Steve Waygood

Steve is Chief Sustainable Finance Advisor at Aviva Investors in London. In this role he leads engagement with key multilateral institutions and organisations and is focused on unlocking and directing capital to enable a sustainable transition of the global economy. He is also strategic advisor to the investment business on policy engagement priorities with national governments and an advocate for the adoption of ‘macro stewardship’ across the investment industry value chain. Steve founded its Global Responsible Investment team as well as its Sustainable Finance Centre for Excellence. He also co-founded the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, the World Benchmarking Alliance, and the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative. Steve is member of the Board of Trustees for WWF-UK, where he started his career developing its own ethical and environmental investment policy.

Steve has worked with a range of financial, governmental, non-governmental and academic institutions on international sustainable finance issues since 1996. In 2024, he was listed among the 80 most influential people in European finance by Financial News. He has received awards from Brummell, the International Chamber of Commerce, the City of London, the United Nations Foundation, Yale and Harvard. He holds a PhD in sustainable finance. He is a Visiting Professor of Sustainable Finance at the University of Surrey (his alma mater); an Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of London’s Bayes Business School, University of London; and a Senior Associate at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

Steve has advised the UK Government, the European Commission, the G20, the Financial Stability Board, the OECD and the UN on the creation of sustainable capital markets. He has also spoken at 10 Downing Street, the World Economic Forum, Harvard Business School, Columbia University, the London School of Economics, as well as the stock exchanges of London, Paris, New York and Singapore.