AllianceBernstein: Kicking Off Climate Week in NYC

From AllianceBernstein's Chief Responsibility Officer, Erin Bigley: 

"Hi everyone, 

I’m Erin Bigley, AllianceBernstein’s Chief Responsibility Officer. As we kick off Climate Week in New York today, I’ve been reflecting on our teams’ climate-related work over the last year.

We believe that climate change can have a material impact on investment outcomes. As climate-related policies and regulations continue to increase in volume around the globe, we continue to strategize about how AB can prepare our business, and those in which we invest, for long-term success in a lower-carbon world.

A key part of this work is education and partnership. 

AB recognizes the importance of ongoing education of both our investors and our clients on the latest research around climate issues. One way we do this is through our collaboration with Columbia University’s Climate School and its climate scientists. In fact, we are celebrating our fourth anniversary of our partnership with Columbia this week. One of the fruits of this partnership is the Natural Hazards Index Tool which we launched earlier this year alongside Columbia’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness to better examine physical climate risks across the US. This week, we are launching the Climate Academy 2.0 for our clients, an educational series covering several climate-related topics, including carbon markets, emerging markets and the energy transition, and China’s decarbonization challenges and opportunities.

We recognize that there are also material social risks related to climate change which should be managed. To better understand the intersections of these risks, we collaborated with eCornell, Cornell University’s External Education Unit, on an educational training for our investors that included a session on the elements of a Just Transition. We're also working on a publication with Walk Free—an international human rights organization—on the financial materiality at the intersection of climate change and human rights. 

We are harnessing our climate knowledge to develop our Climate Transition Assessment and Engagement Framework—a tool designed to allow our investment teams to consistently identify material risks and opportunities for high-impact issuers within our clients’ portfolios and to signal where our investors should focus engagements with these issuers over the long term. The goal is to better understand how our investee companies are preparing their businesses to be successful in a lower-carbon economy.

We are also leveraging our climate knowledge to inform how we act as a business. AB is working to reduce carbon emissions in our operations, in part, by working to locate 85% of our employees in greener workspaces by 2025. Doing so will also encourage collaboration and foster engagement and wellness. As of March 2023, with our London office’s move to a greener building, we have met 60% of our goal, and our New York office move will follow in 2024.

At AllianceBernstein, we hope to build upon these efforts as we navigate the energy transition and the effects it will have on both our business and the issuers in which we invest. I’m looking forward to sharing more of what AB has in store. Happy NY Climate Week!" 

See the original video here.

Learn more about AB’s approach to responsibility here