10 May 2010

Nearly one hundred clients and guests attended this year’s Rathbone Greenbank Investments investor day which was held at Cambridge Cottage, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew on Monday 10 May. To highlight the International Year of Biodiversity, the event featured a line-up of expert speakers who addressed the audience on a variety of connected topics.

Mark Broadmeadow, who has led the Forestry Commission’s work on climate change for the last five years, kicked off the event with a talk highlighting the role woodland creation (and the forestry sector in general) can play in mitigating the effects of climate change in the UK. Forestry is currently high on the Government’s agenda because it can deliver effective mitigation and adaptation. However, its effectiveness will depend on mobilising sufficient carbon-related finance.

Next, Andreas Eke, director of Futuro Forestal, spoke about enhancing biodiversity and returns through reforestation, specifically with regard to his experience of managing forestry assets in Panama. Andreas stressed how heterogenic soil conditions in tropical countries mean that monoculture is not an appropriate system, and how a multi-culture approach is not only more productive, but also enhances biodiversity.

Tracey Campbell, a director at the Forest Footprint Disclosure Project, described how this government-supported initiative helps investors and consumers identify how an organisation’s activities and supply chains contribute to deforestation. The FFD Project focuses on those organisations that have a significant exposure to one or more key commodities linked to deforestation, such as timber, soy, beef, palm oil and biofuels.

Finally, Stephanie Wray from Hyder Consulting’s Environment Division addressed the issue of how biodiversity considerations can be integrated into companies’ sustainability agendas. While other environmental impacts such as energy and water use have well-established economic frameworks and, in the case of GHG emissions have become monetised making it easy to incorporate them into conventional cost-benefit analyses, the economic value of eco-system services and biodiversity is still at an early stage of development.

Talks were interspersed with two lively Q&A sessions, which provoked some stimulating debate. Guests then retired for a buffet lunch and the opportunity to take advantage of the warm spring weather with a tour of the Gardens.