The Sustainable Finance Podcast

Payment card issuer and processing powerhouse Enfuce challenges the global payment industry to go beyond compliance with the recent launch of the Fortitude Pledge, a bold new compliance and security standard. My podcast guests today are co-CEOs and co-Founders at Enfuce, Monika Liikamaa and Denise Johansson. The Pledge aims to eliminate 100% of financial crime risks across all Enfuce-processed card transactions. Enfuce believes that stopping 100% of human trafficking, money laundering, and terrorist financing is not optional—it’s essential to create a sustainable, 21st Century business model and a direct commitment to UN Sustainable Development Goal #16 and I’m very pleased to have Monika and Denise join me for this important conversation.

Shivanth Pande is the founder of NIMB ACE Capital, the first investment bank in Nepal to offer systematic sustainable investment plans and other financial services for employees who work for the bank’s corporate clients as well for the large underbanked population. Using a strategy that includes a variety of sustainable mutual funds, the bank now has more than 600,000 clients. In addition, Pande is the co-founder and current chairman of M! Nepal, a social venture that facilitates banks and microfinance companies in extending outreach of financial products to the poor urban and rural populations in Nepal.

Aniket Shah is Managing Director & Global Head of the Sustainability and Transition Strategy at Jefferies, a global financial services firm ranked #1 in the Institutional Investor Survey for Sustainability in the US, Europe, Japan and Australia in 2022-2024. Shah talks with us about using a face-to-face approach to advancing the energy transition: investors walking the streets, visiting the plants, talking to the people and learning the business culture. Shaw explains how in the current economic environment, climate adaptation and resilience-related investments are critical to continuing the global agenda on sustainability and human rights. Shah serves on the Board of Directors of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and teaches as an Assistant Adjunct Professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

The story of Salish Elements began when one man gifted a bundle of tobacco to another. Rueben George and Omar Kassem first met at a gathering designed to provide Indigenous communities with the support of technology and business activists. Omar, is an energy industry engineer, working towards safely deploying hydrogen into British Columbia's utility infrastructure. Rueben is a globally recognized environmentalist and best-selling co-author of "It Stops Here", the story of the spiritual, cultural, and political resurgence of an indigenous nation taking action to reclaim their lands, waters, and food systems in the face of colonization. The gift of tobacco from Omar to Rueben led to discussions of how a green hydrogen energy business could provide an alternative to oil as well as share an economic opportunity with other Indigenous communities and First Nations in Canada. The idea of producing green hydrogen across B.C. with other Indigenous communities has become the story of Salish Elements, which Omar and Rueben have graciously agreed to share with our followers.

In 2022 alone, 4.1 million hectares of tropical forest were lost due to drought, deforestation, and wildfires, contributing significantly to global carbon emissions. Viridis Terra is addressing this urgent issue by focusing on the restoration of significantly degraded lands in the Ucayali and Loreto regions of Peru. Today’s SFP guest, Martin Beaudion Nadeau, is Viridis Terra’s Founder and CEO. In the program he talks about more sustainable farm management systems, including establishing biodiverse forests and agroforestry practices, and integrating native tree species and crops like cocoa and citrus. This aids in carbon sequestration and provides a sustainable source of income for local farming communities, empowering them toward long-term economic stability.