Carsten Stendevad of Bridgewater tells Force for Good about how impact is rearchitecting investing by adding a third dimension to risk and return.

“We’re macro thinkers. We’ve spent forty years really thinking about how the economic machine works

… we have seen that themes pertaining to environmental issues, social issues are starting to affect the policymaker choices, investment flows, corporate decisions, consumer behaviors

… You’re not just looking at return and risk you now also want to evaluate along the third dimension of impact.

Carsten Stendevad
Co-CIO of Sustainability, Bridgewater Associates

Carsten speaks on:

• Bridgewater’s philosophy, strategy and vision for impact investing
• How impact investing fits within the firm’s investing model
• Personal motivations and courses of actions to make an impact
• Managing a shift in the architecture of an investing firm
• The compelling need to manage large scale change in the world

…and much more

Brief Profile:

Carsten Stendevad serves as the Co-CIO for Sustainability at Bridgewater, overseeing the firm’s overall sustainable investing efforts with both financial and sustainability impact objectives. He is a partner of the firm and also a member of the Operating Committee and co-chairs the firm’s Sustainable Investing Committee. Carsten is a Board Advisor to GIC and their sits on GIC’s Investment Strategies Committee. Prior to joining Bridgewater, Carsten served as the CEO of ATP, Denmark’s national pension plan, where he was responsible for all investment-related activities and chaired the Investment Committee. His career prior to that includes Investment Banking at Citi group, consulting at McKinsey, and working at the Central Bank of Denmark early in his career. Carsten served on the Global Steering Committee for the Blended Finance Taskforce, and on the Danish Committee for Corporate Governance, where he led the development of a Stewardship Code for institutional investors. Trained as an economist from the University of Copenhagen, he also holds a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Bridgewater Associates

Bridgewater Associates is a premier asset management firm, focused on delivering unique insight and partnership for the most sophisticated global institutional investors. Our investment process is driven by a tireless pursuit to understand how the world’s markets and economies work — using cutting edge technology to validate and execute on timeless and universal investment principles. Founded in 1975, we are a community of independent thinkers who share a commitment for excellence. By fostering a culture of openness, transparency, and inclusion, we strive to unlock the most complex questions in investment strategy, management, and corporate culture. See: https://www.bridgewater.com.

Force for Good is a for impact platform dedicated to influencing the development of capitalism for a secure, sustainable and superior future through the deployment of capital to solutions to address major issues and opportunities. The latest ‘Capital as a Force for Good’ report, published September 2022, was produced in Support of the UN Secretary General’s Strategy and Roadmap for Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For more information see: https://www.forcegood.org.