Nuveen – Naomi Hoffman – 2025

Summary

Naomi advanced Nuveen’s climate strategy by operationalizing a firm-wide framework to measure, classify, and scale investments in climate solutions.

Goals

Nuveen, a leading global investment manager, sought to better quantify its significant level of investment in climate mitigation and adaptation solutions (‘climate solutions’) across both public and private markets. Naomi was brought in to develop and implement a robust, scalable methodology for assessing climate solutions investments. The core objective was to give Nuveen the transparency to accurately track and manage climate-related capital flows, ultimately enabling the firm to identify, prioritize, and scale investments in these areas.

Solutions

Working closely with Nuveen’s Responsible Investing team and sustainability professionals across the firm, Naomi led the adaptation and rollout of a climate solutions investment framework based on Nuveen’s prior collaboration with the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN). She tailored the methodology to the nuances of various asset classes and investment strategies, blending quantitative metrics with structured qualitative analysis. Naomi developed clear, asset-class specific criteria for evaluating climate alignment, and instituted systematic data collection on climate solutions exposure across the portfolio. By meticulously documenting each step and establishing firm-wide guidelines, she ensured the adoption of a transparent, replicable process that will drive continuous improvement year after year.

Potential Impact

By establishing Nuveen’s first comprehensive climate solutions inventory, the firm is well-positioned to go beyond ‘paper decarbonization’ and clearly demonstrate how its investments positively contribute to climate mitigation and adaptation. The inventory captures meaningful contributions that traditional carbon metrics often overlook, and provides a consistent, credible baseline for tracking climate solutions exposure across all asset classes. This strong foundation empowers Nuveen to strengthen its disclosures, support clients’ climate targets, and strategically scale capital toward the most impactful investments in the global transition to a low-carbon economy.