After talks at COP27 barely kept the 1.5 warming limit alive and ended with reiterated calls to accelerate climate action, we take stock of the ever-expanding options available to investors looking to reduce climate-related risks in their portfolios and/or take advantage of opportunities arising from the transition. Morningstar data shows the number of mutual funds … Read more
Investors with $8trn under management and advice have called on the world’s biggest chemical producers to phase out persistent and hazardous chemicals that pose a risk to public health and the environment. Aviva Investors and Storebrand Asset Management have coordinated a letter from the coalition to chemical company CEOs, asking them to phase out and … Read more
More than 220 investment firms representing $30trn in assets have backed a Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) stewardship initiative focused on human rights. All 220 groups have signed a statement saying they recognise the need to respect and safeguard human rights as set out in international standards such as the UN Guiding Principles for Business … Read more
European regulators need to crack down on ‘sustainable’ funds that are continuing to invest in fossil fuel companies, according to Reclaim Finance. The non-profit flagged research by Follow the Money that found nearly half of the 838 European funds – home to some €620bn in assets – classified as Article 9 under the Sustainable Finance … Read more
This year has been extremely challenging for fixed income investors who have experienced significant losses in their investments and haven’t enjoyed the diversification benefits of low correlation to equities the asset class typically provides. Within fixed income strategies, sustainable or mainstream, the main driver of returns has been the big move up in interest rates, … Read more
Were you happy with the announcements on Finance Day at COP27? Did anything catch your eye that will make a big difference? There were some important announcements made, which created some positive momentum towards unlocking some much-needed capital for vulnerable countries. The UK Export Finance Agency (UKEF) became the first export credit agency to announce … Read more
Despite the US not taking a world lead in ESG regulation akin to Europe and some parts of Asia Pacific, it has been taking significant strides in 2022, with the recent finalising of the Department of Labor (DOL)’s ESG rule for workplace pension investments as a case in point. The regulation from the DOL allows, … Read more
China-domiciled sustainable funds saw net quarterly inflows for the first time this year at $1.52trn, Morningstar Direct data found. Driven by eight new carbon neutrality-themed ETFs, the inflow for this quarter reversed the net outflows of $297m and $1.26trn in the first two quarters respectively. “There were 24 sustainable fund launches in China in the … Read more
The 27th session of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) conference wrapped up in Egypt earlier this month with the promise of a new multilateral fund to help less-developed countries deal with loss and damage caused by climate change. Decades in the making, this is a … Read more
2022 has been a difficult year for ESG in Asia as investor interest in the asset class has started to wane in part due to its correlation to growth stocks, which have been hammered over the past 12 months. Here, Ecaterina Bigos, CIO of core investments in Asia ex-Japan at Axa Investment Managers, talks about … Read more