An open-source platform for climate data has been created by the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), the World Bank and the Singapore government in the hope it will connect carbon markets. The Climate Action Data (CAD) Trust, headquartered in Singapore, will work with governments, and public and private organisation to share open-source information about carbon … Read more
A rush of regulation and investor pressure is forcing companies to do a better job of tallying up the environmental impact of their operations and the products they sell. That’s stirring demand for software that helps businesses measure carbon emissions. Salesforce and Microsoft have joined at least a dozen startups providing products to help companies … Read more
ESG Out Loud US talks with the founder of a new retail trading app, Fennel, which incorporates ESG data. Company CEO Daniel Naim says that proxy voting, sustainability and shareholder engagement will pull more people into the investing world. Naim talks about how he made a major career trajectory change, leaving a physics PhD program … Read more
Mirae Asset’s Global X is preparing two covered-call ESG ETFs, recent regulatory filings show. Late last month, the firm filed initial prospectuses for the Global X Nasdaq 100 ESG Covered Call and S&P 500 ESG Covered Call ETFs, both of which could potentially commence trading as soon as mid-February. Those product developments add to the … Read more
As the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, COP15, opens in Montreal today, officials have urged negotiators to agree on an “ambitious and effective” post-2020 biodiversity framework and said they expect to have more to say on international finance soon. At the opening press conference yesterday, Inger Andersen, under-secretary-general of the United Nations and executive director of … Read more
With COP27 over and key commitments made by delegates from nearly 200 countries, all those concerned about the damaging impact caused by climate change will now turn their attention towards COP15. The 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity is just as important as what took place in Egypt. It is … Read more
During negotiations of the global biodiversity framework at COP15, the European Union (EU) has been pressing for clauses that would reduce harm to biodiversity from private investments, according to officials attending the summit. Speaking to the press yesterday, Hugo-Maria Schally, head of the multilateral environmental cooperation unit at the European Commission Directorate-General for Environment, said the bloc wants … Read more
Firms’ stewardship practices are in the spotlight this week, with projects launching for institutional and bond investors. The first comes from the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), which has launched a bondholder stewardship working group and plans to release engagement guidance for bondholders. Bondholders typically fund 50-80% of a company’s capital structure. With … Read more
One of the world’s largest asset managers, Vanguard, is withdrawing its membership from the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative (NZAM), the firm has announced. In a statement on the company’s website, Vanguard said its exit from NZAM was to clarify its role as an index fund provider. “Vanguard joined the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative … Read more
The “center” continues to be a lonely place in American culture, with polarization across a broad spectrum of topics. It’s now sustainable investing’s turn under the microscope, as detractors are becoming louder and more aggressive, culminating in the launch of anti-ESG funds. I’m going to offer a controversial opinion: I posit the launch of these … Read more