Despite nine in 10 institutional investors considering ESG as a factor in real assets investment decisions, many do not see climate as the biggest material risk. In its fifth annual Real Assets Study, Aviva Investors canvassed views from 500 institutional investors around the world, including pension funds, insurers, global financial institutions and official institutions, together … Read more
BNY Mellon Investment Management has added an emerging market debt impact fund managed by Insight Investment to its global funds range. Responsible Horizons EM Debt Impact Fund looks to invest in securities and issuers that will have a positive impact across three themes – people, planet and prosperity – in line with the UN Sustainable … Read more
The Women in Finance Climate Action Group (WFCAG) has created a framework to integrate a gender lens into climate investing to ensure women are seen as key stakeholders in solutions, and a more impactful and shorter just transition. Research by WFCAG found women are disproportionately impacted by the negative effects of climate change, yet they … Read more
Wealthy families are increasingly embracing impact investing within their portfolios as the older generation in particular are changing their stance on aligning their values with investments, and want to leave the world a better place. A study by Campden Wealth for Global Impact Solutions Today (GIST) and Barclays Private Bank, which collected data from nearly … Read more
Japanese companies will be helped to improve the quality of their sustainability reporting under a new partnership between the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the International Development Center of Japan (IDCJ). The sustainability advisory partnership will deliver Japanese language services built around the GRI Standards, the world’s most widely used sustainability standards. This will see … Read more
Last week, Florida formally banned the use of social or responsible considerations in its public investments, and its Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed anti-ESG legislation to make that permanent. That happened the same day attorney generals from 21 states sent letters to proxy advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis, accusing the firms of violating state … Read more
Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo are facing shareholder resolutions over their stated ambitions to reduce emissions by 2030 as part of net-zero goals. On Tuesday, As You Sow filed proposals at the banks, which the group and others have previously done in 2019 and 2020. Those resolutions follow … Read more
A group of Democrats in Washington today provided a response to the burgeoning anti-ESG movement: a congressional sustainable investment caucus. House Reps. Sean Casten, D-Ill., and Juan Vargas, D-Calif., announced the caucus “to progress past the distortion of facts and have robust, open-minded discussions about sustainable investing,” Casten said in a statement. That comes as … Read more
Companies were more than twice as likely to report environmental impact data when directly engaged by institutional investors compared with a control group, according to a report by CDP. The global non-profit reviewed the effects of investor engagement on companies causing the greatest environmental damage. It found the number of companies asked to report on … Read more
Ben Palmer is to leave Brooks Macdonald in March, after more than a decade at the investment manager, to pursue new opportunities. He joined the company as a graduate trainee in 2011, rising to become head of responsible investment (RIS) in August 2020. No details were provided about where he is expected to land. The … Read more