Zoë Knight

Group Head, Centre of Sustainable Finance, Head of Climate Change MENAT

HSBC

Zoë Knight is Group Head of the HSBC Centre of Sustainable Finance and Head of Climate Change MENAT.

Zoë joined the Global Research business of HSBC in 2010 to provide institutional investors with climate change analysis and recommendations. Since then she has produced insights on low-carbon opportunities in bond and equity markets, long-term carbon and water risks and managing financial stability in relation to climate change. She has been advising global institutional investors on equity investing and climate change for over 25 years. During her tenure in markets she authored the ‘Keeping it Cool’ Series of briefings on climate policy, economics and investment ideas and achieved a No 1 ranking for Climate Change Research by institutional investors in industry awards from 2014 to 2017.

In 2018, Zoë set up the Centre of Sustainable Finance at HSBC to provide climate insight across the group. The Centre provides thought leadership about transforming the real economy and strengthening the financial system response to climate change. Centre achievements include collaborating with 45 academic and industry partners across 15 countries to produce over 150 pieces of work.

Prior to HSBC, Zoë worked in both a major European and US investment bank. An economist by academic background, her initial career was focused on providing equity ideas to investors focused on European Small and MidCap markets.

Zoë has participated in a variety of advisory boards and councils on climate across the financial services industry, including the UK All Parliamentary Group on Climate Change, UK Finance, the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures and the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero. In addition, she is a regular contributor to the academic agenda, and is a contributing author to ‘Investment opportunities for a low-carbon world’, 2009. Currently, she is a Commissioner on the Energy Transition Commission.

In 2020, she was recognised as one of 275 Global female energy influencers by the Women’s Energy Council, and in 2021 she featured in ‘The Female Lead’, a book of 67 women changing the world today. In 2022 she was included in the inaugural list of 50 most influential people in Sustainable Finance by Financial News. In 2023 she featured in the COP28UAE Top 100 Middle East Sustainability voices.

Zoe is a Non Executive Director on the board of HSBC UK Bank PLC.

Session Overview

Tuesday, 5 November

14:30

Finance & Investment Conference Conference Room A 14:30 - 15:30

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What is the future of climate finance?

As the energy transition transforms the global economy, the energy and finance sectors have a crucial role in providing the technical capabilities and capital flows needed to achieve the low carbon high growth economy of tomorrow. While public-private collaborations are accelerating the accessibility and mobilisation of investment into key climate technologies, a lack of supporting infrastructure, issues achieving industrial scalability, high initial capital investment and longer ROI windows are slowing progress. With energy transition investments needing to increase from US$1.8 trillion in 2023 to US$4.5 trillion a year to meet targets, per the IEA, how can the energy, finance, and policy makers shape the pathway to net-zero?

Attendee insights:

Evaluate the state of the energy transition and explore how industry leaders are navigating and mobilising the capital flows and investment needed to achieve a successful transition at the pace and scale society expects.

Wednesday, 6 November

12:45

Decarbonisation Conference Decarbonisation Theatre 12:45 - 13:15

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Scaling investment in clean technology

The International Energy Agency estimates clean energy investment must reach $4.5 trillion per year by the early 2030s to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Despite the rapid growth of the clean tech sector and the new opportunities it creates for businesses and investors, clean energy investment remains significantly lower than required, due to the capital-intensive nature of clean energy projects and their long payback periods. Additionally, many of the technologies and solutions have not yet been proven in the market, adding another layer of investment risk. Supportive policies such as tax incentives, and financial innovations such as large public funding programmes, will pave the way for innovative cleantech projects to thrive.

Attendee insights:

Understand strategies for de-risking and incentivising clean technology investment.