Read the full story at ESG Today.
Harvard University’s $42 billion endowment fund manager is moving to complete its exit from fossil fuel companies, according to a statement by Harvard President Lawrence Bacow outlining the university’s action on addressing climate change.
Read the full story at e360.
From the Bank of England to the People’s Bank of China, monetary authorities of the world’s largest economies are gauging how climate change could rock the financial system. Though long committed to being “market neutral,” some are even starting to push greener investments.
Investors, lenders and climate policy experts discuss how the financial sector can achieve net-zero lending and investment portfolios.
Speakers: Brian O’Hanlon | Executive Director, Center for Climate-Aligned Finance | RMI Danielle Sugarman | Director, Investment Stewardship | BlackRock Deborah Ng | Head of Responsible Investing and Director, Total Fund Management | Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Jacqueline Smith | Vice President, Sustainability | JPMorgan Chase
This session was held at GreenBiz Group’s VERGE Net Zero, July 27-28, 2021. Learn more about the event here: https://events.greenbiz.com/events/verge-net-zero/online/2021
Read the full story at ESG Today.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the conduct regulator for financial services firms and financial markets in the UK, announced today the publication of a letter to authorised fund managers indicating that applications for ESG-focused funds are frequently not meeting expectations, often making assertions about the sustainability aspects of funds not backed up by actual strategy or composition.
The MSCI Net-Zero Tracker indicates the collective progress of publicly listed companies in the MSCI ACWI Investable Market Index (IMI) (which covers 9,300 listed companies, representing 99% of the global equity universe) in keeping global warming well below 2°C. It also highlights the largest listed companies with improved climate disclosures, as well as those that lag. It offers investors, companies, financial intermediaries and policymakers an objective gauge of the contribution by the world’s public companies to total carbon emissions and their progress toward a net-zero economy.
Read the full story at IP&E.
An alliance of investor groups has released a new framework aimed at enabling institutional investors to step up action to help the fight against climate change and accelerate the transition to a net-zero economy.
An output of the Investor Agenda, which includes the Principles for Responsible Investment and the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), the “Investor Climate Action Plans (ICAPs) Expectations Ladder” provides investors with clear expectations for issuing and implementing comprehensive climate action plans.
Read the full story at Sustainable Brands.
A new ENCORE biodiversity module by the Natural Capital Finance Alliance — a collaboration between the UN Environment Program (UNEP) World Conservation Monitoring Centre, the UNEP Finance Initiative and Global Canopy — enables banks and investors to analyze the potential impact of their investment activities in agriculture and mining on biodiversity loss, with focus on species extinction and loss of ecological integrity.
Read the full story in ESG Today.
International asset manager Robeco announced today the release of a new Sovereign SDG Engagement Framework for investors, aiming to guide them in engagements with governments on tackling sustainability challenges.
According to Robeco, the framework was developed in order to address a lack of clear, methods to navigate the complex, emerging area of sovereign engagement, and the impact that sustainability issues can have an impact on the value of sovereign bonds.
The framework, originally published earlier this month in the Journal of Sustainable Finance and Investment, addresses three key considerations for investors to engage with governments. The main steps include prioritizing countries based on their relevance in the investment universe and portfolios and the country’s progress on the SDGs, and determining where investors can make a difference, selecting SDGs facing slow progress in the individual countries, and setting a detailed roadmap for conducting the engagement, encompassing goal setting, finding partnerships in the process, reporting and monitoring progress.
Read the full story at ESG Today.
Fidelity International announced today the launch of the Sustainable Multi Asset Fund range, adding to the investment offerings under the firm’s Sustainable Family of Funds. The new open-ended funds encompass offerings across the risk spectrum, with an initial launch of three funds, including the Fidelity Sustainable Multi Asset Conservative Fund, Fidelity Sustainable Multi Asset Balanced Fund and Fidelity Sustainable Multi Asset Growth Fund.
Read the full story at Environment + Energy Leader.
A new analysis from Ceres and the Clean Air Task Force allows investors to directly compare emissions intensity and total reported emissions for US oil and gas producers. The analysis used publicly available data to develop comparable metrics that highlight the GHG performance of nearly 300 onshore oil and gas producers in the US.
