It’s February. The weather’s dreary, the news is bleak, and the ESG-bashing continues. But for all of us working in sustainable investing, there’s an emerging trend which should lift the winter blues: we’re seeing more financial advisers interested in engagement and stewardship. What’s more, formal groups of like-minded advisers are coming together to work collectively … Read more
Calamos Investment has launched the Calamos Antetokounmpo US Sustainable Equities fund for the European market. The firm said the fund is aimed at European investors seeking a US equity allocation while looking to participate in low-risk, long-term opportunities that deliver positive societal impact. With a sister fund initially launched in February 2023 in the US … Read more
Triodos Bank UK has introduced the Triodos Future Generations fund, a thematic vehicle aimed at improving the wellbeing and development of children worldwide. The fund is managed by Triodos Investment Management (Triodos IM) and has been open to European and UK institutional investors since March 2022, and currently has assets under management of €38m (£33m). … Read more
Amanda O’Toole, portfolio manager at Redwheel, joined the company from Axa Investment Managers in April 2023 to lead two new funds – the Biodiversity fund and the Clean Economy fund. Here, she discusses the objectives of those funds and reflects on the instability of 2023. What objectives have you set for the funds that you … Read more
Climate change and extreme weather rank as the biggest worries over the next two years of those polled for the latest Global Risks Report from the World Economic Forum (WEF). Ahead of this year’s conference in Davos, Switzerland, which ran from 15-19 January, the WEF surveyed 1,490 experts across academia, business, government, the international community … Read more
Investors should benefit from new European Union support for green subsidies, according to global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright. In the article EU scales up green subsidies – how you can benefit from new support for clean investments – which comes on the back of the EC’s adoption of changes to its state aid framework supporting … Read more
Nearly 28% of recovery spending could have negative impacts for climate adaptation, by locking-in non-resilient infrastructure for example, according to research conducted by the University of Oxford. Analysing 8,000 government policies across 88 countries, the research also revealed only 10% of investment spent on Covid-19 recovery was ever likely to enhance direct climate adaptation, although … Read more
Only eight global asset managers out of 97 have met Morningstar’s highest ESG commitment level rating in its latest analysis. The Morningstar ESG Commitment Level helps investors assess an asset manager’s alignment to their own sustainability preferences by providing insights into the firm’s sustainable-investing philosophies, ESG integration processes, resources and active ownership activities. Of the … Read more
Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity could be hampered this year by the regulatory environment around ESG and antitrust rules, according to a report. ESG guidelines currently rank among the most important deal drivers, Norton Rose Fulbright’s Global M&A Trends and Risks report found, amid an overall optimistic outlook for deal activity in 2024. However, a … Read more
Climate change scenarios used by investors in their financial projections “were not created with investors in mind”, and projections based upon them “could lull people into a false sense of security”, according to Professor Riccardo Rebonato, scientific director at the EDHEC-Risk Climate Impact Institute. The Institute’s research looking at Dynamic Integrated Climate-Economy (DICE) models concluded … Read more