ESG Take 5 Q&A: Considering wildfire risk when investing in U.S. utilities

Donovan Escalante Julian James

30 April 2026

Where in the global investment landscape might developing an even deeper understanding of wildfire risk be most helpful? As global investors, we've concluded that our focus should be on U.S. utilities  because of the size of the investable universe, the scale of their potential exposures and the availability of granular geospatial datasets and models. In the April 2026 issue of our Take 5 Q&A, we talk with ESG senior manager Donovan Escalante and fixed income investment analyst Julian James. Together, they answer five questions on recent efforts to enhance our understanding and quantification of wildfire risk.

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Donovan Escalante is an ESG senior manager with 15 years of industry experience (as of 12/31/2025). He holds a master’s degree in industrial ecology from Leiden University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from University of Texas at Austin.

Julian James is a fixed income investment analyst at Capital Group with research responsibility for investment-grade utilities in the U.S. He has 16 years of investment industry experience and has been with Capital Group for five years. Prior to joining Capital, Julian worked as a credit research analyst at BlackRock. Before that, he was an analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Georgia. Julian is based in New York.

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