Series 1: The Fundamentals of Financial Risks from Climate Change
The New York State Department of Financial Services held two webinars as part of its work to support its banking institutions in managing and mitigating the financial risks from climate change. The webinars covered the fundamentals of how climate change impacts the financial system, provide examples of how it could impact the community and regional banking institutions and mortgage banking institutions in New York, climate-related business opportunities, and an update on federal and state climate-related initiatives.
Session 1: for Community and Regional Banks on February 18, 2021
Session 2: for Mortgage Banking Institutions on February 24, 2021
Series 2: Physical Risks from Climate Change in New York and the Northeast
The New York State Department of Financial Services held two webinars for banking institutions on the physical risks related to climate change in New York and the Northeast. The first webinar covers several climate-related physical changes that are likely to occur in the region such as flooding, extreme precipitation, snowfall, extreme temperature, and drought. The second webinar focuses on coastal risks, such as sea level rise, hurricanes, and coastal storms. The webinars are led by Mark Lowery, the Assistant Director of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Office of Climate Change.
Session 1: Overview of Physical Risks from Climate Change in New York and the Northeast – May 24, 2021, 1 - 2pm
Recording (WebEx)
Slides (PDF)
Session 2: Coastal Risks from Climate Change in New York and the Northeast – May 26, 2021, 1 - 1:45pm
Recording (WebEx)
Slides (PDF)
Series 3: Clean Energy Financing for Community and Regional Banks
The New York State Department of Financial Services held a webinar on Clean Energy Financing for community and regional banks on June 10. The webinar covered the fundamentals of clean energy financing, the benefits and risks of this space, New York State’s and other programs that support banking institutions in entering and growing in this space, and what your peers are doing. This webinar is designed for New York State community and regional banks and credit unions, but other New York State regulated institutions are welcome.
Date and Time: June 10, 2021 from 10-11am EDT.
Recording (WebEx)
Slides (PDF)
Panelists
Neda Arabshahi – Director, Center for Resiliency and Clean Energy, Inclusiv
John Joshi – Director, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
Bill Peterson – Senior Lending Officer, Amalgamated Bank
Moderator
Yue (Nina) Chen, Director of Sustainability and Climate Initiatives, New York State Department of Financial Services
Panelist and Moderator Bios
Neda Arabshahi
Director, Inclusiv Center for Resiliency and Clean Energy
Neda Arabshahi is Director of the Inclusiv Center for Resiliency and Clean Energy. In this capacity, she is working to build a network of credit unions committed to designing and scaling solutions to climate change, with a goal of promoting affordable and sustainable energy for all people. Neda has over 17-years of experience in the clean energy and sustainability space. Most recently she served as Chief Operating Officer at the energy startups Radiator Labs and BlocPower, where she helped to create financing and access to clean energy and energy efficiency retrofits for low- and moderate-income building owners. Prior to those roles, she led the energy program at the Clinton Global Initiative, partnering with public and private sector members to build commitments to low carbon energy solutions, including developing resilient electricity grids and solar workforce redevelopment. Neda holds dual MBA and Master of Environmental Science degrees from Yale University, where her research focused on the economic development benefits of renewable energy projects in low-income communities.
John Joshi
Director of Financing Solutions, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
John Joshi joined the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority on June 2015 as Director of Financing Solutions. In this role, John focuses on developing strategies as part of our Clean Energy Fund for mobilizing private capital and market-based financing solutions to support scaled investments in clean energy across sectors and technology areas. This role is important to support the Governor's energy agenda and the strategy for scaling clean energy by engaging private capital financing solutions. John interacts with market financing institutions, both those already participating in providing solutions for clean energy financing and those who are not involved in offering financing products for these purposes or do so at small scale, to develop understanding or opportunities for developing effective solutions to support consumer and organization investment in clean energy projects. In this role John’s focus is on technologies where financing solutions have been underutilized or underdeveloped. All these strategies will be designed to complement and support the projects and initiatives being funded through the NY Green Bank. John has extensive experience in solar & renewable energy capital markets solutions, structured products, hedge funds, & risk management. Most recently as Head of Capital Markets for PLANT. Smart Energy Solutions LLC, Advisor to NREL where he advised the White House policy staff, the Senate Finance staffers and the Secretary of Energy on effective solutions for increased capital for the solar sector, including active participation in the Solar Access Public Capital initiative.
William (Bill) Peterson
Senior Vice President, Senior Lending Officer, Amalgamated Bank
Bill joined Amalgamated in 2018 through the acquisition of New Resource Bank in San Francisco, where he was the Chief Credit Officer. While at New Resource, Bill was a pioneer in developing the concept of sustainable lending, working with the Global Alliance of Banking on Values, B-Lab and other organizations to develop metrics and best practices around values-based banking. At Amalgamated, he has led the growth of impact lending and participated in the North American PCAF working group to develop an accounting method in which banks can measure the carbon output of their loans and investments. After a 30-year career in traditional commercial banking that began at Bank of America, he appreciates the opportunity to take a socially responsible lending philosophy to a national platform at Amalgamated.
Yue (Nina) Chen
Director of Sustainability and Climate Initiatives, New York State Department of Financial Services
Dr. Yue (Nina) Chen is the first-ever Director of Sustainability and Climate Initiatives at the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS). As part of the executive team, Nina is charged with developing the Department’s portfolio of policy initiatives involving sustainability, green financing, and climate mitigation. Before joining DFS, Nina was the Nature Conservancy’s Director of Conservation Investments in New Jersey, and then in New York. In this role she developed innovative conservation finance programs, advised cities on attracting private capital to accelerate and scale up conservation impacts, and led urban water resilience initiatives. Nina’s career in finance spanned a wide range of areas, including sovereign bonds, interest rates derivatives, mortgages, and structured credit products, at Goldman Sachs and Royal Bank of Canada, among others. Nina received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Certificate in Conservation and Environmental Sustainability from Columbia University.