There’s something fascinating about seaweed. Perhaps it’s the fact that it’s one of the most ancient organisms, dating back 1.6 billion years, or that it is nine times more populous in our oceans than terrestrial plants are on land. Seaweed performs a crucial role within ocean ecosystems, providing food and shelter for a host of … Read more
ESG investors have called the UN High Seas Treaty, agreed earlier this month, “a major milestone” that will prompt blue bonds to replicate the path of green bonds over years to come. After a decade of negotiations, on 4 March at New York’s United Nations headquarters leaders agreed to ringfence 30% of seas into protected … Read more
Listed companies in Asia Pacific are fast gaining ground on their global counterparts in incorporating ESG measures into executive compensation programmes, according to a study from WTW. Based on companies that disclose information on the use of incentive metrics, European companies continue to rank first with 91% using at least one ESG metric in their … Read more
China has grown to become the second-largest economy and second-largest stock market in the world, and is setting ambitious goals when it comes to climate. President Xi Jinping announced China’s goal to hit peak emissions before 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2060 at the 2020 Climate Ambition Summit. The 14th Five-Year Plan also sets … Read more
Franklin Templeton has hired James Andrus to the newly created role of vice-president of sustainability global markets. Andrus joins Franklin Templeton from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Calpers), where he served as the interim managing investment director for sustainable investing and led CalPERS’ sustainable investment strategy across its $443bn investment portfolio and advocated for … Read more
Nuveen has launched a real estate strategy focused on carbon reduction. The Nuveen Global Real Estate Carbon Reduction strategy invests in real estate companies that have either achieved carbon neutrality or have a target to or track record of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in a manner that is aligned with the Paris Agreement. Jay Rosenberg, … Read more
Insight Investment has teamed up with the University of Oxford to launch an annual prize of up to £50,000 for research on greening finance. The Insight Investment – University of Oxford Prize for Greening Finance, which is open for nominations, has two categories, both open to individuals and research teams. The first category is for … Read more
ESG Clarity is exploring the decarbonisation targets set by Net Zero Asset Managers’ initiative (NZAM) firms as well as talking to individual fund groups about how they are finding the journey to net zero. See also: – ESG Clarity’s Net Zero Database Here Neil Brown, head of equities at GIB Asset Management, explains the fund house’s progress on its emissions targets, and … Read more
As more and more capital flows into sustainable investing, there are two burning questions: one, does this lower the cost of capital for the underlying companies; and two, do these companies go on to affect the change investors are expecting to see (alongside financial performance)? With both these questions in mind, is sustainable investing the … Read more
Fidelity International has launched the Fidelity Global Government Bond Climate Aware Ucits ETF. The fund is a passively managed ETF that tracks the Solactive Paris Aware Global Government USD Index. The index is designed to reflect the performance of global local currency government bonds issued by investment grade countries. It also aims to exhibit a … Read more