Webinar
Beyond Signals:
Embedding Sustainability into Markets, Policy, and Enterprise
INSPIRE Inaugural Webinar │ 14 November 2025
INSPIRE proudly hosted its inaugural webinar, Beyond Signals: Embedding Sustainability into Markets, Policy, and Enterprise, bringing together four distinguished experts who offered deeply complementary perspectives on how sustainability moves from ambition to execution across business, finance, government, and risk management.
With about 30 attendees, including participants from Europe, the event marked INSPIRE’s official launch and set the tone for our mission: connecting research, practice, and policy to accelerate sustainable enterprise.
Darcy opened the webinar by reframing ESG in its broadest sense: not as a political battleground, but as a “market language” that helps firms translate long-term societal risks into signals capital markets can understand. Drawing on his dual background in investment banking and public policy, he articulated three core ideas:
Key Insights
- ESG exists because markets need a shared vocabulary for long-term risks—climate, workforce inclusion, governance quality—that traditional financial metrics overlook.
- Private and public sectors optimize different types of value. Firms answer to shareholders; governments answer to citizens.
- Democracy sets the “dials.” Markets can price long-term risks, but only democratic choice can determine what we value and who should benefit.
- ESG is ultimately about stewardship. Government sets baselines and rules; markets innovate within them; civil society holds both accountable.
Drury emphasized that ESG is not about perfection, but about evolving tools and incentives that align prosperity with planetary and social well-being.
Gaurav provided a technical yet accessible overview of climate transition planning—one of the most urgent corporate requirements emerging across global jurisdictions.
Key Insights
- Transition plans are now expected across sectors due to IFRS S2, CSRD in Europe, and guidance from the UK Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT).
- These plans must go beyond emissions reporting. They require:
- Strategic ambition and credible targets
- Implementation plans tied to operations, products, and capital allocation
- Engagement strategies with suppliers, regulators, and communities
- Financial planning to fund large-scale decarbonization
- Governance structures that embed climate oversight into boardroom decision-making
- Decarbonizing the entity is only stage one. Firms must also address climate-related risks and contribute to an economy-wide transition.
Gaurav emphasized that as Canada moves toward net-zero by 2050, transition plans are becoming not only a compliance requirement but a competitive differentiator—especially for lenders, insurers, and investors.
David delivered a candid and highly engaging overview of how ESG investing surged, stalled, and is now evolving.
Key Insights
- The boom (2010–2020): Investors incorporated ESG because non-financial risks (e.g., culture failures, governance scandals, climate exposure) were repeatedly destroying firm value.
- The contradictions: ESG ratings diverged sharply; methodologies varied; and inconsistent data created noise and skepticism.
- The political backlash: In the U.S., ESG became entangled in ideological debates, prompting fund rebranding, capital outflows, and regulatory scrutiny.
- The future:
- ESG as a label may fade.
- ESG as data will only grow—driven by Gen Z investors, credible disclosure standards, and the undeniable materiality of climate, governance, and human capital issues.
- The field is maturing, not collapsing.
Frazer concluded: “Environmental, social, and governance will always matter—regardless of what term we use.”
George provided a rare inside look at how insurers are interpreting climate risk—one of the most underappreciated forces shaping corporate resilience.
Key Insights
- Extreme weather is now a material business risk, affecting 67% of Canadian firms in the past three years.
- Flooding and wildfires dominate Canada’s risk profile, with heat stress and water scarcity rising globally.
- Companies are investing primarily in:
- Business continuity management
- Engineering upgrades
- Operational changes to withstand acute and chronic hazards
- Only 5% of companies see insurance access as a reason to adapt—a major gap, given that future insurability will hinge on demonstrated resilience.
- Market cycles matter:
- In soft markets, climate impacts on premiums are muted.
- In hard markets, climate risks become sharply priced in.
- Now—during a softening cycle—is the optimal time for organizations to invest in adaptation.
George emphasized that adaptation is not optional: it is essential for protecting people, infrastructure, and long-term insurability.
Moderated by Dr. Deborah de Lange (TMU), the panel brought the four perspectives together to address practical challenges:
Highlights
- Retail investors are not yet consistently demanding ESG products, suggesting a need for stronger public education and clearer product design by banks.
- Banks’ retreat from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance reflects geopolitical polarization more than a decline in underlying climate risk.
- Mitigation vs. adaptation: Insurance experts stressed adaptation, while panelists highlighted the strong economic case for early mitigation.
- Public-private partnerships (PPPs): Panelists pointed to the need for better governance, more transparent risk-sharing, and learning from past infrastructure delays.
- Planetary boundaries: Participants discussed expanding sustainability metrics beyond carbon to include biodiversity, water systems, and ecological thresholds.
The panel closed with the shared conviction that sustainability must be embedded through aligned signals—policy clarity, investor expectations, transparent data, and organizational leadership.
Conclusion: Building Like We Mean It
INSPIRE’s inaugural webinar underscored a powerful consensus:
Sustainability is no longer peripheral. It is structural.
Markets, policymakers, and enterprises are all grappling with the same question:
How do we build systems—financial, regulatory, technological, organizational—that deliver long-term prosperity rather than short-term signals?
Our speakers offered four complementary lenses:
- ESG as a shared language for long-term risk (Drury)
- Transition plans as the blueprint for decarbonization (Awasthi)
- Sustainable finance as a maturing discipline (Frazer)
- Adaptation as a necessity for resilience (Fan)
INSPIRE thanks all speakers, panelists, and attendees for contributing to a rich and thought-provoking launch event. We look forward to continuing this conversation—and advancing actionable solutions—through future INSPIRE programming.