Spotlight on Lucian Peppelenbos, Climate & Biodiversity Strategist, Robeco
Global Thought Leader Spotlight
Lucian Peppelenbos, Climate & Biodiversity Strategist, Robeco
In my role as the Climate and Biodiversity Strategist at Robeco, I’m primarily responsible for overseeing Robeco’s work on decarbonising its investment portfolios and integrating climate and nature-related risks and opportunities in the investment processes. To create the backdrop for this, I was heavily involved in formulating Robeco’s policy frameworks for climate change and biodiversity, developing the Robeco Net Zero Roadmap in 2021 and the Biodiversity Framework in 2022.
My role includes collaborating with other investors, academics and policy institutions, coordinating Robeco’s extensive thought leadership and publications with the outside world. My wider background is as a sustainability specialist working with global corporations and Dutch asset managers since 1999. I hold a PhD in Social Sciences from Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
Key themes driving risks and opportunities
Like many of our EU-based clients, the YFYS reform for superannuation products intensifies the regulatory scrutiny of Australia’s pension and long-term savings plans. Under such constraints, we see transition products as key in balancing a portfolio’s long-term performance goals with net zero compliance targets. Alongside existing climate frameworks and net zero products, Robeco has launched several strategies that invest in the vital bridge solutions needed to accelerate the transition.
We also see strategic engagement as an effective tool to convince high-emitters to change course. That involves sharing specialised industry research on more sustainable technologies, best practice, peer performance and the evolution of regulations.
We are also collaborating with PRI and the IGCC on sovereign engagement with Australian ministries to push government officials towards pro-transition policies at the national and local levels.
The economic stakes are particularly high for Australia, given its economy leans so heavily on energy and other carbon-intensive industries such as chemicals, cement, and plastics. Moreover, catastrophic floods and droughts also underscore Australia’s acute vulnerability to the physical risks of climate change. The good news is Australia is also rich in renewables, natural gas and critical minerals needed for the transition. That gives it a clear competitive advantage, which investments can more fully leverage, to accelerate its own, as well as, the global transition.
The Trump effect is a temporary cloud on the near-term outlook. But paradigm shifts have always been volatile, uneven and non-linear. It is critically important to stay the course and continue to travel toward the long-term destination, which remains as clear as ever.
Implications for institutional investors
We continue to witness the ravaging effects of climate change. Despite the volatility of both the physical and political climates, we are encouraged by our clients’ composed and steady heads. They recognise that over decades neither the science nor the warnings have changed, that the transition is inevitable. As a result, they remain committed to and invested for the long-term.
Climate change amplifies both risks and opportunities. For institutional investors, our climate analytic tools help us steer portfolios towards net zero outcomes, including our Climate Traffic Light assessment, which evaluates whether companies are on a clear pathway to net zero (green), have some work to do (amber) or are failing and need prodding (red).
We also use sophisticated Paris-aligned benchmarks, where achieving net zero effectively means decarbonising portfolios by 7% a year between now and 2050.
And, of course, we can do nothing without robust sustainability investment analysis. Research has been embedded in Robeco’s DNA since our very beginning, led now by the search for more forward-looking data, rather than relying on historical records for emissions.
We think AI can help here enormously in climate modelling and in developing the investment strategies that can make a real difference (particularly in transition) going forward.
Those same tools and analysis can be applied to help institutional portfolios meet stricter sustainability performance objectives under YFYS.
For further reading, access the latest thought leadership article co-authored by Robeco’s Lucian Peppelenbos and Carola van Lamoen, on Staying on course toward net zero.
Lucian will be presenting at Global Investment Institute’s upcoming Net Zero Investment Forum, taking place on Thursday, 13 March 2025 at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne, Victoria. To register your interest in attending, click here or for more information email zlatan@globalii.com.au.
Lucian Peppelenbos, Climate & Biodiversity Strategist, Robeco
Lucian is Climate & Biodiversity Strategist at Robeco.
In this role, he oversees Robeco’s work on decarbonising the investment portfolios and integrating climate-related risks and opportunities in the investment processes.
Thought leadership and publications are also part of his role, in collaboration with peer investors, academics and policy institutions. Prior to joining Robeco in 2020, he was Responsible Investment Specialist at APG Asset Management. Lucian started his career in 1999. He holds a PhD in Social Sciences from Wageningen University.
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