WHO WE ARE

WeESG provides strategic advisory and training on ways to navigate the complex changes from sustainability occurring across the global financial services sector.

Our vision is a global economic system enabling financial institutions, and their clients, to thrive in harmony with planetary and social boundaries. WeESG empowers the next generation of industry leaders, and the companies that will be at the heart of a more sustainable and resilient financial services sector.

Founded by former colleagues from the University of Cambridge Centre for Sustainable Finance, WeESG has roots in Europe, Latin America and Africa, and experience across most major financial centers. It draws on close connections between industry and academia with expertise spanning asset management, banking, and insurance.

WHAT WE OFFER

Targeted knowledge transfer on trends, products, client expectations and regulation.

Support for structuring new products and services and implementing strategic change.

Access to, and insight from, a select network of academics and professionals, drawing on the latest scientific, policy, and industry knowledge.

Pro-active servicing by an dynamic team, able to blend off-the-shelf and bespoke solutions to deliver sustainability and business impact, efficiently.

Expertise in collaboration across business verticals, sectors, and industries.

OUR TEAM

CLARISSE SIMONEK, CFA

Clarisse specializes in responsible investment, with both executive and non-executive experience. She has worked for asset owners, fund managers, social enterprises, and universities across Europe and the Americas. By bridging academia and practice she is able to deliver ambitious yet pragmatic change. Clarisse sits on the UK Prosperity Fund’s Brazil Green Finance Innovation Committee and S&P’s Global Sustainable Finance Scientific Council, and chairs the Board of Trustees of an entrepreneurship charity. She is the academic advisor of the CFA’s ESG Investing certification and contributes to academic programs for University of Cambridge and ESSEC Paris-Singapore. Clarisse holds a joint MBA-MSc on sustainability from HEC Paris / FGV.

THOMAS VERHAGEN

Thomas Verhagen is a former banker specialized in sustainable finance and with experience ranging client coverage, risk management, financial restructuring and product innovation. Across the Americas and EMEA, Thomas has worked with banks, asset managers, pension funds, DFIs, social enterprises, financial regulators, fintechs and universities.His drive comes from a desire to help grow businesses and institutions that successfully combine commerciality and sustainability at scale. Having previously led the banking group at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) he now holds a Senior Associateship there with a special focus on fintech for sustainability. Thomas is a co-author of the CFA’s ESG Investing certification.

DR TOM HERBSTEIN

Tom has held a leadership capacity across academia, the private, and public sectors for most of his career, most notably leading the University of Cambridge’s ClimateWise network, the largest insurance industry group on climate change risk. He has directed numerous research collaborations on emerging best practice across the financial services sector and regularly advises governments on green finance. Tom supported the early work of the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), has led multiple reviews of the insurance industry’s response to climate change risk, and developed models on the impact of physical and transition risks for investment and lending portfolios. Support for the Sustainable Development Goals includes promoting the role of technology in deepening access to financial services, and working with cities across the Global South to deliver more sustainable, resilient, and bankable public infrastructure projects.

VIVIANE TORINELLI

Viviane Torinelli is a corporate governance professional with strong sustainable finance background. Her experience in public and private sectors include risk management and compliance areas, internal and external audit, M&A, due diligence and controller´s office, with practice in Brazil and abroad. Viviane is a Ph.D. candidate focused on Sustainable Finance and the co-founder of BRASFI, a Brazilian Research Alliance on Sustainable Finance and Investment. Viviane is a member of the Research and Innovation Committee of the Brazil Green Finance Program (UK), Participant of the FiBraS Projet- Sustainable Brazilian Finance Project (Brazil-Germany Cooperation) and Member of the Innovation for Sustainability Chamber of the Salvador City Climate Change Panel (a R100 Resilient City and C40 City of the Climate Leadership Group). Above all, an enthusiast of process improvement practices and strategic decisions that lead to a more sustainable world.