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A very wise, thoughtful and exceptionally caring woman once told me “All dining tables should be round”. Puzzled, I asked her why? She responded matter-of-factly “because you can always squeeze in another body at a round table”.

That spirit of inclusion has been lost to an overwhelming atmosphere of conflict and angst, resulting in a fragile economy that is top-heavy and brittle, propped up by a few while so many struggle.

When we prioritize the well-being for the many rather than the luxury of the few, we create a more stable society and economy. We need to get back to the spirit of the round table, where everyone has a place.

MAIN TAKEAWAYS:

• AI’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations have wide-ranging implications for energy and water consumption, labour, regulation, data privacy and geopolitics that investors should be mindful of.
• Sustainability frameworks tailored to AI will allow investors to assess potential trade-offs and make well-informed investment decisions.
• We offer practical guidance for assessing datacentre sustainability characteristics and developing an AI specific corporate engagement programme covering areas such as: environmental, people and workplace, intellectual property, data privacy, and regulatory issues

Matching ability with opportunity for the next phase for sustainable investment

It won't have escaped anyone's notice that there are currently a fair number of people with considerable sustainable investment experience currently 'between jobs' - having fallen on the 'bust' side of the recent 'boom and bust' cycle for sustainable investment and ESG.

If we take the perspective (as I think we must) that sustainable investment will be (and has to be) fundamentally-different for the next iteration of its development and growth, these people should be an invaluable resource as they combine:

• an understanding of the principles, objectives, practices and lessons learned from sustainable investment
• time to think about how the industry needs to be different next time round (and the experience that enables them to make intelligent judgements about this

Some people think well on their own ... and are very welcome to continue doing so.  We look forward to hearing from them when they reach and execute their conclusions.

Other people, however, prefer to explore ideas with others.  So, for this group, we are hosting a Zoom call on 24 Feb 2026 at 15:00 (GMT) for anyone with >5 years' experience in a senior sustainable investment role who is currently 'between jobs'.

Agenda:

• Introductions (30 mins)
• Breakout discussions on (30 mins)
  • Can AI save sustainable investment?
  • Integration into fundamental valuation: What have we learned?  What's next?
  • Winning the culture wars: How can we shape and present sustainable investment in a way that reaches through political noise?
• Presenting the opportunities arising and follow-up actions (30 mins)

Invitees:

On this call, we welcome anyone with >5 years' experience working in a senior sustainable investment role (from any point in the value chain: asset owner, investment consultant, asset manager, research provider, listed company or other) who is currently 'between jobs'.

People who have embarked upon 'one-man-band' consultancy projects are welcome to join.

Numbers are limited to 30 participants ... and we are going to be strict about the >5 year rule.  If the session works, we'll be happy to organise other sessions for others.

Network effect:

... and - just as importantly as solving the questions over the strategic direction of sustainable investment - will be an opportunity to share our capacity, objectives, opportunities and needs with each other.  There's plenty of work that needs doing in sustainable investment.  Hopefully, this call can start to match some of the opportunity with some of the capacity.

In the last couple of years, we have demanded increasing transparency from businesses about their climate impact. But it is becoming increasingly clear that while this increased transparency is good for investors, it can become really expensive, especially for smaller companies. The case of voluntary TCFD disclosure in the UK demonstrates this.

In the UK, companies were asked to disclose their climate-related risks, goals, and emissions along the guidelines of the Task Force for Climate-Related Disclosure (TCFD). From 2017 to 2021, this disclosure was voluntary, and since then, it has been made mandatory first for larger companies and increasingly for smaller companies as well....

Earth’s growing wobble is a little known climate signal investors may find concerning

And no, the Chandler wobble neither a new economic model nor a reference to the late Friends actor. It is recently alarming Earth system science investors should understand.

Part 1 — The science

Earth’s rotation axis “wobbles” (polar motion) because mass shifts continuously between land, ocean, and atmosphere. When large amounts of water move off continents and into the oceans, Earth’s mass distribution and moment of inertia change slightly and the pole shifts in response. So what we are seeing is potentially worse than the naturally occurring Chandler wobble.

Recent reporting summarising peer‑reviewed work links an early‑2000s step change in the pole’s position (about 45 cm) to a rapid global loss of soil water. A widely cited estimate suggests soils lost roughly 1,600 giga-tonnes of water in 2000–2002, with much of it ultimately reaching the oceans and adding around 1.95 mm/year to sea level during that short window.

The climate mechanism is intuitive: warming raises evaporative demand (more evapo-transpiration). If precipitation does not keep pace, terrestrial water storage declines and the oceans receive the net transfer.

Part 2 — Environmental and social impacts

A detectable pole shift is a reminder that land drying is systemic. Key impacts include:

• Drought amplification and ecosystem stress: feedback loops, vegetation loss, higher wildfire risk.
• Food and water security: lower yields, greater irrigation reliance, and groundwater draw down.
• Heat + water scarcity pressures: higher health risks, livelihood loss, and displacement in vulnerable regions.

Part 3 — Economic impacts

For investors, the “wobble” is a proxy for structural water risk — with implications for earnings, assets, and risk premia:

• Higher input and compliance costs in water‑intensive sectors (agri/food, beverages, semi-conductors, mining, textiles).
• More commodity and inflation volatility from drought‑linked supply shocks.
• Repricing of real assets and insurance where drought and wildfire risk persist; potential municipal strain from water capex.
• Supply chain disruption and reputational risk where firms compete with communities for scarce water.

The bottom line: persistent declines in land water storage can translate into durable constraints on production and habitability and therefore on cash flows and valuations.

At a time of macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, our fifth annual ESG Global Study finds that most investors remain committed to considering ESG issues in the investment process.

Identifying investment opportunities is one of the top drivers for ESG adoption, and energy transition is one of three investment themes where more than half of global respondents say they have strong conviction.

This year’s survey also shines a light on how thinking about AI-related risks and opportunities is evolving. I’ll share a bit more detail on these topics below as well as a link to the full report for those who want to go deeper and explore many other fascinating global and regional findings. 

"If we look back at equities over recent history, markets have tended to move in decadal mega cycles, where one major ‘theme’ has dominated returns.

Being on the right side of these trends has proven extremely beneficial for investors. Over the past decade, one of the most pronounced trends has been the dominance of a select group of US-based, mega-cap technology companies. Supported by an environment of low interest rates, these companies have driven a substantial share of equity market returns, resulting in increasingly concentrated market leadership. However, that has begun to change as a new era of higher inflation and interest rates, and rising geopolitical tension, is marking the beginning of a prolonged shift, the scale of which we typically only see every 10 to 15 years.

What is particularly unique, and exciting for investors, about this current juncture is that there appears to be a confluence of transformational and multi-generational shifts occurring simultaneously. In this paper, we will discuss four key areas and examine how we are identifying the long-term investment opportunities that they present."

If there is one element that underpins the development of artificial intelligence and reindustrialisation of America, it might be electric power.

Power demand in the US is set to surge over the next decade, driven by rapid expansion of AI data centres, new manufacturing facilities and electric vehicle networks. Data centres account for about 4% of US electricity use, but estimates suggest that figure could climb to 9–14% by 2030.

Overall, what is unfolding is a fundamental shift for the power industry, which has undergone a decade of stagnant consumption.

Report here

Peter Michaelis and Simon Clements discuss the drivers of returns, the stock and asset allocation changes they have made, and where they see the opportunities for the SF managed funds.

Nestled in the heart of Britain’s forests, Center Parcs UK has become synonymous with family holidays that blend nature and leisure. With six villages across the UK and Ireland, each spanning around 400 acres of woodland, Center Parcs offers getaways that aim to promote biodiversity and sustainable living. Each village offers a range of self-catering accommodation, from apartments and lodges to luxury treehouses and a wide range of leisure activities. 

Center Parcs has been a long-standing holding in the sustainable fixed income funds. The business is owned by private equity company Brookfield Property Partners, a long-term, supportive shareholder, which was clearly evident during the Covid period, injecting capital into the business to help see it through those unprecedented and challenging times. 

The green bond market has experienced meaningful growth in recent years, offering fixed income investors a valuable means to support the climate transition.

However, as the market represents a relatively small share of global investment-grade debt, it can be challenging for investors to allocate to this asset class at scale – and in a way that doesn’t veer from benchmark performance and risk.

Lazard's 2025 LCOE+ report highlights that, despite headwinds and macroeconomic challenges, renewables remain the most cost-competitive form of new-build generation on an unsubsidized basis (i.e., without tax subsidies).

As such, renewable energy will continue to play a key role in the buildout of new power generation in the U.S. This is particularly true in the current high power demand environment, where renewables stand out as both the lowest-cost and quickest-to-deploy generation resource.

The report also emphasizes the need for diverse generation fleets to meet rising power demands, as well as the vital role system-wide planning and innovation will play in shaping a reliable and sustainable energy future. 

Lazard’s 2025 Review of Shareholder Activism highlights key trends and data in shareholder activism activity throughout the year.

Climate risk remains a key focus for regulators and investors, despite the apparent backlash against ESG considerations in some regions. The significance of climate risk is reinforced by existing and upcoming mandatory climate reporting requirements in various regions globally. 

This report evaluates all 29 global systemically important banks (G-SIBs) in terms of their preparedness for managing climate transition risks in alignment with evolving standards and regulations, providing an overview of key regulatory and reporting framework developments, and containing an assessment of the top-performing G-SIBs regarding climate governance, strategy and risk management. 

Key Insights:

• Norway is moving ahead with Arctic oil expansion, despite mounting ESG tensions. The APA 2025 licensing round expands acreage in the Barents and Norwegian Seas, even as other Arctic nations have paused or scaled back activity.
• Offshore activity intersects with particularly valuable and vulnerable areas that require “special caution” but lack legal protection or quantitative thresholds. This raises concerns about cumulative impacts as exploration pushes north.
• While Norway recognizes Indigenous rights and has ratified ILO Convention 169, licensing processes have historically excluded climate and petroleum objections from decision criteria. This underscores the complexity of balancing Indigenous rights, stakeholder participation, and energy development objectives in Norway’s Arctic.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Changes in climate patterns can exacerbate existing risks associated with national security
• Resilience is core to food, energy and water systems, which are key components of economic growth across the globe
• Building frameworks with materiality, vulnerability and abatement in mind can facilitate analysis of risk and opportunity

Bridging the Digital Divide with Shared Infrastructure

About a third of the global population still does not use the internet, with surveys suggesting that even awareness of the internet is not universal. Yet, the internet now gives access to vital services around the world, including healthcare and education, from which a substantial portion of the world is excluded.

"Biodiversity risk is more nuanced and complex than many investors think. For instance, there’s a widespread belief that deforestation poses the biggest nature-related risk for most portfolios. But when we applied our proprietary biodiversity risk-assessment framework for a client, we found that water risk—not deforestation—was the portfolio’s biggest exposure. Our analysis of the MSCI AWCI Index using the same framework shows water risk is elevated for many companies, highlighting just how important it is to assess biodiversity risk accurately."

New research connects intensifying natural perils to their future implications for asset classes.

When it comes to measuring our vulnerability to nature's extremes, investors often lean on past data and simply assume that risks will rise. But new groundbreaking research has removed considerable guesswork, particularly among four key natural hazards facing the world this century.

Oil remains important enough to spark military action. That in itself does not reduce the investment risks of discovering, extracting and refining oil products.

"Last week in our latest Cyclical Outlook, “Compounding Opportunity,” we argued that beneath the economy’s broad resilience lies a stark divergence. U.S. policy pivots combined with the surge in adoption of AI technology have created winners and losers: Many large, capital-intensive firms that are aggressively deploying AI are pulling ahead, while more and more workers (and their households) are falling behind. These crucial macro trends appear poised to continue, with ramifications for the economy, markets, and politics in 2026 and beyond."

India’s power transition will play a defining role in shaping both its long-term development trajectory and the global energy landscape. As electricity demand rises and net-zero commitments approach, the sector faces a critical challenge: ensuring firm, reliable, and affordable power while accelerating decarbonisation.

ARE’s research, Powering Net Zero, provides a comprehensive assessment of how India’s leading listed utilities — NTPC, Tata Power, JSW Energy, Adani Green Energy, and Adani Power — are positioned as the sector moves beyond a simple “coal versus renewables” debate toward a system defined by round-the-clock delivery aligned to net-zero goals.

The report tracks policy shifts, market design developments, cost trends, and technology innovations — particularly storage — that are reshaping how utilities plan, contract, and invest. It examines each company’s growth visibility, execution discipline, balance-sheet strength, and readiness for firming and storage as these factors become central to competitive advantage. The analysis draws on public disclosures, regulatory filings, and government announcements.

While the study highlights significant momentum across the sector, it also identifies areas where sharper strategic clarity, improved contracting frameworks, and stronger delivery capabilities will be essential to meeting India’s long-term decarbonisation goals.

"In the years since the Global Financial Crisis, stewardship has grown in importance as a cornerstone of long-term value creation.

The Walker and Kay Reviews laid bare the dangers of short-termism and misaligned incentives, prompting landmark reforms to strengthen the corporate governance regime in the UK, as well as frameworks for greater investor responsibility, transparency and accountability.

All with the aim to ensure that companies and their shareholders were focusing on the issues which could impact value creation and to increase accountability between companies and their shareholders."

• Date: Monday 23 February 2026
• Time: 18:30 GMT, 19:30 CET, 13:30 ET, 10:30 PT
• Venue: Old Theatre, Old Building, LSE at Houghton St, London, WC2A 2AE 
• Format: Hybrid
  • In-person: Request the ticket via the LSE online ticket request form.
  • Online via LSE Live: register here.

• Adam Heltzer, Partner and Head of the ESG Group, Ares
• Hayley McGuinness, Associate Director in Emerging Markets Equities, Federated Hermes
• Professor Peter Tufano, Baker Foundation Professor, Harvard Business School and Senior Advisor, Harvard Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability
• Caroline Escott, Head of Investment Stewardship and Co-Head of Sustainable Ownership, Railpen
• Nikolaus Hastreiter, PhD candidate, LSE’s Department of Geography and Environment and Policy Fellow, TPI Centre, LSE
• Chair and Moderator: Carmen Nuzzo, Professor in Practice and Executive Director, TPI Centre, LSE

... includes ...

• Sector Sustainability Impact Profile
• Environmental Impact: GHG Emissions, Air & Water Pollution
• Social Impact: Product Use and Safety
• Rating Snapshot
• Sustainable Finance Trends
• Topic in Focus: Renewable Feedstocks & Green Chemicals

Join us as a Sustainability Structurer where you will support the UK Corporate Sustainability Finance product offering for both new business and existing portfolio, adopting sustainable and transition finance products by UKC client with the execution and optimisation of structured ESG portfolio transactions to meet objectives. Build long term and economic key partnerships across various sector and coverage teams aligned with the sustainable agenda. Optimising returns from client opportunities either at bespoke or at structured portfolio levels and work in collaboration with other UK Corporate origination teams and coverage.

Lazard Asset Management is currently recruiting for a Head of Quantitative Sustainable Investment Research to join its Sustainable Investment and Quantitative Research teams across New York, Boston, and London. This is an exciting opportunity to work in a growing team within a large global organization. This position will play a key role in leveraging the firm’s existing Sustainable Investment research capabilities to set and drive the quantitative ESG and climate research agenda. The ideal candidate will have a passion for sustainable investing combined with strong quantitative research skills.

BNY Sustainability are seeking a future team member to support day-to-day planning and execution with a focus on ESG regulatory implementation. This role is located in London.

In this senior role, you will be at the forefront of Nokia's sustainability journey, engaging with top customers worldwide. Working closely with various teams, you will develop and enhance Nokia's sustainability value proposition, creating new business opportunities. As a key sustainability expert, you will guide regional teams and accounts, pushing the boundaries of co-creation and impacting sales and customer relationships.

You will be responsible for supporting the Entity Reporting & Group Reporting LT to deliver the finance vision and successfully transition to a future state team which is efficient, structured, and accountable. You will work directly with the Director of Entity & Group Reporting to the finance strategy on sustainability reporting.

As a Sustainable Investing Research Analyst within the Sustainable Investing team, you will collaborate with financial analysts and portfolio managers under the leadership of the Global Head of Sustainable Investing Research. You will report to one of the Sustainable Investing Research Leads, focusing on delivering sustainability insights through ESG risk assessment and investment frameworks across various asset classes.

Sustainability is one of the Barbican’s five core values hence this new strategically important role has been created. The Head of Sustainability will lead the sustainability team and ensure the Centre achieves its strategic goals and objectives. The post holder will lead the development and delivery of the sustainability strategy and report at a senior level on its progress. They will influence decision making across every team.

In partnership with Directors’ Group and the Management Team, they will also lead behavioural change in the areas of energy, sustainability and environmental management. They will lead the Centre-wide.

The Science Based Targets (SBTi) initiative is looking for a Sector Lead (paternity leave cover; 6-month contract with possibility of extension) to support the Sector Standards Team’s work to develop standards for the energy, industry and transport sectors. 

Core Responsibilities

-Build the ESG compliance agenda by partnering with Legal, Governance & Public Affairs and key partners to identify, interpret, and assess emerging ESG and human rights regulations aligned with sustainability and responsible sourcing goals
-Turn regulation into action by building multi-year compliance roadmaps and mitigation plans, inspire change management, and supporting embedding requirements into operations and supplier practices - especially within Procurement, in close partnership with Sustainable Sourcing
-Lead global EU Deforestation Regulations compliance, owning the overall roadmap and governance while coordinating cross-functional teams and ....tracking progress, risks, and milestones establishing ownership in and transition to business.

As the Principal Consultant for Corporate ESG Services, you will develop and manage the ESG advisory services offering within the wider ESG Corporate Services Business Unit, with support from Business Unit Manager.  Acting as commercial lead and providing support and direction. To deliver projects to the required quality and driving business growth and development activities. Provide an expert point of reference on technical delivery.

Join our client's JV project team, where your role will be to provide vital environmental and sustainability advice, guidance, and support across all operations. Your expertise will help reduce environmental risks associated with construction activities and foster a culture of sustainability.

Head, UK & Ireland, Responsible Investment Markets (12 Month Fixed Term Contract, Family Leave Cover) - Principles for Responsible Investment - Applied

Associate, Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance (12 Month Fixed Term Contract) - Principles for Responsible Investment - Applied

Head of Sponsorship, Events - Principles for Responsible Investment - Applied

Senior Specialist, Policy - UK (Part Time) - Principles for Responsible Investment - Applied

Work as part of a multidisciplinary team across a range of industries to assist companies in better understand and develop solutions to respond to the complex and evolving policy, regulatory, and business environment risks and opportunities associated with ESG/Sustainability and Decarbonization....

Supervise and enhance the analysis of corporate activities and provide recommendations related to enhance their sustainability/ESG strategy, methods, framework, and related tools to support clients in achieving their sustainability/ ESG objectives.....

The MSCI Sustainability Research Corporate Governance team is responsible for providing clients with actionable content on corporate governance and contributing innovative insights into the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings framework.

Open to London, Frankfurt and Amsterdam locations

Asset Management role

In this role, you will help deliver and evidence the outcomes of our stewardship activity across engagement and voting, including communicating clearly how these activities support investment decision -making and client priorities. You will act as an engagement specialist, contributing to targeted dialogue with companies and supporting the oversight of voting and engagement activity. A key focus of the role is producing high quality written materials and disclosures, including drafting content for the Stewardship code reporting, PRI submissions and voting and engagement reporting and developing clear, client ready narratives and case studies that articulate progress, outcomes, and client benefits.

The Sustainable Investing Research Analyst is a member of the Sustainable Investing Research team within State Street Investment Management’s Sustainable Investing organization. The role is responsible for conducting investment-relevant thematic research to support State Street Investment Management’s industry leading sustainable investing research capability and sustainable investment solution innovation in order to meet rising client demand. The position is based in London and reports to the Global Head of Sustainable Investing Research.

Reporting to the Managing Director, Sustainable Investing, the Principal, Sustainable Investing will play a key role in the implementation of HOOPP’s new Sustainable Investing strategy, a key initiative in the 2030 Strategic Plan.

In this role, you will be a leading contributor to generating sustainability insights to inform portfolio resilience. You will bring a strong technical foundation and a passion to contribute to the continued advancement of Sustainable Investing at HOOPP. 

Eurasia Group is looking for an experienced and driven Senior Analyst to join its Global Environment & Sustainability Practice. This role focuses on climate transition across industries, sustainability due diligence, and sustainable finance. The Senior Analyst will serve as Eurasia Group’s foremost expert on climate-related issues.

You’ll:

- Lead Workspace’s ESG strategy and ensure progress against the Net Zero pathway
- Embed ESG into investment, asset management and operations
- Strengthen our social impact agenda, with a clear focus on skills, early careers and local communities.....

The Associate will play an important role in consolidating the position of Moody’s Sustainable Finance team as the preeminent source of expertise on ESG credit risks and sustainable finance in global credit markets. The role-holder will support the Sustainable Finance team’s thought leadership program, contributing to the publication of thematic research and delivery of outreach activities. 

You will be part of a small and dedicated team supporting Schroders maintain its high level of responsible business standards and meet its own sustainability commitments. You’ll manage, co-ordinate and own multiple cross-functional initiatives and projects across the year. 

The Sustainability Reporting Manager will support the Director of Sustainability Reporting Expertise in overseeing Unilever’s global sustainability reporting. The role sits within the Sustainability Finance team which reports to Unilever’s Group Controller and works closely with the Group Chief Accounting Department (GCAD) to ensure consistency between financial and non-financial reporting.

Employment Type: Contract Please note, where PRI has an office there is an expectation to work a minimum of 2 days per week
Location: Hybrid · London, City of, UK
Team: Investor Education
Seniority: Mid-level

Closing: 8:00pm, 1st Feb 2026 GMT

Employment Type Part time Please note, where PRI has an office there is an expectation to work a minimum of 2 days per week
Location Hybrid · Germany (multiple locations)Berlin · Munich · Frankfurt
 
Team RI Markets
Seniority Mid-level
Closing: 8:00pm, 25th Jan 2026 GMT