Sustainable Finance and ESG Major

Experienced high-level manager in the financial sector, mostly in the areas of capital markets, mutual funds, and asset management. Member of  CFA Institute since 2009, since 2012 CFA Charterholder. Licensed investment advisor (nr 819). Since 2022  holding the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing.

In the years 2007 -2013 worked for HSBC Global Asset Management developing the distribution of global mutual funds of HSBC in Poland Since 2013 r. has been working as a Board Member of Millennium TFI S.A. supervising areas of asset management, sales, marketing, communication, and being responsible for strategic projects of the TFI.

He is responsible for investments at mBank as Chief Investment Officer. His work focuses on asset allocation in both asset management and investment advisory. He is also Vice President of CFA Society Poland for Asset Management and Investment Advisory.

Prior to that, he worked for almost 10 years in London, including as Chief Emerging Markets Strategist at BNP Paribas and as a portfolio manager at global macro hedge fund Finisterre Capital. Bartek began his career as an economist at ING Bank Slaski. He graduated from the Warsaw School of Economics and holds the prestigious title of CFA.

Executive Director | UN Global Compact Network Poland

A UN employee from 2002. Between 2002 and 2009, he was responsible at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for, among others, international and multilateral cooperation as well as programme development in Europe in Asia. Between 2009 and 2014, Head of Office at UNDP in Poland. Between 2004 and 2021, National Representative and President of the Board at UN Global Compact Network Poland – UN GCNP (a UN network coordinating cooperation on behalf of United Nations Global Compact with businesses, cities, universities, public administration, and non-governmental organizations; more at: ungc.org.pl). From 2021, National Representative and Executive Director at UN GCNP. From 2011, Director of Know-How Hub.
Lecturer at, among others: Central European University, SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Kozminski University (ALK), Collegium Civitas, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Cracow University of Economics, the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Polish Institute of Diplomacy (PID) to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the University of Warsaw.

Expert in UN and EU policies, especially at the crossroad of business, administration, and science, and inclusion of private sector in the implementation of UN goals, policies, and standards. Specialist dealing with development cooperation, multilateral cooperation, and know-how hub. As a UN employee, he handles economic diplomacy, climate change, social and economic innovations, social economy, and designing development milestones and megatrends in business, in particular in response to climate change and adaptation to it. A lawyer specialized in international law. A graduate of the prestigious United Nations Development Programme Academy (UNDP VDA).

Between 2003 and 2006, a member of the Strategy Group to the UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director for Europe and CIS. From 2009 to 2012, a member of the Board of Strategic Advisers to the Prime Minister of Poland. As a member of the Board of Strategic Advisers to the Prime Minister, he co-authored the Long-term National Development Strategy 2030 and coordinated the Human Capital Development Strategy until 2020. From 2014, he sits on the Council of Experts of the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) for economic and social innovations. From 2016, a member of Innovation Team to the Ministry of Development. From 2018, an adviser to the Minister of Investment and Economic Development. From 2019, an expert to the Senate of the Republic of Poland for international affairs, development aid, and climate policies. From 2019, an adviser to the Minister of Development Funds and Regional Policy.

On 15 November 2019, he was appointed as the first Polish Minister of the newly established Ministry of Climate. On 6 October 2020 his portfolio was enlarged, so it became Ministry of Climate and Environment. During his tenure Polish government adopted, for the first time since 2009, a new 2040 Energy Policy, opening a new era of Polish energy transition. He designed the implementation and financing of the energy transition, particularly in launching programmes such as “My Water”, “Green Public Transport”, “Green Cars” and “The City of Tomorrow”. During his tenure Poland registered record increases in development of renewable sources, reaching 10 thousands megawatts of installed capacity in photovoltaics and 1 million prosumers. He launched successfully industrial alliances for hydrogen, photovoltaics, biogas and put a compete framework for he development of offshore wind. He is the author of the government programme for electromobility development in Poland, which was described for the first time as a concept in the book written in 2013–2015, together with Professor Leszek Jesień, New Electricity and New Cars. He was the originator of “The Electromobility Development Plan”, and thereafter he guided the creation of the Act on Electromobility and Alternative Fuels, thanks to which these forms of transport will be able to develop dynamically.

Michał Kurtyka is a graduate of the prestigious Parisian École Polytechnique and a scholarship holder in the field of quantum optics of the National Institute of Standards and Technologies, located near Washington, D.C., where he worked under the leadership of Nobel laureate in physics William D. Phillips. During the course of his studies, he also specialised in economics, with particular focus on industrial and market organisation, studying under Professor Jean Tirole, the 2014 Nobel laureate in economics. In the field of international economics, he studied at the University in Louvain-la-Neuve and he acquired his master’s degree at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics. He defended his doctoral dissertation at the University of Warsaw. He was a lecturer in the field of change management, economics, market organization and industrial strategy at the University of Warsaw, the Collegium Civitas and the Oxford Programme On Modern Poland. He is a co-author of the concept of implementation of effective changes in an enterprise, described in the book Change Management. From Strategy to Action, as well as the author of the book From Restructuring to Modernisation. Delayed Transformation of the Polish Power Sector in 1990–2009.

Starting 1 January 2016, Michał Kurtyka served as the Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Energy, where he was responsible for the technological development and implementation of innovations in the energy sector, implementation of climate and energy policy in the fuel and gas sector, conducting international relations with countries and international organisations. He was also responsible for supervision of the state’s participation in the biggest Polish energy companies in the oil and gas industry, such as Orlen, Lotos and PGNiG.

On 27 April 2018, he was appointed as Government Plenipotentiary for the Presidency of COP24 – the United Nations Climate Summit in Poland. From July 2018, he held also the position of the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Environment. On 2 December 2018, he became the COP24 President, which ended with a great success enabling the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement. At the 24th UN climate summit, the international community agreed on the Katowice Rulebook, but also three important political declarations received major support – on the Solidarity and Just Transition, Electromobilty and Forest Protection.

Michał Kurtyka held successfully various roles in most influential international organizations. Under his Chairmanship of the Ministerial of the International Energy Agency in 2019 in Paris the Organization unanimously adopted, for first time in ten years, an IEA Ministerial Communiqué. He served as Chairman of the 42nd session of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United

Nations held in Rome in 2021 and as Co-chairman, together with US Secretary of the Department of Energy, of the Partnership of Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation in Warsaw 2021.

Michał Kurtyka began his professional career in Polish public administration, in the Office of the Committee for European Integration, in the team responsible for conducting accession negotiations with the European Union – where he led the analytical team and was directly responsible for the field of energy and transport. Later, he oversaw the modernisation of many Polish companies by supporting them in adapting to the challenges of the European and global markets. He was a promoter of European cooperation in the area of industrial change and adjustment of the European industry to the challenges of globalisation at, among others, the European University of Labour and the Dublin Foundation. With his passion for science and technological progress he also helped establish a number of innovative start-ups leapfrogging from the current model to cleaner and more efficient energy system.

Piotr Dmuchowski is a graduate of International Finance from the Warsaw School of Economics and a graduate of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh with the title First Class Master of Arts with honours. He also completed postgraduate studies at the University of Cambridge in Sustainable Management and a postgraduate course at the University of Oxford in private market investments.
Piotr has gained his professional financial market experience mostly at HSBC Poland, where he worked in various positions in the Global Markets division from 2008 to 2022. During 2020-2022, he served as Treasurer of HSBC Poland and coordinated the ESG product offering in the Central and Eastern Europe region as well as in developing countries in the European time zone. Throughout his career at the bank, he was involved in the execution of many significant transactions, including, most notably, pioneering bond issues of Poland in China (Panda bond) and Green (the first ever Green bonds issued by the State).

Since 2022, Piotr Dmuchowski has been a Board Member of TFI PZU in the role of CIO, where he is responsible for investment activities. This includes both the PZU Group's own portfolios and external funds, as well as pension programs and a wide range of asset classes, including real estate, alternative investments, and stocks and bonds. Piotr also deals with the development of investment methodologies and processes and new sustainable investment funds.

Piotr Dmuchowski is also a co-author of scientific publications in the field of Sustainable Finance published in peer-reviewed scientific journals (impact factor>9) and the author of numerous speeches and publications in industry journals and media on this subject.

Partner and Head of ESG at Abris Capital Partners. Member of the ESG Committee Invest Europe. Previously, worked at EY in the Forensic & Integrity Department and was a member of the Climate Change and Sustainability Services Team.  Robert was a member of the CSR Advisory Board to the Polish Prime Minister, and Chairman of the Working Group on Responsible Investment. He was also Head of the Working Group on business ethics within the Team for Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility in the Ministry of Development.

He is the author and co-author of numerous reports dedicated to ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), which can be downloaded from www.robertsroka.pl, and the books "Undiscovered Leaders of Contemporary Business Ethics" and "Ethics and Human Rights in Business".

Robert was named the private equity industry’s ESG Professional of the Year 2022 by the Drawdown magazine.

Sector Lead and Senior Environmental Specialist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). At the Bank, he is responsible for due diligence and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) risk analysis of energy, industrial, and infrastructure projects in the Bank's operating countries. Robert is an expert of the European Platform for Sustainable Development (EU Platform for Sustainable Finance - platform 1.0 and 2.0 - ongoing), developing the European Taxonomy, and an expert in the working group on biodiversity reporting within financial reports in 2021-22 (TNFD - Task Force for Nature-related Financial Disclosure). Robert has worked on ESG reporting guidelines in collaboration with the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW), as well as the Bucharest Stock Exchange for the Prague Stock Exchange and working on update of the GPW ESG Guidelines in 2023. Robert is an EFRAG (European Financial Reporting Advisory Group) expert on reporting standards under the CSRD directive (cohort 4 including pollution and emissions, as well as biodiversity).

Until 2004, Robert was the Director of the Environmental Protection Department at WS Atkins Poland (Atkins), a department he founded in 1997. Robert graduated from King's College London and Imperial College London and has been working since 1993. In his professional career, he participated in several hundred environmental audits and analyses, including environmental impact assessments on behalf of industry investors, financial institutions, the Treasury, and international financial institutions. He has expertise in E&S risk mangement. Robert is a lead auditor of IEMA (Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment) and an environmental assessor and member of RICS Europe (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors). Robert specializes in the implementation of European Union requirements, including the requirements of the IED Directive and conducting Environmental Impact Assessments of investments in terms of the requirements of international financial institutions as well as EU Directives. He was chair of the EBRd staff council (works council equivalent) for 8 years.