Evening Standard: Companies involved in the defence industry have recently found themselves shunned by many investors who seek to wear the ESG badge, which signifies investments do right by the environment, society and have high governance standards.
Nasdaq: Apollo Global Management Inc APO.N, a manager of alternative assets, launched a sustainable investing platform, targeting the deployment of $50 billion in decarbonization and energy transition opportunities over the next five years.
BNN Bloomberg: A study of investor preferences in Denmark has revealed that women are more willing than men to sacrifice returns to uphold environmental, social and governance goals.
Funds Europe: Macquarie Asset Management is facing mounting pressure from campaigners over noise, emissions and air pollution at a UK private airport owned by one of the firm’s infrastructure funds.
Private Equity Wire: New research from Intertrust, a specialist in providing administration services to clients in over 30 jurisdictions, has revealed that CFOs continue to fear cost and resource constraints as client demands grow around ESG, citing those factors as the “biggest obstacles” surrounding ESG integration.
BNN Bloomberg: Climate-related lawsuits like those filed against energy companies Exxon Mobil Corp., Shell Plc and PG&E Corp. have dominated ESG litigation in recent years. But there are signs an increase in cases extending beyond the environmental pillar of ESG may be coming.
ETF Stream: The idea of funnelling money into the best corporate actors is simple enough to understand, however, the real challenges come with deciding what ESG best practice looks like and which of tens of thousands of listed companies (and sovereigns) meet these criteria.
BNN Bloomberg: After watching big banks curtail lending and asset managers pare bets, fossil fuel producers are now losing access to some of Wall Street’s deepest pockets.
IR Magazine: The UK’s International Regulatory Strategy Group (IRSG) is calling for the ESG ratings industry to be regulated, citing concerns around transparency, a lack of consistency in the data and lack of clarity for investors.
Institutional Investor: Greenwashing is often in the eye of the beholder, depending largely on one’s sustainable investing philosophy, according to PitchBook analyst Anikka Villegas.
Institutional Investor: The New York State Common Retirement Fund is increasing its efforts to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion into the proxy voting process.
Yahoo Finance: Royal Bank of Canada shareholders will vote on whether the bank should tighten its standards for sustainable finance, action inspired by a 2021 pipeline financing deal that was criticized for greenwashing and general concern over lax standards for so-called sustainability-linked debt.
FT Adviser: There is concern that, in the absence of any regulatory-approved definitions on what should make up an ESG or sustainable fund, the advice profession is feeling the lack of definitions the hardest.
CSR Wire: For Private Equity, the momentum behind environmental, social, governance (ESG) focused investing has accelerated rapidly in the last 12 months. Preqin reports that ESG investments now account for more than one-third (36%) of private capital under management with an estimated $3.1 trillion committed.
The Guardian: American private equity tycoons are profiteering from the global climate crisis by investing in fossil fuels that are driving greenhouse gas emissions, a new investigation reveals.
CNBC: Industry leaders have been working to boost diversity, and while progress has been slow, it seems to be bearing some fruit. Still, 83% of certified financial planners in 2021 were white, and 77% were men, according to the CFP Board.
BNN Bloomberg: Fund managers peddling ESG products in Europe may want to take another look to ensure that what they’re selling actually lives up to their marketing promises.
World Economic Forum: In February, the UN PRI released a discussion paper detailing the development of environmental, social and corporate governance in venture capital, putting the spotlight on the attitudes and outlooks towards ESG among VC firms globally.
BNN Bloomberg: ESG funds representing roughly $1 trillion in assets aren’t delivering on their stated environmental, social or governance goals, according to one of the main researchers tracking the market.
Bloomberg Law: Anderson Krenak, 38, is a member of the indigenous Krenak people who live along the banks of the River Doce in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state. On Nov. 5, 2015, his life changed forever when a mining company’s dam collapsed, unleashing a torrent of mud filled with mine waste into the surrounding countryside and waterways, destroying the Krenak heartland. The flood killed 19 people and spread pollution hundreds of miles to the Atlantic.
Money Management: With more companies launching sustainable funds, investors have higher expectations on impact and transparency from their fund managers, according to Stewart Investors.
BNN Bloomberg: Facing an uprising from fossil-fuel interests on the right and advocates fighting carbon emissions on the left, Larry Fink is making a personal effort to manage climate-change politics.
State Street: State Street Corporation announced that it has issued an aggregate of $1.5 billion of senior unsecured debt. The offering, which closed today, was structured in keeping with State Street’s ongoing inclusion, diversity and equity efforts, with Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC and Loop Capital Markets LLC acting as bookrunners, and CastleOak Securities, L.P. and Blaylock Van, LLC acting as co-managers.
BBC: Many of the world's biggest companies are failing to meet their own targets on tackling climate change, according to a study of 25 corporations. They also routinely exaggerate or misreport their progress, the New Climate Institute report says.
U.S. News: Assets in European funds marketed as sustainable have hit 4 trillion euros -- almost 40% of all assets managed in European Union-domiciled funds -- Morningstar said in the latest sign of soaring demand for products considered greener.
Institutional Investor: Even experts can barely pick up on the differences between the largest environmental, social, and governance indices and traditional cap-weighted benchmarks.
Globe Newswire: Apollo announced the launch of a Supplier Diversity program focused on growing direct and indirect spending with diverse businesses across its private equity portfolio, with the goal of achieving more than $1 billion in spend by 2024. This program is the latest initiative undertaken by Apollo as part of its commitment to expanding opportunity across its workplace, marketplace and communities.
BNN Bloomberg: The world’s leading rater of green credentials is rewarding some of Wall Street’s biggest banks even though they continue to lend billions of dollars to fossil-fuel companies.
Benefits Canada: More than 100 global institutional investors and asset managers are committing to a project that seeks to standardize environmental, social and governance metrics to provide a mechanism for comparative reporting in the private equity industry.
BNN Bloomberg: Inflows into U.S. exchange-traded funds with higher environmental, social and governance standards have dropped sharply in the past two months.
ESMA: The Call for Evidence’s purpose is to develop a picture of the size, structure, resourcing, revenues and product offerings of the different ESG rating providers operating in the EU.
Funds Europe: Less than a third of women feel they have the confidence to invest some of their money, prompting calls for the industry to look at how they can better engage and inspire women.
BNN Bloomberg: In the recent market tumult, the largest ESG-focused exchange-traded funds in the U.S. are again showing that they are little more than market-trackers—with even worse performance.
BNN Bloomberg: Stacey Macken fought more than eight years for equal pay. Her victory over BNP Paribas SA this week at a London court may encourage a wave of other women to come forward.
Nasdaq: Private equity firm Carlyle Group Inc CG.O said it was targeting net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner, across its investments.
Institutional Investor: A small, but growing number of asset managers that run environmentally-sustainable funds are no longer simply lobbying for incremental changes like better disclosure. Instead, they’re becoming much more active, engaging and pressuring firms to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and restructure to avert the worst of climate change.
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