Green moves: JPMorgan, T. Rowe Price

Airtrunk lands a renewables specialist, JPMorgan hires from Amazon, and T. Rowe Price promotes an impact executive.

Robert Bartrop has returned to Sydney to lead the social impact and community strategy at AirTrunk, the Asia Pacific technology company that aims to scale and sustain the region's digital future.

Bartrop has spent many years working in the renewable energy sector.

As chief revenue officer at SOURCE Global, he oversaw innovative solutions for clean water access, leveraging his background in alternative energy and sustainable practices.

During his eight years there, he held various leadership roles across several regions, including US and Asia.

Before that he drove business growth at First Solar, US-headquartered company among the world's largest solar manufacturers.

Meantime, JPMorgan Chase has appointed Genevieve Ding as executive director and head of APAC sustainability.

Based in Singapore, her role will involve promoting the US lender's position on climate and energy in the region.

The banking giant was recently in the spotlight for being among several lenders to exit the Net Zero Banking Alliance.

Ding leads carbon credits and nature-based solutions in APAC for Amazon's Worldwide Sustainability team. She brings over 15 years of expertise in carbon markets, climate finance, and sustainability strategy.

Previously, she served as head of economic strategy at Singapore's Ministry of Finance, where she represented Singapore in international climate finance negotiations and spearheaded the development of the nation's mitigation targets, resilience planning, and energy innovation initiatives.

She served in the Singapore Foreign Service as a diplomat in Beijing, overseeing China's economy and trade policies, before taking up the role at the city-state's finance ministry.

Currently, Ding serves on the International Advisory Boards of Climate Impact X and the International Blue Carbon Institute.

Moreover, she is an advocate for social and women's issues as founding Chapter Leader for Lean In Singapore and as a grassroots leader in the community and schools.

The sustainability specialist said unlocking climate finance can support the energy transition and scale essential energy and climate technologies.

"I hope to contribute to the firm's work to support energy security and a low-carbon future by providing capital and climate expertise to meet demand and create opportunities for our clients in APAC and beyond," she added.

And, global asset manager T. Rowe Price has named a head of impact fixed income, promoting Matt Lawton to the newly created role.

Lawton, who manages the Global Impact Credit Strategy and the Global Impact Short Duration Bond Strategy, takes on the newly created role to provide unified leadership and strategic direction for the impact fixed income investment team.

The new lead will continue managing the two funds but will also oversee the impact fixed income separate account business.

Joining T. Rowe Price 16 years ago, Lawton's background is in impact investing and portfolio management.

T. Rowe Price Australia country Darren Hall said: "Matt's leadership will facilitate a cohesive approach in extending our impact fixed income expertise and strengthening our strategic engagement with clients in Australia, thereby enhancing our support for their sustainable investing goals."

Head of emerging markets Samy Muaddi said Lawton's proven investment track record and commitment to expanding the firm's impact fixed income capabilities make him perfectly suited for this role.

"He'll be working in close collaboration with Willem Visser, sector portfolio manager for emerging markets and impact fixed income, and more broadly with our responsible investing, impact equity, and fixed income research teams," Muaddi added.

Four years ago, T. Rowe Price expanded its impact range and launched its first impact credit strategy, the Global Impact Credit Strategy.  Last year, it introduced the Global Impact Short Duration Bond Strategy.

The asset manager said that, together, these strategies aim for both benchmark outperformance and measurable impact.

In addition, T. Rowe Price and IFC, a member of the World Bank, announced plans to create a pioneering global blue bond strategy to increase access to finance for blue projects in emerging markets.