Sustainable investing & AI: A conversation with Neil Brown
- Mar 20
- 4 min read
We are delighted to welcome Neil Brown to Impactive Tech’s Advisory Board.
Neil is what we would call a true sustainable investor. Over the course of his career, he has worked with some of the most pioneering sustainability teams in the industry, including Columbia Threadneedle Investments, Aviva Investors, and Liontrust Asset Management, most recently serving as Head of Equities at a leading asset manager.
In this conversation, Neil shares insights from his journey into sustainable investing, his views on stewardship best practice, and why AI - when used the right way - could transform the industry.
Q: Neil, could you tell us about your career journey and what led you to sustainable investing?
My interest in sustainability has been lifelong.
I grew up around development projects in different parts of the world and saw first-hand the tension between economic development, social impact, and environmental consequences. That sparked a deep interest in how we balance progress with responsibility.
I went on to study economic development, and my master’s focused on the design of financial systems - specifically, how we create systems that can identify and support companies delivering progress and unconstrained growth. In many ways, that’s just another way of describing sustainable growth.
From there, I moved into investment management and have been fortunate to work with some of the most forward-thinking sustainability teams in the industry, watching sustainable investing evolve from its early stages into what it is today.
Q: In your view, what defines “good” sustainable investing and stewardship?
Sustainable investing isn’t easy - but then, no aspect of investing is.
At its core, it requires holding two perspectives at once:
A long-term vision of where the world, industries, and human behaviour are heading.
A short-term execution framework - financial models, company meetings, engagement milestones - that reflects that vision today.
Success comes from integrating those two. It means identifying companies that are on the right side of long-term structural change, and nudging others closer to where long-term value will be created.
Equally important is credibility. Companies must see that you’ve done the work - that you understand what’s truly material to them. That credibility underpins meaningful stewardship.
Q: What does it take to build trust and influence with companies?
Preparation and cohesion.
Asset managers are complex organisations - different teams, different mandates, years of meeting history. To build influence, you need:
Clear internal records
Strong stewardship and governance expertise
Cohesive data across teams
Institutional memory that spans decades
All of that must be synthesised into focused, company-specific engagement.
Trust isn’t built on generic ESG checklists - it’s built on material insight.
Q: Where can the industry improve in stewardship and ESG integration?
We should be proud of how far the industry has come over the last 20-25 years.
But this is fundamentally an information business. We ingest data, look for signals, synthesise insights, and make decisions. Meanwhile, the broader world of information technology has evolved even faster than finance has.
Finance is rightly cautious and heavily regulated. But we now have an opportunity to:
Leverage better compute
Improve coordination
Build a stronger central spine of data
The industry has made progress - but we can go further.
Q: Why is a centralised “data spine” so important?
Asset managers create value in two ways:
Raising capital
Generating alpha for clients
The internal data created through stewardship - meeting notes, engagement milestones, company conversations - is incredibly valuable.
Public data will increasingly become commoditised. But proprietary insights from direct engagement? Those are gold dust.
In a world of accelerated compute and advanced AI, the value of:
Human meetings
Institutional knowledge
Internal debate
....will increase significantly.
The key challenge is ensuring that insight is shared effectively across teams rather than duplicated or lost.
Q: Let’s talk about AI. Where do you see it playing a role in sustainable investing and stewardship?
It’s important to acknowledge risks - but we must also talk about opportunities.
Sustainable investing is fundamentally about enabling economic development, longer and better lives, and a healthier planet. AI has enormous potential as a large-scale problem-solving technology.
I see two main dimensions:
1️⃣ Investment Opportunities
AI is already reshaping:
Healthcare innovation
Energy management
Climate modelling
Supply chain transparency
We can now incorporate satellite imagery into palm oil analysis, water testing into apparel supply chain oversight, and vastly richer datasets into decision-making.
2️⃣ Improving How We Invest
Equally important is how AI can enhance the investment process itself.
The real opportunity lies in human-centric augmentation - not replacing analysts, but enhancing them.
AI should:
Improve recall
Challenge assumptions
Increase analytical quality
Reduce friction in reporting
It should not turn humans into passive “checkers in a loop.”
Q: Can AI replace human judgment in stewardship?
No - and nor should it.
Stewardship is built on human connection. Corporate engagement requires influence, nuance, and trust.
The future isn’t two bots negotiating with each other. It’s human professionals supported by powerful tools that reduce administrative burden and elevate the quality of interaction.
The goal is not automation for its own sake - it’s better human performance.
Q: To close, what should investors keep doing, start doing, and stop doing?
✅ Keep Doing
Maintain a long-term thematic focus.
There will be backlashes. There will be cycles when sustainability themes outperform and others when they don’t. But the structural direction of travel - towards better lives and a better planet - remains.
Keep evolving, innovating, and learning from missteps within that long-term framework.
🚀 Start Doing
Experiment.,Experiment with AI. Experiment with accelerated compute. Explore what these tools can do for your role.
Often, the most meaningful innovation starts with individuals experimenting at home and then bringing more sophisticated enterprise solutions into the workplace.
⛔ Stop Doing
Stop experimenting in ways that make you worse.
Don’t offload your judgment entirely to machines. Humans are not particularly good at passive checking.
Instead:
Use AI to challenge you
Test your recall
Strengthen your reasoning
Enhance creativity
The path forward is augmentation - not abdication.
Looking Ahead
Neil’s perspective combines decades of sustainable investment experience with a forward-looking belief in human-centric technology.
We are thrilled to welcome him to Impactive Tech’s Advisory Board and look forward to working together to shape the next evolution of stewardship - where long-term thinking, high-quality engagement, and intelligent technology come together to create better outcomes for investors and society alike.
