WWF – 'Our Planet: Too Big to Fail' film screening with expert Q&A

Our economy is fundamentally underpinned by the stability and the resilience of the natural world. But this stability is no longer guaranteed. The WWF documentary film Our Planet: Too Big To Fail explores the risks of inaction, the impact of investing-as-usual, and the role the finance sector can play in powering a sustainable future.

At this event, watch the abridged version of the film and pose your questions to our expert panel on the topic of sustainable finance and how the sector can help protect the environment.

Our panellists come from both academia and industry, bringing a wide range of expertise.

Chaired by Professor Gail Whiteman, Professor of Sustainable Business, University of Exeter

Panellists:

• Marine de Bazelaire, Group Advisor on Natural Capital, HSBC
• Ray Dhirani, Head of Sustainable Finance & Green Economy at WWF-UK
• Professor Ben Groom, Dragon Capital Chair in Biodiversity Economics, University of Exeter Business School
• Professor Tim Lenton, Director of the Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter
• Eoin Murray, Head of Investment, International at Federated Hermes
• Dr Bevis Watts, Chief Executive, Triodos Bank

Book your free place here.

Chair – Professor Gail Whiteman, Professor of Sustainable Business, University of Exeter
Professor Gail Whiteman is the Professor-in-Residence at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and was actively involved in building science-based targets including those for a future low-carbon economy. Along with Dr Jeremy Wilkinson, she created Arctic Basecamp, a science solutions communication platform with a mission to “speak science to power” to encourage bold climate action. This unique project has hosted four high-level events at the World Economic Forum in Davos (2017-20).

Marine de Bazelaire, Group Advisor on Natural Capital, HSBC
Group Advisor on Natural Capital, since January 2021, Marine joined the Group HSBC in 2004, as Head of Sustainability for France and then Europe. Executive committee member of HSBC Continental Europe she accompanies the various businesses and functions in the management of their sustainability stakes and those of their customers.

Before joining HSBC, Marine initiated a sustainability strategy for Tiscali Group, Internet Service Provider and headed the multimedia department of the publishing conglomerate Excelsior. Between the world of media and that of finance she worked for Bureau of Public Information of UNESCO.
Spare colonel citizen of the French Air Force, she is a non-executive Director of HSBC SICAV RIF SRI, an executive committee member of the Opéra Comique Foundation and Bangladeshi non-profit Friendship.

Her academic background range from IHEDN (Higher Education Institute of National Defense) and CHEEDD (Higher Education College of Sustainable Development and Environment), to a pre-doctorate program in Museology from University Paris IV, a Master of Science in publishing and a BBA in Finance from Pace University, New York.

Ray Dhirani, Head of Sustainable Finance & Green Economy at WWF-UK
Ray Dhirani leads the sustainable finance team at WWF-UK, where he has spent the last nine years. WWF-UK is an integral part of the wider WWF global network. Previously, he spent eight years working in the markets division of Merrill Lynch in New York within foreign exchange and fixed income sales and trading. His educational background includes a BSc. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MSc. in Environment & Development from the London School of Economics. Ray’s team focus mainly on sustainable investment and metrics, spatial finance, policy and regulatory work on climate and environment, as well as wider system change in the finance and economic system.

Professor Ben Groom, Dragon Capital Chair in Biodiversity Economics, University of Exeter Business School
Professor Ben Groom is the Dragon Capital Chair of Biodiversity Economics at the Department of Economics at Exeter University. He is an environmental and resource economist working on the economics of biodiversity, ecosystem services and intergenerational fairness. His current interests are in how the financial sector can be augmented to take into account the impact on biodiversity. He is an observer on the Task Force for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and a founding member of the Treasury Green Book Biodiversity Working Group. He is a visiting professor at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics.

Professor Tim Lenton, Director of the Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter
Professor Tim Lenton is Professor of Climate Change and Earth System Science at the University of Exeter and Director of the Global Systems Institute. He has over 20 years of research experience in studying the Earth as a system, and developing and using models to understand its behaviour. He is particularly interested in how life has reshaped the planet in the past, and what lessons we can draw from this as we proceed to reshape the planet now. These topics are covered in his books ‘Earth System Science: A Very Short Introduction’ (OUP, 2016) and (with Andrew Watson) ’Revolutions that made the Earth’ (OUP, 2011).

Eoin Murray, Head of Investment, International at Federated Hermes 
Eoin is Head of Investment and a member of the Executive Committee. Eoin also leads the Investment Office, which is responsible to clients for the investment teams’ consistent delivery of responsible, risk-adjusted performance and adherence to the processes which earned them their ‘kitemarks’.

Eoin joined the international business of Federated Hermes in January 2015 with almost 30 years’ investment experience. Eoin joined from GSA Capital Partners, where he was a fund manager. Before this, he was Chief Investment Officer at Old Mutual from 2004 to 2008 and also held senior positions at Callanish Capital Partners LLP and Northern Trust Global Investments. He began his career as a graduate trainee at Manufacturers Hanover Trust (now JPMorgan Chase) and subsequently performed senior portfolio manager roles at Wells Fargo Nikko Investment Advisors (now BlackRock), PanAgora Asset Management and First Quadrant. Eoin earned an MA (Hons) in Economics and Law from the University of Edinburgh and an MBA from Warwick Business School.

Eoin is a Freeman of the City of London, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths, Master of the Guild of Investment Managers, and a Fellow of the RSA. He is a member of the Exmoor Search and Rescue team, a fully qualified Swift-water Rescue Technician, a Powerboat Rescue Operator and a Flood Water Incident Manager.

Dr Bevis Watts, Chief Executive, Triodos Bank UK
Dubbed by some media as ‘the first environmentalist to run a UK bank’, Bevis has led Triodos Bank UK since April 2016, having previously been head of business banking for almost five years (2008-12).  He has spent over 20 years working in sustainability in public, private and voluntary sectors, including ten years in the recycling industry, where he created WRAP’s Financial Mechanisms Programme which leveraged tens of millions of private sector investment into recycling in the early 2000s. During his time leading Triodos Bank UK, the bank has delivered strong growth, launched a personal current account and a crowdfunding platform, as well as transitioned to a new legal identity as a subsidiary in preparation for Brexit. Triodos Bank UK Ltd was established in May 2019.

Bevis has always worked for values-led organisations and was previously chief executive of Avon Wildlife Trust. He has held numerous Directorships and Trusteeships and was a Board member of Bristol 2015, the delivery company for Bristol European Green Capital 2015, inaugural Chair of the West of England Nature Partnership, and elected to represent Local Nature Partnerships at a national level on the ESI Funds National Growth Board (2013-2015). Advisory roles have included the steering committees for the Banking Futures project and the UK government’s taskforce on Impact Investing, the forerunner to the Impact Investing Institute. 

He has a first-class business degree, a PhD in Management Science, is a Chartered Environmentalist (MCIWM, CEnv) and a Fellow of the RSA. He has been the author of papers published in academic journals, conference proceedings, as well as opinion pieces published in national and international press including the Huffington Post and Reuters.