Sarah Barker

Sarah Barker is a Special Counsel at MinterEllison. She has two decades’ experience as a corporate lawyer, and is regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on investment governance issues relating to climate change, ESG (environmental, social, governance), and the SDG’s (UN Sustainable Development Goals).

Sarah’s leadership in climate risk adaptation and resilience is internationally recognised, and has been called upon by institutions from the Bank of England to the OECD, European Union and United Nations PRI. She sits on the Technical Working Group of the London-based Climate Disclosure Standards Board, teaches as part of the Australian and international faculty of Cambridge University’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership, and is an academic visitor at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University.  She has recently been appointed by Standards Australia as the Australian representative on the international Expert Committee of ISO14097, the International Standards Organisation’s draft Standard for Investment, Financing and Climate Change. Her clients include the boards of both proprietary and publicly-traded corporations, as well as regulatory and government entities in Australia and international markets. She has specific sectoral expertise in emergency management, banking and financial services, infrastructure, property development and real estate.

Sarah brings an overtly practical, governance-focused perspective to her advice from her own experience as a director and advisory board member.  She is currently a non-executive director of one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds, the $26-billion Emergency Services & State Super, and the Responsible Investment Association Australasia.  She has been actively involved as an examiner, lecturer and course materials author for the Australian Institute of Company Directors for more than a decade. She is known for her ability to communicate complex legal and economic concepts in a pragmatic way, to both lawyers and non-lawyers.

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: Climate change: why are financial markets getting involved?

Sarah Barker is one of the world’s leading experts on climate change risk governance.  She will provide a unique perspective on climate change-related risks through the lens of a corporate lawyer and institutional investor – and explain why some of the most important impacts for the disaster management sector are not scientific or physical, but financial and legal.