Ray Dhirani: Stewarding the Planet through Sustainable Finance
Ray Dhirani. Photo credit: Ray Dhirani
Who are you?
I am a sustainable finance professional living just outside of London, England, but also a father of two great children, Nicolas and Cordelia, and am striving to make their world a more secure place. In fact, future generations are counting on all of us now to take meaningful action.
What was your journey like?
I grew up in Canada and then went to university in the U.S., and was always interested in economics and finance. I went into banking and markets as a way to pursue that further. I was enjoying it, then I got to a point when I started to want more meaning in my work, and became very interested in the environment. I didn’t have any formal background or real understanding of the issues. That's when I left banking and came to the UK for my Masters program. We were only planning to come for one year to study. Now it’s been 11 years!
I found a job at WWF, which was looking for someone with the ability to engage with the finance sector. I think with my Masters and my professional background, it made sense. I’ve now been at WWF now for 9 years.
With Silverback Films, you recently helped develop Our Planet: Too Big to Fail - a film based on the Our Planet series on Netflix, which is incredible in terms of being a succinct and visually striking summary about responsible investment and there are some pretty heavy hitting sustainable investment folks in it…. Mark Carney, Tavaziva Madzinga, Steve Waygood, Kate Raworth, Hiro Mizuno. What was the most exciting or rewarding part of it? How did it come together?
Our Planet was a hugely ambitious, global impact project built around the eight-part Netflix original documentary series, which has now been viewed by over 100 million households. Our goal at WWF was to ‘mainstream green’, with a target to engage over half a billion people around the world over the course of five years, beyond viewers of the series itself. We knew that in order to inspire action and a sense of urgency to protect the planet, we needed to reach the highest levels of global decision making – and identified business and finance as major players in both the destruction of nature but also the potential to be a powerful force for change.
We created “Our Planet: Our Business” as an industry film and soon after, the finance sector started to ask, “What does that mean for us? Can you make something bespoke for the finance sector?” It wasn’t long before we had secured involvement from some of the most respected names and forward-thinkers in finance. We filmed some of it before the pandemic. I remember sitting in my makeshift home office on a Friday afternoon and getting an email saying that the Swiss Re UK CEO [at the time], Tavaziva Madzinga, was not going to be able to participate because of COVID and difficulties filming in South Africa, where he was temporarily based. We really wanted his view as when we had spoken to him on the phone he had expressed such a unique perspective as a reinsurer on the issues. Tavaziva has different ideas and brings a helpful development perspective as well. We managed to convince him that we could do this all remotely from the comfort of his own home. I’m so glad we figured out a way when it looked as if it wouldn’t be possible.
Diversity was also key for us when creating the film. We wanted to capture the views of people from a wide range of backgrounds and nationalities who could speak to all areas of the finance sector. As a result, this film has been globally resonant.
Ray worked with Silverback Films to create Our Planet: Too Big to Fail for WWF and Netflix. Source: WWF International via Youtube.
Why do you think diversity and sustainability is important?
Before the pandemic, I was in a boardroom meeting in London, discussing a global interconnected issue of some significance. There were about 30 people sat around the table, and at some point it just hit me: I was the only person of colour at the table. We were not discussing a localised issue; we were discussing a global issue that affects people in countries around the world. Yet, the people making the input and decisions did not represent that. I started to think about, "Well, actually, how would the conversation shift and where would the focus be and what other solutions would we be coming up with if that was more represented?"
There's still a lot of work to do. Diversity is important in general, but particularly so when you're designing and talking about global issues. I've considered diversity in my team because it helps with the outcomes and diversity of thinking. We need people from a greater range of backgrounds in the world of sustainability and that is an issue we're beginning to collectively address now.
For a more sustainable world, it's going to help to have more diverse voices around the table, not only of colour, but diversity in all forms. Over the last few years, since Tanya Steele came into WWF UK as CEO, we've seen a positive shift in diversity within the organisation, particularly with more women in leadership roles. This is great and now beginning to expand in terms of diversity, which is encouraging to see.
It's amazing to see this shift and highly welcome – it's not only the right thing, but I think it will make a better conservation and climate impact as well. But someone has to focus on it beyond just having a meeting here or there. It's actually saying, "We need to change the way we recruit and the way we engage."
Do you have a mentor?
Yes, my previous manager who has since left WWF. She came from the finance sector, so that was helpful because she knew where I was coming from and it's quite a difference in culture. The main things I have learned from her are on the people side - I was lucky to be managed by her, as she was such an amazing people manager and leader. It's doing the simple stuff right.
She never forgot about the importance of the whole person. She would always ensure that what's important to you in your life outside of work took priority and needed to be maintained regardless of what's happening at work. As a testament to that, we keep in touch now and we spoke just the other day. I'll always reach out to her and she's very willing to talk.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in the sector?
This is definitely an exciting time, and there are a myriad of different job opportunities in this sector. Sustainability is here to stay. It's the only way business and society and all of us can function. If you want a meaningful and dynamic career, there's no better time for sustainability.
If you are passionate about the environment and sustainability, follow that passion and drive because that's more important than the money or the other perks that wear out, in terms of keeping you personally and professionally motivated. Don’t be afraid to carve your own path and try something new.
What have you been most proud of while at WWF?
The big change stuff doesn't happen that often, so it's an exercise in patience. But when we campaigned for World Heritage Sites and trying to get SOCO International to end its oil exploration in and around Virunga National Park, we saw some tangible success. There was a big finance sector engagement piece behind it, then SOCO committed to never enter World Heritage Sites in future and wrote off their investment in Virunga.
We learned a lot and through that, began to engage the OECD and do some great policy work, which got picked up by investors.
Another proud moment was in 2015, ahead of the Paris Agreement, when we worked with global pension funds and Mercer consultants to publish a seminal report which said that investing for less than two degrees was not going to be damaging to long-term investment portfolios.
That was a key message in advance of the Paris Agreement to get politicians to be bold and ambitious and actually have the backing of industry. I mean, these things take a year or two or more to come to fruition and sometimes they don't. We have to keep focusing on where we can have the biggest impact and where we can tip the system because this system cannot continue the way it is now.
“Over the years, there have definitely been a few times where we’ve had pause for a moment of celebration and hard work that’s gone well. In the NGO space, you really do have to celebrate those because some of the time it can feel as if you’re banging your head against the wall and trying to change capitalism in a way. It’s difficult, and you can feel like an ant crawling up a mountain without those wins.”
What quotes/advice do you most live by?
Don’t be afraid to carve your own path. When I left banking to do a Masters degree, most people probably thought I was crazy, and maybe they still do. There was that element of not knowing where my path would take me. Now, in retrospect, my career path makes sense – it's about following your passion and your curiosity, and not being afraid to go against the grain.
If you're doing something different, maybe you're doing something right, or right for you. It's hard to have confidence with that because I think we're relative creatures. If we see everyone doing one thing and we're off doing something different, it makes us feel isolated. It's much easier to follow the herd.
I feel like the worlds of finance and sustainability are beginning to come together, albeit not at exactly the pace of change and scale that we need. But it is coming together and that is a really good sign.
Another piece of advice is guarding what you think is important because no one else is going to guard it for you. The only person who knows what really makes you happy and fulfilled is yourself. You've got to show people what's important to you and live your life that way, professionally and personally. If people don't like it, well, you're probably at the wrong place.
In most cases, it's about being honest with what you want and what makes you tick and what you can do. People appreciate that. Don't be scared of asking for what it is that you need, or just working the way you want to work. I think people are a lot more accepting of that now, especially if you're achieving the results. In fact, if you're happier, then you're likely to produce better results anyway.
Ray is focused on making the world a more secure place for Nico and Cordelia. Photo credit: Ray Dhirani
Are there any other issues in sustainability that you're really excited about?
I’m excited about the whole revolution around food. The notion of alternative proteins and questioning if conventional meat production is a ‘stranded asset’. In a way, it’s where the energy system was 5 or 10 years ago. We know that food is the biggest cause of biodiversity loss and we know we have a growing world population and need to feed everyone. It's a huge challenge, and it's exciting because it’s tangible for people – everyone needs to eat!
If we don't tackle our global food system, then we'll likely lose on climate change because of the greenhouse gas emissions created as a result of deforestation and other ecosystem destruction.
Nowadays, progressive companies come out of nowhere and become gigantic and capture the imagination of the finance market. The technology and the revolution happening outside means you're getting brand new companies springing out of almost nowhere, like Tesla did, that then could completely change the game. We are starting to see similar things on the food side. The reason it's interesting is that now the pace of change is so fast in the way markets can be upended and hopefully that can be harnessed for real solutions to the climate and nature crisis.