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Despite the challenges of 2022 spilling over into 2023, demand for ESG products is expected to continue apace this year. Energy stocks’ huge outperformance meant sustainable funds, with limited exposure, were left behind in performance tables and negative rhetoric around ESG grew in the US, making 2022 the year where the ESG world encountered more … Read more
Nordea has formed a climate and environment team to oversee activities at a group level and appointed Peter Sandahl to head it up. Sandahl, whose role will be head of climate and environment and deputy head of group sustainability, will take up the position on 13 March 2023, leaving his current job as head of … Read more
Sarasin & Partners has appointed Melanie Roberts as head of the firm’s charity team, taking over from Richard Maitland, who has held the role since 2003. Roberts joined the Sarasin & Partners charity team – which currently manages £8bn of assets for more than 480 charity clients – in 2011, having previously worked at Newton … Read more
Broadridge Financial Solutions is adding a service to help companies see how their ESG practices and disclosures compare to peers, the firm has announced. It will allow big companies to “benchmark” ESG metrics using data aggregated to artificial intelligence, Broadridge stated. The data cover more than 5,000 North American companies across 385 ESG topics. That … Read more
Baillie Gifford’s £616m Global Stewardship Fund is to be renamed Sustainable Growth Fund with effect from 31 March. The investment proposition will remain unchanged, namely a focus on long-term growth with an emphasis on sustainability. The typical number of holdings, however, will drop to between 55-88 rather than the 70-100 at present. According to the … Read more
The World Economic Forum at Davos was a missed opportunity for the financial sector to set out in clear terms how it is planning to support the transition to net-zero, ShareAction has said, joining other industry criticism. Davos gathered together global leaders in Geneva, Switzerland on Jan. 16 to 20 to discuss the biggest issues affecting … Read more
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) has launched an online proxy service, providing clients with a more straightforward way to exercise their voting rights. Developed in partnership with fintech company Broadridge, HL’s voting service covers all of the UK and European shares on its platform, which total 5,800 tradeable equities. HL’s head of trading proposition, Tom Lee, said … Read more
European integrated oil companies are allocating more than 20% of their capital budgets during the next five years to low-carbon businesses, twice that of US firms. These include investing in electric vehicle charging, and grocery and food options at retail locations. The findings are part of Morningstar’s annual deep-dive into greenhouse gas emissions, which found … Read more
Despite progress in the number of women on investment company boards, there remain instances of unconscious bias and sexism. Mary Ann Sieghart is director of a number of investment companies and author of The Authority Gap, a book on gender bias in everyday life. She believes there is still a lot of unconscious bias among … Read more
A plan to make Europe “the home of clean tech” and encourage green investment on the path to net zero has been unveiled at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In a speech last week, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen (pictured) launched the Green Deal Industrial Plan, which she said tackles the regulatory … Read more