Environmental Sustainability & The Imperative of Inclusion – Hosted by WiBF & ANZ

Kobad Bhavnagri is a leading expert on the energy transition. He is the Global Head of Strategy for BloombergNEF, an international research provider specialising in the transition to a net-zero emissions economy. He is a thought leader on decarbonization and helps develop new capabilities and business opportunities for the company. He has expertise across hydrogen, clean power, industry decarbonization, sustainable agriculture, nature and biodiversity, clean transport and carbon markets.

Kobad is a trusted advisor to senior decision makers around the world and has held numerous leadership roles with BNEF in Australia and globally. He has authored over 100 publications spanning energy policy, economics, finance and technology since joining the company in 2010.

Kobad is also a member of the Australian Government’s National Hydrogen Strategy Advisory Group and the India-Australia Green Hydrogen Taskforce, an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the faculty of Engineering at the University of New South Wales and was previously a Non-Executive Director of the Carbon Market Institute. He has worked in the energy and finance industries since 2003 as an engineer, management consultant and analyst, and has a first class honours degree in Mechatronic Engineering from the University of New South Wales.

With a distinguished 20-year career at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Estelle Parker brings crucial expertise in government relations, policy-making, and themes important to responsible investors, including human rights and the SDGs. As a leader driving RIAA’s research, certification, policy, standards, and working group programs, her leadership has elevated these initiatives to achieve heightened levels of professionalism, impact, and value delivery for our members, aligning seamlessly with RIAA’s strategic objectives.

Beyond her organisational impact, Estelle is a respected figure in the responsible investment landscape, serving as a strong advocate on influential global and government committees, including the Principles for Responsible Investment’s Global Policy Reference Group, the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance and the Australian Government’s Natural Capital Working Group. Additionally, she serves as the Convenor of the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures official Consultation Group for Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, and the Steering Committee for the Australian Sustainable Finance Institute. She is also a member of the Council of the Australian Institute for International Affairs (Victoria).

Nancy is a Director in ANZ’s Sustainable Finance business based in Sydney. During her 20 years working in finance, Nancy has been involved in originating and executing sustainable finance transactions across Asia Pacific markets. She previously led ANZ’s North Asia Sustainable Finance team in Hong Kong and is currently in Sustainable Finance Portfolio, responsible for sustainable finance governance, product development and capability building across ANZ.

Prior to joining Sustainable Finance, Nancy gained experience across loan syndications, risk management and audit & assurance. She has been an ANZ representative on the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) Forum and is an active contributor to industry working groups and numerous initiatives designed to build best practices in the sustainable finance industry.

Nancy graduated from the University of New South Wales with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. She is a co-founder of Girls Just Wanna Have Fund$, a Hong-Kong based non-profit dedicated to closing the gender investing gap. Nancy has two school aged children and enjoys weekends hiking with her family.

Erin Vink, a Ngiyampaa woman, is curator of First Nations art (local and global) at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and chair of the Art Monthly Australia board. Previously, she was the inaugural Indigenous assistant curator of art at the Australian War Memorial. She co-curated the Yiribana Gallery with Senior curator Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Cara Pinchbeck.  She is interested in addressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s experience with Country, our relationship to it, and our inherent desire to defend it, along with the decolonisation and Indigenisation of art museums.

Thea Anamara Perkins is an Arrernte and Kalkadoon artist whose practice incorporates portraiture and landscape to question representations of First Nations peoples and Country. With a delicate hand, Thea answers heavy questions about what it means to be First Nations in contemporary Australia and interrogates portrayal.

Raised and based in Sydney, Thea has family ties to the Redfern community and has worked in a broad range of community projects. Thea was the recipient of the 2023 La Prairie Art Award, administered by The Art Gallery of NSW, and won the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship in 2021, and the Alice Prize & Dreaming Award in 2020. 

Jody Gunn is CEO of the Australian Land Conservation Alliance. Jody is committed to the conservation of land, water and culture at national and international scales. Critical to achieving this is scaling and innovating conservation finance to reduce the significant funding gap for nature.

Jody is a conservation scientist with executive level management experience spanning over two decades. Jody’s career has included academia, non-government and government organisations, with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Melbourne, Australia and a PhD from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK.

Prior to joining ALCA,  Jody was an Executive Manager for Bush Heritage Australia, during which time she oversaw the expansion of Bush Heritage Australia’s Reserves and partnerships, the delivery and expansion of a private land stewardship program on agricultural land, and strengthened aboriginal partnerships across Bush Heritage’s portfolios across south east Australia.