Louisiana Salge, head of sustainability, EQ Investors For 2023, all eyes will be on stewardship to make sure the various asset manager commitments made in the past year regarding ending deforestation, net-zero emissions and acting on cost of living, are grounded in real-life change. To demonstrate this, we would like to see stewardship reporting move … Read more

While UK equities are starting to appear attractive again to fund managers of sustainable strategies, there are still a number of headwinds for investors in 2023 – inflation, consumer demand and slowing global growth to name a few. However, companies focused on plastic reduction, the energy transition and digitisation have the potential to offer attractive … Read more

Investment firms have the opportunity to “bridge the gap” between disabled people’s access to finance by offering “proactive support to IFAs”, a City Hive study has found. Disabled people in the UK make up 21% of the working population and more than 40% of pension age. These numbers will rise due to changing demographics, longer … Read more

Morningstar Sustainalytics, which provides ESG research, ratings and data, has appointed Yayoi Asazuma as director of client relations, effective 1 January. Based in Singapore, she is responsible for meeting the needs of Morningstar’s institutional investor clients across Singapore, Malaysia and other countries in southeast Asia. “We are delighted to appoint Yayoi to Morningstar Sustainalytics’ Singapore … Read more

Australia has picked up where it left off by issuing a fine against a listed company for greenwashing only a few months after the securities regulator announced the first infringement notice for the practice. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said last week that Black Mountain Energy, an ASX-listed resources company, paid A$39,960 ($27,592.2) … Read more

Bridges Fund Management has hired Fenglin Zhao as a director in its client and strategy development team.  The hire is part of plans to attract more investors to impact investing, said the fund house, which invests exclusively in the transition to a more sustainable and inclusive economy. Zhao will be responsible for developing and overseeing … Read more

Maria Outters has been appointed the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)’s first chief impact officer. The role encompasses spearheading the engagement strategy worldwide, strengthening governance and accelerating growth of corporate climate through science-based targets. Outters’ responsibilities also include supporting the incorporation of the SBTi as a stand-alone NGO later this year and achieving the SBTi’s 2025 … Read more

Financial services group Centrus has become B Corp certified after achieving 35.7 points above the accreditation pass mark. The group undertook the impact assessment process with B Corporation as it wanted to demonstrate accountability and transparency in terms of its commitment to ensure social or environmental performance is a part of its decision-making, regardless of … Read more

We are at a turning point when it comes to reaching net zero. With every IPCC report, the importance of acting on climate change becomes clearer. Every delay brings major consequences. To give one of countless examples that illustrate this, if we limit warming to 1.5° C above pre-industrial levels, as laid out in the … Read more

Nature-related policies will increasingly impact the land use sector, according to forecasts by the Inevitable Policy Response (IPR) group, with effects filtering through the whole economy. The prediction is part of UN Principles for Responsible Investment-commissioned IPR’s landmark forecast policy scenario (FPS), FPS + Nature, (FPS+N), which integrates nature and climate trends with expected global … Read more