Federated Hermes' Blueprint for Biodiversity Investing and Quantifying Positive Impact Outcomes | Ingrid Kukuljan, Head of Impact & Sustainable Investing (#048)

SRI360 | Socially Responsible Investing, ESG, Impact Investing, Sustainable Investing

Biodiversity is essential for the survival of humankind, yet we threaten it every day as a society.
But what’s most concerning is how it’s vastly overlooked by companies in the investment space, not realizing how their future returns depend on having healthy ecosystems.
To help shift this narrative is my guest Ingrid Kukuljan, Head of Impact and Sustainable Investing at Federated Hermes. Ingrid’s journey begins in Croatia, where her childhood experiences with nature laid the foundation for her future career. She started as an equity research analyst at Lazard, where she quickly made her mark and earned a spot in Citywire’s first-ever global compilation of the 1,000 top fund managers in the world.
With a career trajectory that spans several significant roles, she’s now at Federated Hermes, a multi-strategy US/UK-based asset manager with $770 billion in AUM and $1.8 trillion under stewardship advisory.
There, Ingrid is responsible for developing and leading their impact and sustainable investing franchise, overseeing products, strategies, and thought leadership primarily within the public markets.
She explains how Federated Hermes integrates impact across all investment portfolios using proprietary data tools, ensuring sustainability is embedded in every aspect of their operations across multiple asset classes. We also talk about their biodiversity champions, transition investments, their proprietary data tools, stewardship and engagement work, and their Biodiversity Equity Fund.
Join this conversation to learn about how Federated Hermes is leading the charge in biodiversity investing and beyond.
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About the SRI 360° Podcast: The SRI 360° Podcast is focused exclusively on sustainable & responsible investing. In each episode, I interview a world-class investor and cover everything from their early personal journeys to insights into how they developed and executed their investment strategies and what challenges they face today. Each episode is a chance to go way below the surface with these impressive people and gain additional insights and useful lessons from professional investors.
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Key Takeaways

Introducing Ingrid Kukuljan and her early connection to nature (00:00)
Ingrid’s start at Lazard & other career moves (11:28)
Ingrid delivers an overview on Federated Hermes (17:36)
The theory of change at Federated Hermes & investing on the secondary market (26:33)
Ingrid’s take on integrating sustainability and impact in investment analysis (30:04)
Investment process, KPIs, and generating impact across various asset classes (36:23)
A peek into Federated Hermes’ proprietary data tools (47:12)
The role of stewardship for achieved targeted outcomes & divestment (52:40)
The Biodiversity Equity Fund at Federated Hermes & biodiversity credits (58:00)
Rapid fire questions (01:03:59)
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Additional Resources

Learn more about Federated Hermes.
Connect on LinkedIn or X.
Connect with Ingrid on LinkedIn.