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19 Dec 2025

Rewiring finance: what will it take to fund a better future?

In this episode of 'What Next?' - former Group Chairman of Standard Chartered, José Viñals, Sarah Kemmitt, former lead of the UN Net Zero Banking Alliance, and Dr. Nina Seeger, Director, CISL Centre for Sustainable Finance, explore how finance can move beyond the ESG "hype-cycle" and accelerate sustainable development. The guests share deep, practical insights from the frontlines of banking, regulation and global development.

Key takeaways

  • Leadership must focus on system design, not just pledges. Good intentions do not mobilise capital; rules, incentives and market structure do.
  • Finance has become too focused on what to stop, rather than what to build: The biggest opportunities lie in infrastructure, resilience and emerging markets, but outdated financial architecture blocks capital from reaching them.
  • Leaders must drive a shift from short-term, narrow financial modeling to real-world, system-level risk assessment: This means pricing in physical, transition, and social risks - and recognising that the cost of inaction is far higher than the cost of action.
  • Unlocking accelerated transition requires modernising financial models, standardising transactions and removing structural barriers - supported by clear national policies and stable incentive frameworks.
Listen to the podcast

In this episode of podcast series, What Next? José Viñals, Dr Nina Seega and Sarah Kemmitt analyse why finance has struggled to back real-world transition at scale, and outline the shifts needed to connect capital to what should be a huge financing opportunity. 

What Next? podcast series logo
What next? Leadership conversations for a better future

What next? Leadership conversations for a better future is a podcast series hosted by Marc Kahn, our Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer, and Lindsay Hooper, CEO at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). Along with critical thinkers, innovators and leaders from across the globe, they discuss how markets can truly serve people and the planet, asking tough questions, challenging old assumptions, and opening space for new perspectives and solutions.

Jose Vinals, former Group Chairman Standard Chartered
José Viñals, Former Group Chairman, Standard Chartered

The opportunity is huge, but unless we redesign the system so the incentives point in the right direction, the capital will never flow at scale.

Dr Nina Seega, CISL
Dr Nina Seega, Director, CISL Centre for Sustainable Finance

If we don’t price climate and nature into our core models, we’re building the entire financial system on a version of reality that no longer exists.

Sarah Kemmitt, former lead of the UN Net Zero Banking Alliance
Sarah Kemmitt, UN Net Zero Banking Alliance, former lead

We don’t need to cling to the language of net zero - what matters is moving the transition forward in ways that are fair, science-based and achievable.

Chapter notes | Scroll to the areas that interest you

  • 00:00–12:50 Why Sustainable Finance Stalled: Understanding the System, Not the Symptoms

    • The conversation begins by recognising that the ESG backlash is a failure of system design.
    • Market momentum around sustainable finance or ESG expanded faster than the incentives and data needed to support it. ESG became a catch-all narrative rather than a tool linking finance to real-world transition.

  • 12:50–22:20 Net Zero, Narratives and the Need for Clarity

    • This chapter explores how “net zero” became politically charged despite the scientific necessity.
    • The panel agree there is a need for clearer communication, grounded pathways and stronger links between climate ambition, industrial competitiveness and social legitimacy.
    • Leaders need to anchor long-term goals in practical transition plans that connect to people’s everyday realities.

  • 22:20–39:45 Removing the Barriers: Pricing Risk, Building Markets, Mobilising Capital

    • The guests dive into the structural blockers preventing capital from reaching the real economy - they identify mispriced climate risk, distorted subsidies, fragmented permitting, and misaligned prudential rule.
    • The guests discuss the importance of redesigning market architecture so capital can flow to infrastructure, resilience, nature, and emerging economies where the opportunities are greatest.

  • 39:45–end Rewiring Finance Through Leadership: Mindsets, Mandates and Enabling Environments

    • The episode concludes with a call for leadership that is evidence-based, commercially grounded and system-aware.
    • Guests highlight the importance of leaders pricing in reality, advocating for policy certainty, supporting standardisation and pushing for conditions that enable long-term value creation.
    • Public–private partnership, fairness and credible narratives are central to rebuilding market confidence and making transition pathways investable.

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Focus and its related content is for informational purposes only. The opinions featured on the site are not to be considered as the opinions of Investec and do not constitute financial or other advice. The information presented is subject to completion, revision, verification and amendment.

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