Nick Robins

Nick Robins works at the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment), where he is co-director of the Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System. The Inquiry promotes policies that better connect the financial system with long-term sustainable development. The Inquiry published its first global report, The Financial System We Need, in October 2015 and the second edition, From Momentum to Transformation, in September 2016. His particular focus has been on national initiatives in Brazil, the EU, France, India, Italy and the UK, along with action in key sectors such as banking, insurance and institutional investment. Nick Robins has over 20 years’ experience in the policy, research and financial dimensions of sustainable development. Before joining UNEP, he was Head of the Climate Change Centre of Excellence at HSBC in London from 2007 to 2014, where he produced investment research on issues such as clean tech and climate risk. In the Thomson Extel awards for European investment research, Nick was ranked as #1 analyst for integrated climate change in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Prior to HSBC, Nick was first head of Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) research and then head of SRI funds at Henderson Global Investors. At Henderson, he published the first ever carbon audit of an investment fund (2005) and co-designed the Industries of the Future fund. Nick has also worked for the International Institute of Environment and Development, the European Commission’s Environment Directorate and was part of the original Business Council for Sustainable Development. Nick has authored two books – The Corporation that Changed the World: How the East India Company Shaped the Modern Multinational (2006) and Sustainable Investing: the Art of Long-Term Performance (with Cary Krosinsky, 2008). He has also produced numerous reports and has had articles published by the Financial Times, the Guardian, Huffington Post and Resurgence.