rather have an in-depth discussion on what matters, what needs to be addressed and share our experiences in trying to do the right thing.”
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Photo credit: Sergei A, Unsplash