Harald Walkate

Harald has almost three decades of experience in corporate strategy, M&A, sustainable finance and blended finance. 

He is a Founding Partner of Route17, an independent advisory firm focused on working with asset owners, banks, and multilaterial organizations on SDG funding, climate finance, natural capital and blended finance. Over the past few years, he has provided advice to pension funds, insurance companies, multilateral development organizations, asset management firms and corporations, and a global consulting firm, on makers including climate finance and climate risk, blended finance, ESG integration, engagement and impact investment. 

Harald is academically engaged as a Senior Fellow at the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth (CSP) at the University of Zurich. In this capacity he has conducted numerous workshops and training programs for practitioners on sustainable finance and blended finance, and written a large number of articles, many of them co-authored with some of the leading academic voices on sustainable finance, with a view to bridging the gap between academia and practitioners. Many of these articles were published by illuminem, where he is the most-read author in ESG. 

Prior to founding Route17, Harald was the Head of Responsible Investment (ESG) and member of the Executive Committee at Natixis Investment Managers. Before this, he worked for Aegon for fifteen years in different capacities, lastly as Global Head of Responsible Investment at Aegon Asset Management. Harald started his career as corporate attorney at Allen & Overy in the New York and Amsterdam offices. 

Harald has a number of advisory roles, including member of the ESG Advisory Committee of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA); external advisor on sustainable finance to EY The Netherlands; chair of the investment committee of the impact fund range at Triodos Investment Managers; and advisor to the Canopy Catalyst Fund (Vedra Partners). He was also an advisor to the Impact Management Project for several years. 

Harald holds degrees from Leiden University in the Netherlands (law) and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (MBA). 

Harald lives in Amsterdam with his wife and three children. In what little free time remains, Harald is active as a jazz pianist – he has released six albums that have received positive reviews from around the world and that have generated nearly 2 million streams on Spotify.