The Aotearoa Circle Progress Update
The Aotearoa Circle is pleased to provide the following updates
Download from our Partners’ Hui on the 9th of July
Her Excellency, Dame Patsy Reddy, hosted 52 guests at Government House on 9th July. She welcomed partners with an inspiring speech, available here along with her reflections on the day.
Please find links to the videos of two presentations at the hui as follows. The first is a presentation from Karen Silk with an update on the Sustainable Finance Forum and the second is Dr Matthew Bell’s presentation on a global perspective on the disruption in business-as-usual (slides also available here).
Progress update: the Sustainable Finance Forum is currently busy engaging with stakeholders to co-create a vision for a sustainable financial system
The Sustainable Finance Forum is tasked with investigating how New Zealand’s financial system can better contribute to meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals and New Zealand’s climate commitments under the Paris Agreement. As part of this work, the forum is aiming to speak with leaders and experts in the finance sector to gain additional perspectives and testing the Forum’s work to date.
If you want to provide input, or know of someone who does, please get in touch with us.
Legal Opinion on Fiduciary Duties and Climate Change
A quick-win project identified by the Sustainable Finance Forum is a legal opinion on whether there is an obligation of directors, and all those acting with fiduciary responsibilities, to consider climate change when making decisions. The Aotearoa Circle has decided to forge ahead with this recommendation and has asked Circle Partner, Chapman Tripp, to take on the work and appoint a QC.
A similar opinion was commissioned in Australia, which had a significant awareness-raising impact on this intersection. See the Australian opinion here.
Chapman Tripp has released a publication on this topic here, the second part of their new series, Building resilience to climate change.
New Board Members appointed
Stephen England-Hall, Chief Executive of Tourism New Zealand and Malcolm Alexander, Chief Executive of LGNZ have become Guardians of The Aotearoa Circle. They will join the current governance team of Vicky Robertson, Fraser Whineray and Sir Rob Fenwick.