Systems Stewardship: managing evolving risk with Donna Lopata

Mar 30, 2026

Donna Lopata, senior manager at the Investor Group on Climate Change and systems stewardship expert. She explores shifting investor focus from single assets to system-wide risk, the gap between systems thinking and real action, and how procurement, incentives and regulation must change to attract long-term capital.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Returns Depend On System Health

System stewardship reframes investor risk: returns depend on the health of interconnected systems, not isolated companies.
Donna Lopata explains investors must support policy, clean tech and infrastructure because no single company can decarbonise the economy alone.

INSIGHT

From Buzzword To Practical Guide

The IGCC report aimed to move systems stewardship from a buzzword to practical guidance for investors.
Donna Lopata commissioned ISF research to clarify definitions and implementation steps for coordinated, system-wide action.

INSIGHT

Current Portfolios Won't Meet Paris Targets

Under current settings most Australian superannuation portfolios won't reach Paris-aligned net zero.
Donna Lopata's PhD research concluded system change or stronger incentives are required for funds to decarbonise at scale.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

In this episode we tackle the evolving challenges of managing infrastructure investment risk in a rapidly changing world.

As systemic threats like climate change, population growth and social inequality intensify, infrastructure funding models centred on individual assets, on clearly defined risks, and on relatively predictable climate conditions are reaching their limit.

In short, if we are to continue to attract private sector cash to underpin investment in our vital public assets, we need new thinking.

My guest today is doing that thinking and helping to take the necessary action.

Donna Lopata is senior manager for corporate engagement at the Sydney based Investor Group on Climate Change and has just been working with the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney on some ground-breaking research into Systems Stewardship, a radical new way for infrastructure investors to approach the management of risk in this changing world.

Donna’s work caught my attention at the recent Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit in Melbourne. In her presentation she pointed out that the Australian infrastructure investment industry is waking up to a stark reality: if the overarching economic and environmental systems fail, no individual portfolio is safe.

However, the IGCC’s report: Systems Stewardship: Managing Interconnected Climate Risks for Lasting Value suggest that a fundamental shift is already underway. Yet while some 85% of investment professionals now apply "systems thinking," a significant implementation gap remains, hampering the transition from high-level belief statements to concrete action.

Bridging this gap requires rethinking everything from procurement and carbon assessment to the very fundamental of assessing risk.

Resources