The transition away from fossil fuels towards green replacements will require more mining and processing of non-renewable mineral resources. Three billion tons of minerals and metals will be needed to deploy wind, solar and geothermal power, as well as energy storage to achieve a below 2- degree future. As greater scrutiny is placed by regulators … Read more
Failure in progressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is becoming a broken record. Every year, more capital is seemingly allocated to achieving them, yet every year we seem to move further from them. But investors are still keen to use the SDGs and more sophisticated approaches are emerging. The latest UN progress report on the … Read more
CBRE IM has bolstered its sustainability team with the hire of a Chris Burgess as ESG lead for indirect real estate. He will help implement and deliver CBRE IM’s sustainability vision, which focuses on bringing positive change, across the firm’s global indirect investments. Burgess joins from ESG consultancy Evora Global, where he developed ESG strategies … Read more
Late last year, Vanguard surprised the sustainable investing world by withdrawing from one of the main climate-conscious industry alliances, the Net-Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative. The exit came at the same time as pressure grew in the US, particularly from a number of Republican state leaders, to denounce ESG considerations in investing – and the … Read more
Climate change is negatively affecting the value of real estate, causing investors to reassess their holdings, according to a survey of property investors. Almost half of real estate investors have seen extreme weather affect their portfolios, the annual Insights Into Real Estate Investment Sustainability Survey (IRIS) found. The survey, conducted by sustainability services company Evora … Read more
Governance issues are being forced up the agenda at UK financial firms by the incoming Consumer Duty rules, according to commentators, due to their focus on corporate culture. The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Consumer Duty, which comes into force in July, is designed to set higher and clearer standards of consumer protection across financial services … Read more
Attracting investors to biodiversity causes has become one of the critical steps following the passing of the global biodiversity framework at COP15 late last year. In the wake of that ground-breaking agreement, 196 countries that are signatories must develop their own biodiversity plans ahead of the COP16 event next year in Turkey, said Sonya Likhtman, … Read more
Sustainable technology platform Clarity AI has hired Lorenzo Saa as chief sustainability officer from the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). Saa (pictured), who was previously chief signatory relations officer at the PRI and developed the organisation’s first in-house global reporting framework, will help build Clarity AI’s sustainability solutions, including its impact, ESG, climate and regulatory … Read more
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has agreed on the final content of its IFRS 1 and 2 and will publish these by the end of Q2, the chair of the board Emmanuel Faber (pictured) has confirmed. Speaking at the IFRS Sustainability Symposium in Montreal at the end of last week, Faber said the new … Read more
For UK investors, 2022 had a distinctly Dickensian flavour, being both the best of times and the worst of times, the ultimate expression of bifurcation. If you had a focus on the FTSE 100 – an index whose performance was effectively supported by the aftershocks of the war in Ukraine, namely higher energy prices and … Read more