Systemic Risk and Investor Engagement on Policy with Richard Roberts

Systemic climate risk is increasingly recognized across capital markets but how should institutional investors engage with the policy drivers shaping that risk? In this episode of the Future of Finance podcast, host Georges Dyer speaks with Richard Roberts, Inquiry Lead at Volans, about the intersection of systemic risk, fiduciary duty, and investor engagement on real-economy climate policy. For long-horizon asset owners, disclosure frameworks alone may not address the structural economic forces influencing portfolio outcomes. Energy systems, infrastructure policy, industrial strategy, and trade dynamics ultimately determine emissions pathways and market stability. Key themes include: The imbalance between disclosure-focused engagement and real-economy policy Systemic risk across diversified portfolios Catastrophic risk and the limits of economic modeling Coalition-based approaches to policy engagement Governance structures and long-term stewardship incentives For CIOs, trustees, and policy leaders, the conversation explores whether policy engagement is becoming a necessary dimension of systemic stewardship. Resources Mentioned: Recalibrating Carbon Risk: https://carbontracker.org/reports/recalibrating-climate-risk/ Triple Bottom Line Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2018/06/25-years-ago-i-coined-the-phrase-triple-bottom-line-heres-why-im-giving-up-on-it Existential Politics - Jessica F. Green: https://share.google/RLMhxwaxpSnWvhqAj Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 03:10 Disclosure vs. Real-Economy Policy 08:00 Investor Resource Allocation Findings 14:20 Political Legitimacy and Engagement Constraints 19:40 Coalition Strategies and Collective Action 26:35 Fiduciary Duty and Systemic Risk 32:10 Catastrophic Risk and Tipping Points 47:45 A Long-Term Vision for Finance