Liontrust sustainable bonds head to retire

Liontrust’s head of sustainable fixed income Stuart Steven is to retire in September. Steven (pictured) has spent the past decade developing and managing the fixed income proposition within the asset manager’s sustainable investment team. He will start to relinquish his responsibilities from April. His colleagues Aitken Ross, Kenny Watson and Jack Willis will retain their … Read more

Columbia Threadneedle gives grant to aid gender inclusion

The Columbia Threadneedle Foundation has given a grant to the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) to fund research to improve gender inclusion in local government economic policy making. The grant will fund research aimed at understanding how gender inclusion can be prioritised in the development and implementation of economic strategies by local government, in … Read more

LeapFrog Investments adds to global climate team

LeapFrog Investments has expanded its climate investment strategy team with the addition of four team members. Katherine Owens (pictured) will be based in London and will be responsible for developing the firm’s climate impact focus and measuring LeapFrog’s contribution to climate action and adaptation. She brings more than 10 years of experience in ESG and … Read more

Two funds for the sustainable food transition

Covid-19, a war in Ukraine and climate change are contributing to a global food crisis. Here in the UK, consumers face escalating prices and the rationing of fruit and vegetables. In Africa, Asia and Latin America climate change fuelled extreme weather events have caused crop and livestock devastation. The domestic supply shortages have been exacerbated … Read more

Impax Asset Management opens Tokyo office

Impax Asset Management is opening a new office in Tokyo this month, following the firm’s selection by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to receive a ‘Green Finance Subsidy Programme for Tokyo Market Entry’. The firm said it will hire a small number of employees and added that it will continue to collaborate with BNP Paribas Asset … Read more

BlackRock and Vanguard lag on votes for lobbying transparency

Shareholders are voting for greater transparency on lobbying and political activity at the US companies they invest in, but fund giants Vanguard and BlackRock are holding back support. Research by Morningstar has found a steady stream of shareholder resolutions at US companies requesting greater transparency over recent years. There were 48 shareholder resolutions in the … Read more

Curbing methane emissions with food system investment

Reducing methane is humanity’s biggest hope to affect the climate in the coming decades. With the agricultural sector taking the literal and proverbial heat as the largest contributor of methane emissions in the US, there is an exciting opportunity to explore and invest in plant-based innovation as a solution to reducing the damaging greenhouse gas. Contributing … Read more