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ESG Newsletter

    Global Regulatory Body to Harmonise ‘Plethora’ of ESG Standards

    2020-09-07

    Financial Times: The global umbrella body for securities regulators is seeking to harmonise the patchwork of rules governing how companies disclose sustainability risks in a move that could be a game-changer for the fast-growing green finance sector. [Full article available to Financial Times subscribers.]

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    Where ESG Ratings Fail: The Case for New Metrics

    2020-09-07

    Institutional Investor: One agency’s A+ is another’s “laggard” — and neither links to financial performance. Hybrid metrics will change everything, argue Harvard Business School’s Mark Kramer and leaders in the shared-value movement.

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    Trump’s ESG Plan, Shunned by Fidelity, Spawns U.S.-Europe Divide

    2020-09-03

    Bloomberg: It’s become a hackneyed truism in the age of Covid-19 that global problems need coordinated global solutions. When it comes to combating climate change, the U.S. appears to be setting out alone.

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    ESG Scores Aren’t Enough to Achieve a Net-Zero Future

    2020-09-02

    Bloomberg: Just like in traditional investing, there are dozens of strategies you can use to be an ESG investor. There are funds that pick the best-rated low-carbon companies, funds that focus on companies with more women on boards, and funds that use a series of ratings and checklists to ensure the stocks they are betting on are “better” than the rest of the market.

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    Jeff Tannenbaum Bets on Kinder Capitalism, Even for LBOs

    2020-09-01

    Bloomberg: Embedding social responsibility into a company’s organizing documents has sometimes been seen as risky, but private equity pioneer and hedge fund founder Jeff Tannenbaum is betting it is the future.

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    ESG Hedge Fund Managers and The Agency Problem

    2020-09-01

    All About Alpha: Economists in general, and scholars of finance in particular, have long been concerned with the “agency problem,” the conflict of interest inherent in any relationship where X is expected, and perhaps required by law or contract, to act in the best interest of Y. The problem exists because, for example, stockholders expect a corporate management to act on their behalf, and limited partners expect a fund management to act on theirs. But it ain’t necessarily so.

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    Take ESG Sceptics’ Claims With a Lorry Load of Salt

    2020-09-01

    Financial Times: Even before Covid-19 hit, there was a growing clamour around the need to integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into corporate and investment decisions, taking a wider range of stakeholder interests into account. This was intensified by the pandemic and the death of George Floyd, which put social issues and equality under the spotlight. [Full article available to Financial Times subscribers.]

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    How Investor Pressure Prompted Oil Majors to Wake Up to Climate Change

    2020-08-31

    Financial Times: When BP and Royal Dutch Shell announced plans to slash billions of dollars off the value of their assets this summer in response to the coronavirus pandemic and climate change, many of their biggest shareholders were sanguine about the hit. [Full article available to Financial Times subscribers.]

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    ESG Investors Find That Diversity Data Is Hard to Come By

    2020-08-28

    Bloomberg: Calls for racial diversity at every level of the corporate world have inspired socially conscious investors. It’s a powerful group, with more than $30 trillion in global assets backing companies that prioritize environmental stewardship, social impact, and good governance, known by the shorthand ESG. But when it comes to how integrated companies are— or aren’t—the data are painfully limited.

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    Turmoil Creates Opportunity for Wealthy to Invest in Green Buildings

    2020-08-26

    Financial Times: Property investors may think they have enough to worry about right now, with the pandemic driving some commercial tenants to suspend rent payments while others consider whether they will need big office or retail space at all in future. [Full article available to Financial Times subscribers.]

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