About | Mentor | Sebastian Vanderzeil
Sebastian Vanderzeil
Sebastian Vanderzeil is a Director and Investment Strategist at Strabo Rivers and a member of the Global Advisory Council of Cornerstone Capital Group.
PROFILE
Sebastian has global and long-term experience in scenario analysis, economic and financial modelling, portfolio risk analysis and investment analysis relating to climate, energy, water and technology.
Sebastian Vanderzeil is a Director and Investment Strategist at Strabo Rivers and member of the Global Advisory Council of Cornerstone Capital Group.
Sebastian has over a decade of experience in climate change, energy and water including roles as a policy developer, economist and investment adviser.
Previously, he was a Director and Global Thematic Analyst with Cornerstone Capital Group in New York conducting investment research, manager due diligence and client reporting. Sebastian’s research spanned a range of investment themes including climate change, energy, agriculture, automation and technology.
Prior to Cornerstone, Sebastian was an economic consultant with global technical services group AECOM, where he advised on the development and finance of major infrastructure across Asia and Australia including climate change risk assessments. He also developed climate change policy in the Queensland Government’s Office of Climate Change and was part of the formation and operation of Australia’s first government owned carbon broker, Ecofund Queensland.
Sebastian was a Dean’s Scholar and holds an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business, and has a Bachelor’s degree in natural resource economics from the University of Queensland.
RECENTLY REVIEWED BY SEBASTIAN VANDERZEIL
An industry infected: Animal agriculture in a post-COVID world
3 June 2020
In light of COVID-19, this report explores the growing concerns that the animal protein industry is vulnerable to fostering diseases, supply-chain bottlenecks, and food safety issues. FAIRR promotes the Coller FAIRR Protein Producer Index, a tool for investors to analyse how companies address animal welfare, and worker and food safety.
Banking on a low-carbon future II: A ranking of the 20 largest European banks’ responses to climate change
30 April 2020
This report ranks the 20 largest European banks based on their response to climate change as of the 6th December 2019. The report highlights that while the European banking sector is making progress in reflecting climate-related risks, there is need for greater integration of these risks fully into strategies, processes, risk management tools and transparency.
Time out: Why China's power companies should re-evaluate their coal capex plans
15 November 2016
This report examines the trend of Chinese power companies’ increasing capital expenditure into coal power in China, and presents evidence of how it can be a financial risk for investors. It also provides recommendations for investors to engage with company management and apply greater scrutiny to company investments in coal fired power.
Looking beyond traditional gender lens investing approaches using Access Impact Framework in support of SDG 5: Gender equality
31 December 2019
This report describes how Cornerstone Capital's Access Impact Framework enables investors to invest in opportunities to achieve gender equality and empowerment of girls, aligning with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5.
In pursuit of deep impact and market-rate returns: KL Felicitas Foundation's journey
30 April 2018
The report is an update of NPC’s 2015 review of the KL Felicitas Foundation, Investing for impact: Practical tools, lessons, and results. It explores how the KL Felicitas Foundation’s impact investing portfolio balances social impact with financial return.
Valuing ESG: Doing good or sounding good?
20 March 2020
This paper considers a framework for company valuation that incorporates social responsibility in order to evaluate whether or not ‘doing good’ creates value for environmental, social and governance (ESG) companies, and for investors. It considers factors such as growth, profitability, investment efficiency, and risk.
The Tobacco Report: How divesting from tobacco affected returns over 20 years
28 February 2019
This report discusses the investment performance of investment portfolios containing tobacco companies and those that excluded tobacco companies. The research concludes that there was no statistically different performance between portfolios that included and excluded tobacco companies over the last 20 years.
Got it covered? Insurance in a changing climate
31 May 2018
Climate change poses risks for the insurance sector. The 80 largest insurance companies were ranked and analysed according to their responsiveness towards climate-related risks and opportunities. Recommendations were established by determining leading practice, comparing approaches and evaluating the level of integration of climate risk into investment and underwriting activities.
Supercharged: Challenges and opportunities in global battery storage markets
1 January 2018
This reports analyses trends in the global battery storage market. It identifies key drivers as well as key constraints and identifies areas for policy makers to support its development.
Pensions in a changing climate
30 November 2018
A critical review and gap analysis of the pension industry’s positioning in regard to the recommendations from the Task Force on Climate-related Disclosures. The review includes a rating index of the world’s 100 largest public pension funds with rankings linked to both their approach and engagement.
Sustainable signals: Growth and opportunity in asset management
19 February 2019
Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing and Bloomberg L.P. report highlights how sustainable investing has transformed from a given fiduciary duty into a strategic business imperative in the financial markets. Asset managers in the U.S. perceive this shifting investment landscape as a new opportunity to create increasingly competitive returns and more productive portfolios in the coming years.
The Inevitable Policy Response: Preparing financial markets for climate-related policy/regulatory risks
31 December 2019
The Inevitable Policy Response (IPR) is a project to prepare investors for the investment risks associated with the most likely responses to climate change. The likely impacts of climate change and mechanisms in the Paris Agreement are likely to force substantial policy introduction in the near future with investment implications.
Analysis of ethics and investor behaviour and its impact on financial satisfaction of capital market investors
31 January 2018
This research, through hypothesis testing, examines the impact of investors' ethical awareness and understanding on investor behaviour in capital markets and its link to increased financial satisfaction through that behaviour. As such, the reports challenges neo-classical economic theory by suggesting investors look beyond risk and return and develop investment portfolios in line with their ethics.
The race of our lives revisited
31 August 2018
GMO's founder and long-term investment strategist, Jeremy Grantham, offers a wide-ranging analysis of interconnected environmental crises, explores solutions and makes recommendations for investors. The paper covers climate change, population growth, soil erosion and toxicity. It concludes by making the case for environmental investment strategies and fossil fuel divestment.
United Nations Global Compact: Progress report 2018
31 December 2018
The 2018 United Nations Global Compact Progress Report is an assessment of how businesses are adopting the Ten Principles of the Global Compact in their strategy and operations, as well as an evaluation of their actions to deliver on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Long-term portfolio guide
31 March 2015
This research focuses on providing a framework for institutional investors to improve long-term outcomes for their portfolios, their investee companies and for their stakeholders. This framework is comprised of five core action areas: investment beliefs, risk appetite statement, benchmarking process, evaluations and incentives, and investment mandates.
We need a bigger boat: Sustainability in investment
31 August 2012
This report is designed to help asset owners and asset managers overcome their modern-day challenges as we stand on the cusp of a period of significant transformation in world economies, politics and capital markets. It explores practical solutions and processes to enable investors to become sustainable investors.
RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY SEBASTIAN VANDERZEIL
Institutional investors and the behavioral barriers to taking action on climate change
28 October 2019
The report examines why leading climate investors are rapidly outpacing their peers despite having access to the same information. As part of the report, investment professionals and key stakeholders were surveyed and interviewed, revealing cognitive biases to be an important barrier to taking action on climate change.
Multi-asset investments: Managing sustainability from a total portfolio perspective
31 March 2019
Integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into existing portfolios involves considerations beyond benchmark tracking and diversification such as budgets for governance and risk as well as portfolio impacts of different types of ESG implementation. The report explores ESG portfolio integration as well as outlining trade-offs in portfolio management.
Making a splash
27 November 2012
Nature Climate Change and Nature Geoscience jointly present 'Water in a warming world', a collection of research highlighting many of the key issues in this important area of climate change research. This article highlights some of the research on the potential impacts of climate change on the world's water resources.
