Remember the commodities boom? It was the bull market of the early 2000s that was largely propelled by the emerging markets. It also helped those economies become a critical component of the balanced portfolios that we know today. The boom showed the latent power and long-term potential of emerging markets and highlighted the value of … Read more
Ulrik Fugmann, co-head of the Environmental Strategies Group, BNP Paribas Asset Management: There are few places to invest in public markets and BNP Paribas Asset Management supports some key movers in this nascent technology through its BNP Paribas Energy Transition Fund. One obvious element with carbon capture is cost, but as adoption increases, this should … Read more
UBS’s takeover by Credit Suisse has been labelled an example of “disastrous” governance, in a deal that raises questions about the preferential treatment of some shareholders at the expense of others who will lose everything. Jerome Legras, head of research at Axiom Alternative Investments, an asset manager specialising in the European financial sector, said the … Read more
Legal and General Investment Management, KBI Global Investors and Amundi are among a $4trn coalition of 15 investors who have written to the 13 biggest chemical companies in Europe to insist they set a path to transition away from their reliance on fossil fuels in order to live up to the climate policies many have … Read more
The UK’s department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) and the British Standards Institution (BSI) have partnered to launch the Nature Investment Standards Programme. The programme will become a framework to help build confidence in nature markets, scale up investments in nature and guard against greenwashing. The framework aims to set clear principles and … Read more
Greenwashing has been characterized across a broad spectrum: from hypocrisy to fraud and everything in between. It’s important to conceptualize greenwashing appropriately and accurately because it influences what we do about it. The original conception of greenwashing is that of a company that tries to make consumers believe it cares about the environment, when in … Read more
Some 2.2bn people currently live without access to safe water, while 4.2bn go without safe sanitation services. The significance of this finite resource is wide-reaching, with the United Nations (UN) estimating that water is the primary medium through which we will feel the effects of climate change. The UN has also estimated that around 70% … Read more
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