The European Commission needs to close the loophole in its green taxonomy that allows fossil fuels to be included, if it wants to avoid the legal challenge it currently faces, an investor group has said. Four environmental NGOs are taking the European executive to court to stop the EU labelling fossil gas as ‘sustainable’ in … Read more
Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) is developing a suite of sovereign ESG index funds using data and analysis from Verisk Maplecroft. The asset manager will use Verisk Maplecroft’s sovereign ESG analytics, which draw on thousands of different geospatial, unstructured, structured and expert-scored subnational and national indicators, to create products “that seek to materially diverge … Read more
Impact investment specialist CIRCA5000 is to launch a range of UCITS ETFs to the European market focused on five themes linked to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The B-Corp-certified business has 150,000 existing customers on its direct-to-consumer platform and is intending to bring the five ETFs to market in summer 2023. In partnership with … Read more
Funding for climate tech start-ups by venture capital funds is at its slowest pace in nearly three years, in a worrying sign for the sector. In the first quarter of 2023, climate tech start-ups raised $5.7bn across 279 venture capital deals, according to data from PitchBook, which monitors the venture capital market. This is down … Read more
EQ Investors, Castlefield Investment Partners and Legal & General Investment Management are among 26 investors responsible for just over $3trn of assets who have written to Nestlé ahead of its AGM in Switzerland today calling on it to commit to setting targets to improve its impact on population health. In a statement coordinated by responsible … Read more
Negative screening has been a longstanding constant of sustainable investing, with most strategies employing some form of exclusionary objectives. But are investors better off owning, influencing and engaging with these companies to help steer the ship? Nearly any modern ESG fund will avoid alcohol, tobacco and gun manufacturing companies as the target market’s values preclude … Read more
Eight months ago US president Joe Biden signed into law the biggest government investment in clean energy, giving sustainable investors much-longed for certainty. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is tipped to spark nearly $3trn of investment in renewable energy technology, yet that vote of confidence has not had the expected ripple effect. The WilderHill Clean … Read more
In the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Jacqueline Taiwo began receiving a lot of questions from fellow members of the investment industry about what they could do and how they could help. Having just set up the Black Women in Asset Management (BWAM) network a year previously, she decided to write … Read more
Pictet Asset Management (Pictet AM) has announced the launch of Pictet-China Environmental Opportunities, a concentrated active equity fund investing in leading Chinese environmental solutions providers. Pictet-China Environmental Opportunities seeks capital growth by investing in Chinese companies operating in five environmental segments: renewable energy, green transportation, industrial decarbonisation, resource efficiency and environmental protection. Classified as Article … Read more
The path of co-creation, using validated tools and methodologies, allows the generation of comprehensive projects that attack complex problems and provide systemic solutions appropriate to each reality. Little did Benjamin know that finishing his thesis would fulfill the dream he had promised his grandfather. He is Mayan from the Guatemalan southwest, rooted in the land … Read more