The Deep Transitions Newsletter puts one member of the Global Investors Panel in the spotlight each month. Issue #8 of our newsletter features Yuni Choi who is Director of Investments with the RS Group, a Hong-Kong based family office that aims to use its resources to support the creation of a more sustainable and equitable global community. Yuni focuses on the RS Group’s investment portfolio, which is comprised of responsible and impact investments across asset classes. In addition to her investment duty, she is also a key contributor to RS Group’s Natural Capital initiative where the group’s catalytic capital is used to seed and scale nature-based solutions in Asia.
Why did you decide to join the Global Investors Panel?
Even though we have seen a massive growth in the ESG and impact investing industry in the last five years, the “finance first” mindset still dominates the capital market. We all know that what we are doing is far from enough to achieve Just Transition within the timeframe required. Since I joined RS Group four years ago, my colleagues have inspired me to think at a systemic level, and to continuously question how we can create a paradigm shift for a truly sustainable world. I was excited to work with leading researchers and like-minded investors to develop a transformative investment approach to challenge the status quo.
What would you say are the biggest challenges in sustainable finance?
One of the biggest challenges I see is that impact is still considered as a secondary factor to financial performance. Impact data is not systematically measured across the board, and still not as high quality and comprehensive compared with financial data. Impact reporting is also largely published separately from financial reporting, and often significantly delayed. Large institutions are not incentivized to go beyond light ESG integration, or make more transformative investments within the current system.
What does the success of Deep Transitions Futures and the work with the Panel look like for you?
To me the ultimate success is to see the new investment approach developed by the Deep Transition Futures and the Panel adopted widely by investors. I would like to see the new approach challenging large asset managers and asset owners to use a new lens in looking at investment opportunities, and move more dollars into emerging new technologies and systems that can transform food, energy, and mobility sectors.
Read more about Yuni Choi and the Global Investors Panel. To stay up to date about Deep Transitions Futures, publications, news, events and to join the conversation follow @DTransitions2 on Twitter and connect with us on LinkedIn.
