Engagement for Net Zero: Lessons from the RIAA Conference

At the 2025 RIAA Conference, the Engagement for Net Zero panel brought together voices from across the investment and corporate landscape to explore how effective engagement can accelerate decarbonisation.

Moderated by Arti Prasad (Mercer), the discussion featured Andrea Marshall (Auckland Airport), Pablo Berutti (Stewart Investors), and Teahooterangi Pihama (Aotearoa New Zealand Stewardship Code Governance Committee). Together, they unpacked what meaningful engagement looks like in practice - and how investors and companies can work together to deliver real progress toward net zero.

Informed engagement creates impact

Andrea emphasised that generic investor questions only generate generic responses. When investors arrive informed about a company’s context, challenges and opportunities, conversations become constructive and actionable. For Auckland Airport, this has meant deeper relationships with investors, greater leverage for internal change, and faster movement on decarbonisation goals.

Collaboration builds momentum

The NZ Climate Change Collaborative Engagement, facilitated by IGCC and the Stewardship Code, was recognised as a model for how coordination can replace fragmentation. By providing companies with consistent, prioritised asks, it allows for more focused discussions, clearer expectations, and a shared sense of progress.

Shared risk, shared benefit

Decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors like aviation will require collaboration across the value chain. Andrea noted that corporates, investors and policymakers need to share both the costs and benefits of innovation - particularly as technologies like sustainable aviation fuel come to market.

Leadership and accountability

Pablo highlighted that effective stewardship depends on people and leadership. Understanding whether a company is both willing and able to change is central to long-term investment decisions. Where change is resisted, investors must decide how far they are prepared to go - from escalation to collaboration or, in some cases, divestment.

Grounding engagement in Te Ao Māori

Teahooterangi offered a uniquely Aotearoa perspective, introducing tea-towel tanga - a metaphor for relational leadership where those in governance roles roll up their sleeves (and even dry the dishes with a tea-towel) alongside their communities. Māori investment structures, built on intergenerational responsibility, were presented as a model for aligning commercial returns with social and environmental outcomes.

The takeaway

Across all perspectives, the message was clear: engagement is not a tick-box exercise. Done well, it is relational, informed, and grounded in trust - a powerful lever for delivering meaningful progress toward net zero.