UKSIF’s 2023 Leadership summit kicked off this morning with panel discussions on biodiversity, COP28 and thoughts on what the sustainable regulation landscape could look like in the future on the agenda. Here are the key takeaways from the morning’s events.
FCA is assessing asset managers against its guiding principles
Although there was no update on an exact date on when to expect the UK’s SDR regulations, the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) director of ESG Sacha Sadan re-confirmed that it would be before the end of 2023.
The FCA has today published a review of fund managers, finding many have not met its expectations when it comes to ESG and sustainability labels, stewardship and governance.
COP28 may skirt around fossil fuels
The second panel of the day, COP-Out? What the lead-up to COP 28 has shown us about the oil and gas lobby, addressed concerns over whether fossil fuel lobbyists will sway proceedings at the conference this year.
“The first thing we have to say about COP is that it’s an emissions-focused treaty, and the reason oil and gas are not spoken about much is because the original design of COP was to address emissions, not fossil fuels explicitly,” said panellist Mark Campanale, chair of the research council at Carbon Tracker.
“And that’s really helpful for the fossil fuel industry, to have a big summit like this on decarbonisation without talking about fossil fuels. It’s a bit like an anti-smoking summit not being able to talk about cigarettes.”
Countries will produce double the amount of fossil fuels required for 1.5 degrees
The COP28 panel also cited the fourth SEI Production Gap report, which shows that, despite 151 national governments having pledged to achieve net-zero emissions, and projections suggesting that fossil fuel demand will peak this decade, countries will, in aggregate, produce more than double the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 than would be consistent with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees.
“There’s awareness of this fossil fuel issue, but to expect anything great from the negotiations on it, it’ll just be a pretty watered-down statement, and that shouldn’t surprise anyone,” said Chris Dodwell, head of policy and advocacy at Impax Asset Management.
UK hopes to give investors certainty
New Treasury Lords Minister, Baroness Vere, kicked off the summit with a message to attendees: “We understand that financing our transition requires public investment and certainty. Power Up Britain set out all of the details that we need in order to get there, from from renewable to sustainable aviation fuels, to give business the certainty that they need.”