Simone Ruiz-Vergote

Simone Ruiz-Vergote has over 15 years of experience in sustainable finance and regulatory affairs and was involved in some of the very early developments of carbon-risk related financial tool sets and standards. She is Global Head of ESG & Climate Policy at MSCI – a global provider of equity, fixed income, real estate indexes, multi-asset portfolio analysis tools, ESG and climate products. In this role, she leads MSCI’s global engagement on ESG and climate-related regulatory initiatives and related product development. Prior to joining MSCI, she was leading the Allianz Group competence center on renewable energy and climate change, pioneering climate-related financial disclosure, developing carbon risk metrics for portfolio management and engaging with public partners on climate risk insurance in vulnerable countries. She implemented the Allianz Climate Risk Research Award, which is now in its 5th edition supporting outstanding young scientists, researching the nexus between climate change and the extreme weather events that threaten millions of livelihoods and present ways these populations could be better protected.

She started her career in EU Public Affairs with a focus on fiscal policy and carbon markets. She is a certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM©) and studied Economics (Lic.Oec.) at HEC Lausanne and European and International Politics (M.Sc.) at Edinburgh University. Simone is currently enrolled in an executive MBA program at Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. Outside work, two toddlers keep her busy, but she tries to nurture her passion for outdoor sports, literature and languages whenever possible. 

Simone Ruiz-Vergote

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Simone Ruiz-Vergote

Will Farrell

Federated Hermes
Assistant Manager, EOS
London

Will co-leads the climate change theme at EOS, the stewardship arm of Federated Hermes Limited, where his coverage includes companies in Europe and Australia, primarily financial services, energy, chemicals, and materials. Prior to joining EOS, Will worked in the energy and infrastructure investment banking team at Macquarie Capital, where he specialised in renewable energy. Before that, Will held a number of roles across the UK climate policy space, including as a parliamentary researcher for Rt. Hon. Chris Skidmore MP on climate and energy issues, and as a climate and economic policy analyst at a diplomatic institute. He was appointed as a voluntary adviser to Rt. Hon. Alok Sharma MP, President of COP26, on preparations for COP26 after co-founding a Westminster climate policy group in 2019, which engaged MPs and Members of the House of Lords to advocate for more ambition on climate action in public policy. Will has a Bachelor’s degree (1st Class Honours) in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.