European Thought Leadership of the Year

Winner – Aviva Investors

In what was once again a fiercely competitive category, this entry stood out in the eyes of the judges for its jargon-free entry as well of the urgency of the issues that it raised.

Aviva Investors’ Against Our Nature: A hitchhiker’s guide to the climate crisis was designed to “firmly but playfully” remind people of their part in the climate crisis and help them navigate the behavioural traps that lie in wait.

The book tackled the premise that climate communication is broken and the cacophony of information around climate change is having the unwanted effect of making people confused, angry, potentially apathetic and driven to denial, instead of optimistic and hopeful.

Insights are taken from behavioural economics, psychology, philosophy and even comedy in order to make its content both “beautiful and relatable”.

It features a foreword from writer and director Richard Curtis, co-founder of the Make My Money Matter initiative, and glowing testimonials from head of financial institutions, the Bank of England and relevant environmental groups such as the World Wildlife Fund UK and TEDxLowCarbonLeaders.

Shortlisted

Caceis – The French asset servicer’s Climate Change Briefing podcast was designed to bring some clarity to an area that is multi-faceted and still contains much confusion among pension funds and asset managers as to what they should be doing. Experts from academia, industry and financial services were invited to shed light on this important issue.

RBS International – The bank’s research focused on how funds are adapting their operations to align with global climate commitments, specifically the introduction of science-based targets (SBTs). It found that while there is widespread recognition of SBTs and their importance, adoption is only at 42%, in part because of a lack of in-house skills.

JP Morgan Asset Management – The firm has an extensive and well-run thought leadership programme. At its heart is its flagship annual publication Long-Term Capital Market Assumptions, which reaches more than 100,000 investment professionals around the world.