Dharisha Mirando

Finance Engagement & Water Risk Valuation Lead, CWR

Dharisha hails from the finance industry and joined CWR as she believes that climate and water factors are downplayed by the sector. At CWR she leads high impact research and engagement with the financial industry. Recently, she led the research and writing of a 5-report series on coastal threats titled “Waterproofing APAC to Avoid Atlantis”. Here, she developed an index which benchmarks 20 APAC cities against physical coastal threats and government adaptation action as well as how the cities perform compared to their GDP at risk. This 5-report series is now used by banks to stress test their loan books against chronic risks as well as institutional investors to engage with corporates to accelerate decarbonisation & step-up adaptation against climate risks. These reports are on the recommended reading list of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) Framework for water-related disclosures. Moreover, valuation methods highlighted in the report series are now enshrined in a chapter titled “How to assess coastal threats” in a Palgrave Macmillan textbook on “Water Risk and Its Impact on the Financial Markets and Our Society” further extending the outreach to future generations of climate-finance leaders.

Dharisha has provided technical guidance to the TCFD Knowledge Hub on water & financial risks and is a recurrent commentator on TV with Bloomberg Markets Asia on coastal threats in APAC & climate risks in the Greater Bay Area. She is a member of the Practitioner’s Advisory Group for the Science Based Target Network (SBTN) Freshwater Hub which aims to develop and define practical targets for companies, investors, and cities to reduce their impact and risks from water. Besides proprietary reports for CWR, she has also collaborated to produce joint publications on water & climate risk impact to the financial sector with Manulife Asset Management, the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC) and CLSA.

Dharisha engages deeply with the financial sector through one-on-ones, closed-door forums and conferences including the ACGA Annual conference, CLSA Annual Investor Forum, RI Japan, AIGCC Annual Roundtable event at the Milken Conference, Asia Nat CAT & Climate Change Conference, Credit Suisse ESG Day and TBLI Conference Asia.

Prior to joining CWR, Dharisha worked in the investment team of a long-only public equities fund. She has also worked in the impact investment space in London and Singapore, where she provided technical assistance to social enterprises, helped them raise equity investments, and managed a debt portfolio.

 

Selected research publications:

• TCFD Knowledge Hub (2021)
  Invited to input into the water e-learning course

• Palgrave Macmillan “Water Risk and Its Impact on the Financial Markets and Our Society” (2021)
  Co-authored chapter titled “How to assess coastal threats” for the textbook

• CWR Coastal Capital Threat Series (2020)

  Led the research & development of the 5-reports series & was the lead author of four of the five reports:

  • Waterproofing APAC To Avoid Atlantis – Executive Summary & Next Steps
  • Avoiding Atlantis: CWR APACCT 20 Index – Benchmarking coastal threats for 20APAC cities with finance sector input
  • The CWR APACCT 20 Index City Factsheets – At-a-glance coastal threat assessment for 20 APAC cities
  • Sovereigns at Risk – APAC Capital Threats – Re-ratings warranted as city capitals & GDP are materially exposed to coastal threats
• CWR-CLSA report “Thirsty and underwater – Rising risks in the Greater Bay Area” (2019)
  Co-author

• CWR - Manulife Asset Management - Asia Investor Group on Climate Change report “Are Asia’s Pension Funds Ready For Climate Change?” (2019)
  Lead author

Selected events:

• AIGCC members meeting (2021)
  Presented on findings from CWR Coastal Capital Threat Series

• IGCC members meeting (2021)
  Presented on CWR Coastal Capital Threat Series, specifically related to Australia and New Zealand

• Airport Council International (ACI) APAC Adaptation Working Group meeting
  Presented on CWR Coastal Capital Threat Series, specifically related to APAC airports

• The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce – Environment & Sustainability Committee meeting
  Presented on CWR Coastal Capital Threat Series, specifically related to Australia and New Zealand

• ICMA panels x 2 (2021)
  Consecutive follow-on panels on what net-zero means for finance in APAC

• Bloomberg Markets Asia (2019 & 2021)
  Interviewed on CWR-CLSA report findings and CWR Coastal Capital Threat Series report findings

• Credit Suisse ESG Day (2020)
  Panel discussion on risks and opportunities from water scarcity in Asia Pacific

• ACGA Virtual Conference (2020)
  Speaker’s Corner on wishlist for reform in Sustainability in Asia

• 26th CLSA HK Investor Forum (2019)
  Presentation to launch report “Thirsty and underwater: Rising risks in the Greater Bay Area” guest authored for CLSA U®

• Asia Nat CAT & Climate Change Conference (2019)
  Presentation on “Liquidity Crises - The Real Risks in Climate Change” and on two panels: “Building Business Resilience to Climate Change” and “Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Integration Challenges”

• Responsible Investor Japan (2019)
  Panel on “Impacts of Global Climate Change on Business” with fellow panellists from FTSE Russel, the Ministry of Environment in Japan and The Head of Economics at SOAS. Launched joint CWR / Manulife Asset Management / AIGCC report “Are Asia’s Pension Funds ready for Climate Change?”

• Hong Kong Green Finance Association Seminar (2019)
  Hong Kong launch for the joint CWR / Manulife Asset Management / AIGCC report “Are Asia’s Pension Funds ready for Climate Change?”