Robeco: Charting an informed course to net zero 

The road to a net-zero economy will be long, bumpy and disruptive. To navigate the transition’s risks and capture its opportunities, investors need forward-looking metrics. Robeco’s Sector Decarbonization Pathways (SDP) move investors one step closer to the holy grail of climate analytics.

Summary

• Pathways assess the timeliness, credibility and capacity of company emission targets
• Company performance compared to sector peers and science-based benchmarks
• Forward-looking data used to distinguish transition leaders from laggards

FTSE Russell: Has it been easy being green? Sustainable index performance in 2022

The widely known quote “It’s not easy being green” is often used in sustainable investment (‘SI’) circles. However, with the challenges SI faced in 2022, some commentators professed an ‘ESG downturn’. We look at the numbers to see how easy or hard it was to be green in 2022.

In 2022 most SI indices indeed underperformed their benchmarks, after significant outperformance in 2020 and 2021. However, in both equities and the fixed income, it is noticeable that the most visible, ‘greenest’ areas of SI, green economy equities and green bonds were the areas of the largest underperformance. FTSE Environmental Opportunities All Share, which is focused on companies with more than 20% exposure to the green economy, was down 6.2% relative to the FTSE Global All Cap.

FTSE World Broad Investment-Grade (“WorldBIG”) Green Impact Bond Index was down 5.5% relative to the FTSE WorldBIG.  These were hit, as was the rest of the market, by rising interest rates hitting growth stocks and bonds with longer durations. These were also the areas of the greatest outperformance in 2020 & 2021 and had built up valuation and duration headwinds, so underperformance is not surprising and indeed green equities underperformed in 5 of the 6 main market downturns in the last 22 years. The comparison became even more painful when compared to the strong performance of the fossil fuel sector in 2022 (in equities at least, investment-grade energy corporate bonds underperformed in 2022).

S&P Global Sustainable1: Rocks and hard places - The complicated nexus of energy transition minerals and biodiversity

Low-carbon energy transition pathways predict a massive expansion in the supply of rare minerals, and companies are exploring hundreds of new sites globally that have mining potential.

More than 1,200 mining sites lie within Key Biodiversity Areas, and 29% of those sites are for energy transition minerals, according to a new analysis from S&P Global Sustainable1 based on data accessed through collaboration with UNEP-WCMC

Accessing more of these minerals to expand low-emissions technologies like electric vehicles, solar energy and batteries can create pressures on biodiversity, undermining the resilience of ecosystems and their role in addressing climate change.

RFI Foundation: ECB sustainable finance & climate indicators shine a light on financed emissions data

The ECB’s new sustainable finance & climate data indicators highlight some of the most pressing data quality and methodology issues in producing the information needed to guide climate change mitigation. As financial institutions work with the data they do have, they will need to combine insights from many sources to inform their strategy and decision-making around climate risk.

• The ECB’s statistical committee has released climate and sustainable finance indicators combining available data to create a picture of the euro zone’s financial sector climate exposure and sustainable finance response.
• One of the most challenging issues with the data available today is the difficulty in pinpointing the effectiveness of financial institutions’ efforts to align with trend-altering trajectories towards a net zero future
• The ECB’s indicators highlight the challenge that all financial institutions and regulators will face whereby the necessary action to mitigate climate change will have to precede the data they would like to have to guide the decision-making process.

The European Central Bank has released an explanation of the regular indicators it will begin to release showing different sustainable finance and climate risk metrics. In doing so, it has highlighted challenges to the methodology for the data currently available, as well as challenges for financial institutions and investors using the data to drive climate action into the future.

The ECB’s sustainable finance and climate indicators (transition and physical risk) relate to three outputs:

• Sustainable finance: Experimental indicators showing the coverage and composition of sustainable and green bond issuance and holding within the euro area, relying on issuer self-labels and more comprehensive data coverage for green bonds when compared with other labelled bonds.
• Transition risk: An analytical indicator of financed emissions and an emissions-intensity metric is produced for financial sector stakeholders based on a ‘waterfall’ approach, including data on various levels of company-specific and country-sector-year emissions estimates.
• Physical risk: Three types of analytical indicators based on data availability measuring potential exposure at risk, the addition of risk scores, and a metric that (data allowing) could provide exposure at risk and computation of expected annual losses covering flood, wildfire and water stress risks.

The metrics cover many of the major financially relevant risks, including those related to financial stability. However, the quality of data underpinning these indicators, even though they have been compiled based on loan- and security-level data, is still somewhat rudimentary. For financed emissions, for example, the data combining emissions from the EU’s Emissions Trading System and the necessary non-financial corporate balance sheet data are available for under half of the total loan data available. The rest have to be estimated based on country-sector-year averages.

Furthermore, the coverage of emissions relates to different scopes that are quite narrow for considering the full impact of climate transition-related risks. Where data are collected at the entity-level, only Scope 1 emissions are covered. At the group level, global Scope 1 and 2 emissions are incorporated. Scope 3 emissions data are not covered, although these are important for investors and financial institutions exposed to multiple parts of the value chain.

The Statistics Committee of the European System of Central Banks, who compiled the data, concede the limitations of the data. They noted that “the intention of this release is also to facilitate a public debate and allow an open exchange of views (including on methodological aspects) with the research community and other stakeholders on how to achieve further progress towards the derivation of statistical indicators”. As a result, they conceded that “this is still a work in progress and the use of these indicators is subject to a number of caveats [and that] further improvements, in some cases significant ones, are required and will be addressed in future work”.

One of the specific limitations addressed in relation to transition risk indicators was that a point-in-time survey of the existing exposures would not naturally translate into clear indicators of progress towards decarbonization.

This issue has been considered by others, including the RFI Foundation in the context of our financed emissions in Islamic markets research. One of the clearer explanations of the issue came from the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) who, in replying to a UK government Transition Plan Taskforce “Call for Evidence”, warned of the hazards for investors in approaching a reduction of their financed emissions through divestment alone.

In the context of financial sector transition plans, the IIGCC cautioned the task force to: “Avoid encouraging ‘paper decarbonisation’ through the sale/divestment of carbon-intensive assets by setting expectations that companies and investors should achieve emissions reductions through transitioning their business models and strategies and through stewardship/engagement.”

The ECB’s recent data included a similar caution in relation to financed emissions “due to different data coverage rates and because it is currently impossible to disentangle changes in carbon footprints arising from divestment (from high-emission sectors) and from greening of underlying assets.”

The reason the time series issue is so challenging to measure is that it requires using historical data on the trends in financed emissions and allocations of finance & investment applied to a future where the objective of climate mitigation requires these trends to change. However, the data visible to central banks and investors capture only a slice of the financial sector, and target setting to reduce financing to high-emitting sectors will more likely push more of it beyond the field of view.

The speed limit on transition – which needs to be as rapid as possible – has multiple elements accelerating or holding it back. None of the elements on its own can accelerate the pace enough, and the more items that are present, the greater the likelihood of successful climate transition.

These cover more than just what is under the control of the financial sector, including governmental policy to internalize costs of GHG emissions through carbon taxes, regulation, or incentives for low-emission alternatives. They include disclosure regulations for non-financial companies on the credibility and progress of their transition plans and broader disclosure about their measurement of total value chain emissions.

There is no time to wait on the other measures needed for the climate transition for investors and financial institutions to incorporate climate considerations in their financing & investment decisions. Analytic indicators such as those the ECB recently released, and other sources to add detail or expand coverage, even if imprecise, will support development of financial institutions’ capabilities to understand, respond to and work to mitigate their climate-related financial risks.

Want to learn more about responsible finance in Islamic markets & Islamic finance? Subscribe to RFI’s weekly email newsletter today!

WHEB: WHEB's 2022 carbon commitments review and 2023 goals

Back in 2020 WHEB committed to ensuring that, by 2025, 50% of our portfolio would have set a net-zero carbon (NZC) target for 2050 or earlier.

At the end of 2022, 54% of WHEB’s portfolio companies have announced a NZC commitment, with a huge 90% of those companies with targets already approved, or committed to having them approved, by the Science Based Targets initiative.

In this article Climate and Data Analyst, Katie Woodhouse covers WHEB's increasingly ambitious targets and the vexed question of carbon offsets.

Planet Tracker: Sleeve labelling best short-term solution to boost recycling rates

Currently less than nine per cent of plastic waste is recycled and attention is too often focused on the container’s material to the neglect of the type of label used. 

141 million tonnes of plastic packaging are currently produced every year, with the world’s leaders in plastic packaging consumption, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Unilever, Mars and L’Oréal, using over 7.7 million tonnes in 2021. 

Increased regulation around higher recycled content in packaging has led to a rapid rise in the demand for recovered material. However, the availability of recycled plastics is not currently able to meet this rising demand. 

This has led to increasing prices across different recovered commodities. In 2022 in Europe, the recycled PET pellet was sold 51 per cent higher than virgin at a premium of EUR 797 (USD 868) per tonne.

Consumer brands should adopt a self-help approach which ensures that labels are of the same material as the container. This would radically boost recycling rates and help to establish a closed loop recycling system that actively targets supply chain sustainability.

Although closed loop recycling is anticipated to grow, this alone is not enough to meet the rising demand for recycled plastic material.

Klement on Investing: How much is a sustainability label worth?

If you look through the factsheets of index and actively managed funds, you immediately realise that sustainable funds charge higher average fees. In the US, the average index fund with an ESG mandate has an expense ratio of some 10-20bps above traditional index funds. Given that most index funds in the US charge less than 20bps, this premium implies some 50% more revenues for the providers of sustainable index funds.

But the real question is, how much a sustainability label is worth to investors? How much are investors willing to pay to invest in a sustainable version of an otherwise identical conventional fund?

BankTrack: 7% of global banks' energy financing goes to renewables

“Major global banks are standing in the way of climate targets with new data showing just 7% of their financing for energy companies went to renewables between 2016 and 2022.”

The data, produced for Sierra Club, Fair Finance International, BankTrack and Rainforest Action Network, indicates major failings by financial institutions to help meet global commitments on net zero emissions by 2050 since it shows shockingly low financial support through loans and bond underwriting for clean energy. It calls into question pledges from the industry-led Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), whose commissioned research shows low carbon energy investments need to account for at least 80% of energy investments compared to fossil fuels (4:1) by 2030 to reach climate goals.

• However, no bank looks set to reach this very minimum requirement. Across the world, the picture is dismal: at US$ 181 billion Citi and JP Morgan Chase each pumped the most into the energy companies examined between 2016 and 2022 but just 2% went to renewables.
• Similarly, only 2% of Barclays’ financing of the energy companies examined went to renewables. Royal Bank of Canada is at just 1%, Mizuho 4% and HSBC 5%.
• The figure stands at 7% for French bank BNP Paribas.

This report reviews State Street Global Advisors’ stewardship activities, including an update on our human capital management engagements. We explore remuneration developments in Europe, including the new remuneration reports in Germany that are now going to investor proxy vote for the first time. Finally, we provide a preview of engagement campaigns on the topics of plastics as well as methane.

Fidelity: Employee welfare is still a priority

Fidelity’s 2023 Analyst Survey, to be published next month and taking in the views of 152 analysts who cover a wide range of business sectors across the globe, suggests companies are sticking with the initiatives begun in recent years or doubling down on them in a bid to keep staff happy. Indeed, as the chart shows, in some sectors employee welfare and mental health continue to grow in importance.

• “Why” is a thornier question. The simplest explanation is that a lot of companies have years of experience with initiatives like wellbeing workshops, employee assistance programmes, and benefits like gym memberships that promote physical and mental welfare.
• Employees like these perks and they have become ‘table stakes’ for employers, without which they’ll have trouble attracting or retaining staff.
• The social isolation and stress brought by Covid also made employee mental health a daily managerial issue and changed how managers deal with workers.

In this reading at any rate, companies are sticking with what works and others are joining in. But elsewhere in the survey there are clues that more hard-nosed commercial motivations may be at work too.

BarCap: War and extreme weather threaten fragile food supply chains

Barcap research analysts investigate the causes and outcomes of food shortages and high prices in an extract from a new Impact Series report on food security.

The war in Ukraine and an increase in extreme weather events are stretching already fragile food supply chains following shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the Ukrainian war continues to suppress food production, droughts in Europe and Africa in 2022, as well as floods in countries such as Pakistan, have contributed to high food prices and shortages worldwide. Combined with a rise in fertiliser and labour costs, these have created inflationary pressures.

The current food price volatility exposes the fragility of our global food system: rising food insecurity, social unrest, displacement and migration are all possible effects.

Wellington: Building climate resilience - Toward a practical corporate framework

Key points:

• Worsening physical climate risks are creating challenges and opportunities for companies in many sectors and regions.
• Companies can potentially lower costs and increase their long-term value by becoming more resilient to climate change.
• The authors propose a practical framework that can help companies apply business resilience concepts to the climate context.

Free Float Media: ESG Predictions 2023

Just when you thought prediction/trend season was over, the first actually useful, non-fluffy, highly specific, and very data driven ESG predictions are released. Uses data on 200,000 directors power and performance from Board Sabermetrics, legit the best predictions inside or outside of ESG you'll read this year.

We predict, in 2023… 

• A director will be voted out almost exclusively on their carbon emissions track record. 

• The “old stale male” board purge happens, driven by cybersecurity breaches, crypto resurgence, and AI. 

• The “diversity whiplash” movement begins as the anti-woke vote out women in power on boards. 

• The anti-woke make allegations of election fraud in the alternative democracy. 

• CEO succession planning becomes less of a joke.

• There is a “cheaply made recession” while the recycling economy booms.

• After a decade of condescending tokenism, women weaponize femtech to level the playing field. 

What does the latest Index Industry Association (IIA) global membership survey reveal about current trends in indexes and benchmarks?

Chief among the key data points is that the rapid expansion of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) indexes continues to gain momentum and diversify across asset classes.

The 2022 survey found the number of ESG indexes grew by 55%, with fixed-income–focused ESG indexes and benchmarks taking the lead in driving that growth.

Highlights from the report:

• The scene is set for major countries - in addition to China - to build clean energy capacity at scale. The EU and US are primed to race to the top of clean technology, much of which is now manufactured by China. To do this, the US is using industrial policy with protectionist elements.
• The EU is likely to follow with its own subsidy playbook. An instigator of this moment is China’s dominance in multiple areas of renewable manufacturing and critical raw material (CRM) refining.
• Current western policy responses to this situation reveal the tension between being unable to live without China if energy transition goals are to be met and being unable to completely live with China when it comes to survival of domestic industries.
• A primary rationale for America’s new industrial policy is not commonly appreciated; the Biden Administration views it as a means to it protect democracy in America. The industrial strategy involves incentivising global companies to locate manufacturing of clean energy in the US, exploiting the huge job creation potential of the industry.
• Seen from this standpoint, the US administration is unlikely to backslide on its industrial and trade agenda. The US expects and welcomes the prospect that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will elicit a chain reaction of similar subsidies among its allies. This policy is likely to stick even in a post-Biden world.
• The EU must now contend with unabashed subsidy regimes from two of its primary global trading partners in clean energy, China, and the US. Current EU tools are not fit for purpose; the bloc has some ammunition to use for business support, but comprehensive action is constrained by unique factors and much of the support is being directed to cushioning business and individuals from high energy prices.

The Big Picture 2023 - Sustainability 

A look ahead to the key strategic trends and opportunities expected to drive sustainability narrative through 2023 and beyond.

Following the unprecedented market and policy momentum behind environmental, social and governance in 2021, investors, corporate boards, and government leaders raised their expectations for companies to progress on climate pledges in 2022.

Alongside climate, biodiversity and other environmental concerns, social issues remained in the spotlight in 2022. Rising demands for action have led to increasing pressure for more accountability, greater regulatory scrutiny and credible disclosure backed by better data.

Hodgson's Choice: Inclusive Insurance for Climate-Related Disasters

Inclusive Insurance for Climate-Related Disasters Financially Protecting the Unserved and the Underserved against Climate Disasters

This is a brief prepared by me for Ceres, based on a much longer report commissioned by Ceres, Inclusive Insurance for Climate-Related Disasters: Roadmap for the United States, written by Carolyn Kousky, PhD, Associate Vice President for Economics and Policy, Environmental Defense Fund, and Karina French, Manager, Climate Resilience Research, Environmental Defense Fund. 

Want to know what inclusive insurance is? Well, read the Brief, obviously, but, “Inclusive insurance” refers to any program or policy that makes insurance coverage more available and affordable to those previously locked out of the insurance market.

• "Properly structured ESG-linked pay can enhance company value; but concerns over 'ESG-washing' are evident 
• We explain our assessment framework to help investors spot 'red flags' in pay disclosures and improve their analysis 
• We also review policies of FTSE 350 travel & leisure firms and provide questions to assist investors in their engagement

HSBC: European Green Deal

CBAM: A clear signal to decarbonise. The rest is noise

• "High-stakes EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) set to go ahead, ruffling many feathers
• Cutting through the noise, the material issue for CBAM covered sectors is the loss of free emissions allowances
• Our view is this will drive clean investment and accelerate structural change on the path to net zero 2050

CBAM in, free allocation out. The CBAM aims to reduce the risk of emissions leakage, replacing the previous leakage policy of free European Union Allowance (EUA) allocation. Free allowances will be phased out from 2026 as CBAM is phased in, with the phase out process complete by 2034.

Free allocation phase-out is the key material issue. CBAM covered sectors currently receive an emissions subsidy of around EUR20 billion a year that will be removed completely by 2034. This will strengthen the carbon price signal, accelerating investment in decarbonisation and driving significant clean structural change in CBAM covered sectors. Our case study on the cement industry shows that CRH and Holcim are comparatively well placed.

Other key issues to watch. These include: measures to prevent export leakage; responses from trading partners including formation of climate clubs; WTO complaints from developing countries; and reshuffling of global trade flows.

How to prepare? Investors should monitor company CBAM reporting preparation and encourage strong decarbonisation plans. We provide questions for investor engagement on these issues.”

Hodgson's Choice: Shareholder Resolutions in Review: Racial and Gender Pay Gaps

Average support for gender and racial pay gap proposals reached 42.6% of votes cast FOR and AGAINST, with median support of 33.7% of votes cast.

These new resolutions asking banks to match action with words - when they are in the Net Zero Banking Alliance - to stop lending to fossil fuel firms did not fare well, potentially due to low levels of support from the largest asset managers.

Newton IM: Finding Opportunities for Positive Change and Sustainable Growth in EMs

Lower and middle-income countries are home to four out of every five people on the planet, and account for over half of the world’s economic activity, as measured by PPP-adjusted GDP. Newton believe their global relevance will continue to grow, in large part owing to their needs, wants and resource intensity.

It is in emerging markets where the deployment of large-scale solutions most urgently needs to be funded, and yet these countries remain vastly underrepresented in terms of global capital flows today. Around 88% of ESG or sustainable investment funds today are global or developed-market focused, while emerging markets represent little more than 10% of global-equity indices…

Highlights

Engaged with 44 issuers for the purpose of raising ESG concerns or seeking further information

Voted at 156 Annual General Meetings + 134 Extraordinary General Meetings on behalf of clients

WHEB: Fashion companies’ climate pledges need a sustainability makeover

In our latest blog post, Senior Analyst Claire Jervis looks at the paradox of 'sustainable fashion'. Although this mostly relies on behavioural change from consumers - buy less, buy better - there are also actions clothing retailers can take to massively reduce the carbon footprint of fashion.

The Food Foundation: Investor Briefing - What do investors need to monitor to ensure food industry net zero commitments are credible?

This investor briefing looks at current climate change commitments by major UK-operating food retailers, restaurant chains and caterers given a third of UK food businesses don't have a Net Zero target and only half are reporting detailed food emissions data.

It aims to help investors understand the credibility of these pledges and proposes a strategy to accelerate progress in the industry.

The world will not be able to bring global warming within 1.5 degrees unless food system related greenhouse gas emissions are reduced. Data on emissions for individual foods remains unreliable, with generic datasets on emissions not capturing the wide ranges in emissions between and within food products.

While protocols and better datasets are being developed, investors ought to look for, and monitor, existing indications of progress within companies. Where food companies have net zero commitments, investors need to look for three things:

1. Are they removing deforestation and land-use conversion from businesses and supply chains,

2. Are they cutting food waste across their supply chain and not just in their own operations, and

3. Are they shifting sales away from animal-based foods and towards plant-based foods.

The passenger electric vehicle car is taking off in the EU thanks to extensive decarbonization policies. Rabobank analyze the role of GDP per capita, available charging infrastructure, and governmental incentives in achieving the EU 2030 targets.

• The combination of a demand-driven appetite for carbon-free mobility with policy targets to phase out the EU’s fossil fuel dependency is the ‘perfect storm’ to reshape the EU’s mobility from now to 2030
• In this article, Rabobank analyze electric vehicles’ market uptake, as well as the parallel deployment of public charging infrastructure across the EU
• E-mobility is developing very differently across EU countries. The Netherlands leads the way in terms of market penetration of battery electric vehicles, and in terms of charging point density
• Regarding the factors driving these developments, there is a strong correlation between GDP per capita and electric vehicles’ market penetration. The influence of charging network density across the EU is debatable and more difficult to establish. Finally, the various support schemes for electric vehicles do not have a consistent impact across the EU. Below a certain GPD per capita, they do not seem to be able to trigger market uptake
• As a result, it can be concluded that reducing total cost of ownership for electric vehicles is likely to result in stronger market leverage than increasing charging infrastructure density

Don’t look back: 2022 wasn’t a great year for global climate progress, and the political distractions from climate ambition remain in play now. 2023 should start to reveal whether energy security concerns will morph back into energy transition plans, with the IPCC Synthesis report in March acting as a reminder of the urgency. More frequent extreme climate events should also drive the message home, while the UN Secretary General will host another climate ambition summit in September 2023.

It’s trillions: In 2023, attention will turn to climate finance requirements – trillions, not billions – and probe why these flows aren’t happening faster. Calls to reform multi[1]lateral finance institutions will rise, given their key role in ‘de-risking’ investments; and focus will remain on concessional finance, given the poor fiscal outlook for many EMs.

The net-zero offset: Companies will face further scrutiny of net-zero plans, with a focus on the quality of offsets used. In our view, this could shift the focus back towards greater self (organic) decarbonisation. The tightening climate disclosures in, notably North America, the EU and Asia, will likely facilitate this closer examination.

Fit (or fall): The EU needs to finalise its Fit for 55 proposals this year to ensure these are enacted into law without further delay to meet 2030 targets. Its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism will ruffle a many feathers, in HSBC’s view. Elsewhere, HSBC expect India to continue moving steadily forward with its transition plans, and ASEAN to step up its efforts, despite its reliance on coal and oil.

The inaugural climate mark sheet: COP28 will take place in the UAE this year (30 November-12 December) and deliver the first global stocktake, which will likely show just how far we are from implementing the Paris Agreement and keeping 1.5°C alive

PRI: IPR Forecast Policy Scenario + Nature

The IPR FPS + Nature is the first integrated nature and climate scenario for use by investors. It fills a crucial gap in risk assessments and provides financial institutions with an exploratory forward-looking view on how policy, technological and social trends could impact key land use and energy-related value drivers. It represents a ‘beta version’ scenario of what might happen when nature-related policy is incorporated into a climate-related scenario.

• The decline of nature is beginning to lead to policy action, which could impact investors and financial institutions
• Government action on nature is increasing and a range of policies and regulations are being introduced to accompany action on climate. Over 190 countries agreed to adopt a global biodiversity framework at the COP 15 summit in Montreal in December 2022. Policy action to achieve these commitments may create new risks but lead to new opportunities for companies and investors.

Companies and investors are being asked to understand their impacts on nature and disclose these. Emerging frameworks, such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), will encourage investors to take a forward-looking view on nature-related risks and report on how they are exposed to nature and biodiversity

Private markets can offer a number of rewards for investors, including a breadth of opportunities and the potential for higher returns. As the world transitions to a net-zero economy, private markets can play a vital role in facilitating the evolution.

With investments across a variety of asset classes, from private capital to real assets, private markets can demonstrate the power of capital investment in a much more meaningful way than public markets.

The range of possible investments can include the efficient creation and enhancement of infrastructure, the provision of capital to businesses, and projects that promote sustainability.

To reach net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, entities operating in most sectors must undergo a major transformation. The key tool that will enable this transformation is the development of a transition plan that is science based, coherent, comprehensive, transparent and covers all material scopes of emissions and business activities.

This report presents the results of an examination of published sustainability and transition plans of several entities operating in the hard-to-abate sectors in ASEAN to assess the current state of transition planning and provide recommendations for next steps.

Hodgson's Choice: Leading Lobbying Practices to Drive 1.5°C Policy Action

How can companies avoid the headline risks associated with misaligned #climate lobbying? Now Out: Leading Lobbying Practices to Drive 1.5°C Policy provides practical guidance for companies and their investors seeking to support climate forward policy

By Tracey Rembert and Paul Hodgson for ICCR

Planet Tracker: Hot Money -  40 financial institutions are funding a climate-changing agri-methane footprint   

40 financial institutions are responsible for funding a methane footprint that could exceed 500 Mt CO2 – nearly as big as the CO2 emissions[i] of Saudi Arabia, says a new report from financial think tank Planet Tracker and Changing Markets Foundation.

Hot Money names the 20 investors and 20 banks currently financing the methane-generating activities of fifteen leading meat and dairy companies worldwide, identified in terms of equity ownership, bond ownership and bank lending.

All were found to have weak or non-existent policy frameworks surrounding the reduction of methane emissions, with a particular gap regarding livestock agriculture – the single largest contributor. This conflicts with the Global Methane Pledge signed by all but one of the institutions’ home countries.

• Methane is 80 times more potent than CO₂ in terms of its global warming potential (over 20-years).
• Reducing methane emissions is crucial to limiting global heating to 1.5˚C.·       
• Food production generates more methane than the energy system.

If asset managers want to achieve net zero in their portfolios, they need to address the issue of agri-methane.

MainStreetPartners: GSS Bonds Report - Market Trends Q4 2022

MainStreet Partners, the London-based ESG Advisory and Portfolio Analytics firm, has released its fourth quarterly GSS Bonds report. This edition focuses on the most important factors that are shaping the issuance of GSS bonds and the evolution of the market.

Key takeaways from the Report:  

• GSS Bond issuance has been volatile in 2022: a few months saw less than 15 billion euros come to market, but others added over 60 billion euros to the GSS Bonds market per month;
• Based on a large sample, 37% of GSS funds are currently labelled as article 8 under SFDR. Reclassifications from article 9 leave only few asset managers reaping benefits of a robust sustainable profile;
• In 2022, GSS Bonds issued by the auto industry represented an all-time high of 19% out of all bonds issued by non-financial corporates, up from 4% in 2020 and 7% in 2021;
• Battery Electric Vehicles sales grew 75% YoY in the first half of 2022 – however, a swift transition for the sector will come free of challenges. Charging infrastructure and onshoring of supply chains are already a priority for car manufactures issuing GSS Bonds: Volkswagen, Ford and General Motors are just some of the large corporates that issued GSS Bonds in 2022.

RFI: Finding a ‘win-win-win’ outcome for decarbonization and economic growth from stronger climate policies

One of the hopes in responsible finance is that policy that improves the financial sector’s recognition and management of climate risks will create positive spillover to the economy as a whole. This is particularly a concern as regards to emerging markets & developing economies, which are concerned about climate vulnerability and the risk that climate mitigation can be difficult if it represents a ‘trade-off’ against economic growth.

A new World Bank policy research paper suggests that rather than forcing such a ‘trade-off’, stronger climate mitigation policy may lead to a ‘win-win’ outcome that increases short-term financing from local branches of foreign banks with good environmental risk management policies without causing a reduction in finance by other banks (either foreign or domestic).

The challenge of climate mitigation is that the transition from fossil fuel to clean energy requires more up-front investment than does taking no action. This has become a concern of policymakers fearful that monetary tightening will slow investment in decarbonization. In response to these concerns, the ECB’s Isabel Schnabel recently reiterated that fiscal policy was still in the driver’s seat on decarbonization policies and monetary tightening shouldn’t be used as an excuse to delay decarbonization.

However, when other policy is evaluated for its ability to drive investment in decarbonization, there remains a question about the ability to sustain the needed investment over time. On the one hand, stronger climate policy could be viewed as a cause of slower investment at a time when monetary policy is also leading to tighter financial conditions. On the other hand, delaying decarbonization is impossible because of the rising risks to inaction that threaten severe economic consequences, particularly for emerging markets & developing economies.

And that’s where the new paper from World Bank researchers comes in. They focus their investigation on the interaction between domestic climate policy and the lending of local branches of foreign banks. Foreign banks often provide a conduit for foreign investment, and also operate in global banking companies where they can change their prioritization of different markets in response to changing opportunities and changing policy. In turn, this potentially makes them greater sources of either expansion or contraction of financing in response to policy changes.

Phenix Capital: Impact Investing Series (Nordics – 22 Feb, Europe – 28/29 March | Seminars)

IMPACT SEMINAR SERIES – NORDICS

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

08:00 - 16:10

Tuesday, March 28, 2023 08:00 -

Wednesday, March 29, 2023 18:10

PIRC: The Elon Musk Show

When an electric car catches fire, the chemistry of the lithium-ion batteries mean they burn for far longer and are harder to put out, as thermal runaway in battery cells propagate to the others.

To many Tesla shareholders, such a phenomenon must feel like their current predicament; a car crash and a slow burning fire, with no sign of being put out any time soon.

Tesla’s board shows no signs of attempting to reign in their erratic CEO, to the detriment of the share price and overall competitiveness.

Widespread loss of trust in the shareholder value model of capitalism is undeniable. Its critics argue that it should be replaced with an alternative model of stakeholder capitalism. This would, they argue, address the short-termism they see as endemic to the current model and would also address the impact of externalities, for example in regard to the environment, that the shareholder value model insufficiently incorporates or simply ignores.

• Part 1 of this report explores the merits of these claims and compares shareholder and stakeholder models.
• Part 2 of this Report, builds on the insights and challenges established in Part 1 to identify practical actions that market participants can take.

Institutional investors are facing fast-approaching deadlines to comply with the new regulations of the EU Action Plan, but they can be complex and challenging to navigate. Firms that take immediate steps to comply with the new requirements will gain greater access to capital and markets, and reduce their risk of sanctions and greenwashing claims, among numerous other benefits.  

This ebook answers 12 of the most common questions about the EU Action Plan. Institutional investors will learn:  

• What the EU Action Plan is, its objectives, and to whom it applies.
• The importance of taking immediate action to comply with the evolving regulations of the EU Action Plan.
• When and what firms must disclose under the various regulations of the EU Action Plan including the EU Taxonomy Regulation, Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, and the EU Benchmarks Regulation.
• How the various regulations of the EU Action Plan impacts investors both inside and outside of the EU.

• MSCI research to assess the carbon footprint of the world’s 10 largest asset managers revealed that big European players were marginally less carbon-intensive than their U.S. peers.
• They found that assets under management were proportional to larger financed emissions. This was particularly true at U.S. fund managers in our peer group, where each USD trillion invested led to an extra 10-20 tons of CO2.
• Asset managers with net-zero commitments may want to assess their entire book of assets to have a baseline for target setting and to be able to monitor alignment progress, alongside engagement and decarbonization efforts.

Asset managers globally are increasingly acknowledging the need to accelerate the transition towards net-zero emissions and the key role they have to play in delivering on the goals of the Paris Agreement. Coalitions such as the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative (NZAM) and Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero aim to support the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 2050 in line with efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

Next Wave of EV Adoption Driving Battery Technology Landscape

Electric vehicles have continued to gain traction with China leading the way, nearing ~30% penetration rates. Europe is not far behind with ~15% penetration estimated in 2022 with the US being laggards. Recent OEM announcements have seen aggressive near- and long-term targets shape the demand story. The next wave of demand will require both incremental technology shifts and disruptive innovation to drive performance, cost, and safety improvements.

• Innovation in battery technology has been a key driver of the EV revolution.
• Increased energy density (longer vehicle range) and lower cell costs (consumer affordability) continue to fuel that innovation.
• To date, most improvements have been achieved through pack/cell design and improvements in cathode materials.
• These will continue to be important near-term, especially as raw material prices experience unprecedented volatility. But the next paradigm shift for batteries looks set to be in advanced anodes.

Sustainable Fitch: Pace of Decommissioning of Oil & Gas Assets to Increase

Asset retirement obligations (AROs) for oil and gas (O&G) companies arise as the result of financial responsibilities – stipulated in contracts or required by legislation – to plug wells, dismantle and remove installations at the end of an asset’s productive life, and to restore the surrounding area. As energy systems shift away from fossil fuels in the coming decades, the scale of retirements is likely to increase significantly, posing considerable financial, logistical and environmental challenges.

Decommissioning Liabilities Set to Rise The cumulative costs involved in decommissioning ageing O&G assets are sizeable and may reach USD42 billion by 2024, according to research company Rystad Energy, although such estimates can change depending on industry conditions and the number of years costs are spread over. For context, the world’s seven largest oil majors recorded profits of USD173 billion in the first nine months of 2022.

Nevertheless, the cost implications of decommissioning are likely to rise significantly in the medium to long term. For example, the ratio of decommissioning expenditure to opex by O&G companies operating in the UK Continental Shelf in the North Sea is expected to increase from about 10% to over 30% in the next 10 to 20 years. In the US, plugging the estimated 2.6 million documented onshore wells will pose substantial logistical and financing challenges, but it remains unclear who will bear the highest costs.

S&P Global Sustainable1: Rocks and hard places - The complicated nexus of energy transition minerals and biodiversity

HIGHLIGHTS

Low-carbon energy transition pathways predict a massive expansion in the supply of rare minerals, and companies are exploring hundreds of new sites globally that have mining potential.

More than 1,200 mining sites lie within Key Biodiversity Areas, and 29% of those sites are for energy transition minerals, according to a new analysis from S&P Global Sustainable1 based on data accessed through collaboration with UNEP-WCMC

Accessing more of these minerals to expand low-emissions technologies like electric vehicles, solar energy and batteries can create pressures on biodiversity, undermining the resilience of ecosystems and their role in addressing climate change.

Climate change raises uncertainty in risk management, underwriting

Rising physical climate risk as a result of chronic, slow-moving trends such as rising sea levels (coastal flooding), as well as increasing intensity of rainfall and extreme temperatures creates additional underwriting and risk management complexity. Reinsurers continue to study and evaluate the consequences of climate change. Given the volatility of catastrophes, reinsurers are responding through rate increases, catastrophe modeling enhancements, greater stress testing and varying degrees of exposure reduction.

Nevertheless, the effects of climate change amplify earnings volatility risk for reinsurers. They will need to continue to manage their portfolios effectively, look for new opportunities and price risk appropriately in order to be able to continue to assume these increasing physical climate risks.

Climate change, which has led to increased frequency and severity of weather-related natural catastrophes, also poses a significant risk to insurers and reinsurers. Global insured natural catastrophe losses have averaged about $100 billion over the past five years. Reinsurers in particular are feeling the heat as they accumulate losses from primary companies. To counter this, many are raising prices, limiting coverage and even exiting some markets to improve returns.

JobPosts: Morgan Stanley – 20 Open ESG Positions (Various Locations)

Open ESG positions include:

ESG Investment Research Associate- IT & Technology Sectors (Boston, NY or DC) – Calvert

Global Sustainable Finance EMEA Product & Solutions - Vice President (London)

ESG Quantitative Research Analyst & Index Manager (Washington, District of Columbia)

Work conducted by the RI Analyst (Monitoring and Reporting) will directly address priorities in LPPI’s purpose statement which is to deliver first class, value for money, investment outcomes aligned to our clients interests. We bring our expertise and spirit of collaboration together to help our clients invest sustainably in better futures. 

LPPI’s stewardship supports client pension funds to achieve sustainable investment outcomes, meet their investment interests, fulfil responsibilities of asset ownership, and produce appropriate disclose. The ability to evidence how LPPI has stewarded client assets responsibly (through deploying capital, overseeing investments and asset managers, and exercising ownership rights on behalf of investors) is increasingly important.

A strong account of LPPI’s RI practices (and their outcomes) requires collaboration and co-ordination across the business with attention to recording activities and outcomes to ensure they can be evidenced and monitored as well as represented in reporting

o to client funds (assurance and oversight)

o to external parties and against applicable practice standards (PRI, UK Stewardship Code, TCFD, etc)

This role will help LPPI implement efficient processes for recording, collating and curating information on stewardship and its outcomes which can contribute to portfolio monitoring and the production of reporting which evidences the responsible stewardship LPPI delivers

The RI Analyst (Monitoring and Reporting) will be responsible for supporting the continued evolution of systematic ESG integration within the investment process and the delivery of reporting on LPPI’s stewardship in collaboration with colleagues.

They will help to support LPPI’s anticipation, interpretation, and achievement of disclosure requirements applicable to the business as

• an FCA regulated asset manager and investment services provider to Local Government Pensions Schemes

• an exemplar of appropriate best practice standards for reporting on stewardship (where voluntary codes have been adopted by LPPI)

This will involve supporting LPPI to put in place and maintain appropriate systems for prioritising and recording stewardship activity on a "Do it, demonstrate it, disclose it" basis to ensure

• stewardship activities are being recorded as a core part of investment processes

• metrics or qualitative measures of inputs and outcomes are developed wherever practicable to evidence activity

• information is readily available for internal monitoring purposes, gap analysis, and inclusion in reporting 

The RI Analyst (Monitoring and Reporting) will work directly with the RI Team Manager and colleagues to improve LPPI’s internal oversight and recording of addressable aspects of LPPI’s stewardship. They will help to expand the range of data, metrics, and insights being routinely captured on actions and outcomes as part of LPPI’s asset management routines.

They will be a subject matter expert on best practice standards in stewardship reporting, involved in actively identifying requirements relevant to LPPI as 

• an FCA regulated asset manager

• provider of investment management services to LGPS pension funds

• signatory to voluntary codes of stewardship good practice 

This will involve horizon scanning to identify, interpret and pre-empt both upcoming compulsory reporting requirements and the evolution of voluntary practice standards. The right candidate will be a big picture thinker who can stay on top of developments in best practice, clearly placing their work in the context of where we are as an organization and where we want to go. This may involve carrying out research and producing thought pieces on emerging themes which support the development of LPPI house views and eventually embed these into our processes and frameworks. 

The RI Analyst will be a hands-on “go to” contact for stewardship recording and reporting within the RI Team.  They will have direct responsibility for specific workloads related to LPPI’s external reporting on stewardship (co-ordination of annual PRI reporting, UK Stewardship Code disclosure) and will lead LPPI’s planning for/ provision of information to meet the annual disclosure requirements of client pensions funds on RI and ESG matters.

The deliverables of the role: 

They will support the transference of subject matter knowledge and awareness of best practice into: 

• the design and implementation of efficient investment processes, practices, and data systems which result in information (quantitative and qualitative) on stewardship actions and outcomes

• internal stewardship monitoring routines 

• the recognition of stewardship gaps (needing priority correction)

• the production of comprehensive reporting output.

The RI Analyst will maintain and develop LPPI ESG manager and risk rating frameworks as core processes of stewardship. They will work with team representatives across the business to coordinate the continued development and use of these frameworks ensuring they remain practical for teams and support the needs and goals of the business. 

They will support LPPI’s broader efforts to extend ESG integration and will encourage the recording of and a flow of data/ information about LPPI’s stewardship actions to measure, manage, and monitor portfolio ESG risks and opportunities. 

Where their insight or involvement identifies gaps inconsistencies or inefficiencies in what is being actioned or recorded, they will flag these and contribute to addressing the reasons and working to find appropriate and actionable solutions.

They will be involved in supporting the business to produce and collect information on stewardship undertaken across the full extent of the investment chain which includes

• external asset managers (public and private markets) 

• LPPI’s internal Investment Team 

• LPPI’s RI Team

• external providers contracted to provide stewardship services (engagement, shareholder voting etc)

They will assist the business to utilise stewardship data and information efficiently in the production concise and insightful monitoring information for quarterly consumption by client pension (share insights, give assurance) and work to deliver improved balance between public and private market observations.

They will work collaboratively with other teams and individuals involved in producing external reporting on stewardship matters 

• annual disclosure to the Principles for Responsible Investment 

• annual reporting under the UK Stewardship Code (2020)

• annual disclosure in line with Taskforce on Climate related Financial Disclosure requirements

to ensure reporting embodies high quality standards, requirements being met efficiently and in full, and LPPI achieving compliance or remaining in good standing against practice codes.

As agreed, they will interact directly with standard setting bodies as part of understanding, staying up to date with, and providing practitioner input and feedback on current standards, plus and influencing and shaping revisions or replacement standards.

They will work collaboratively with other RI Analysts whose duties directly contribute to recording and reporting on LPPI’s stewardship and will co-ordinate duties with the RI Analyst (Data) to ensure efficient demarcation between complementary roles.

Experience and skillset required 

- Graduate with demonstrated experience in a relevant role able to evidence the meeting of the core skills and aptitudes required

- Clear interest in finance and sustainability, as demonstrated through education or work experience.  

- Prior experience of leading and advising colleagues on stewardship reporting as a subject matter expert or equivalent

- Experience of direct interaction with internal and external (delegate) investment managers on stewardship reporting matters 

- Detailed knowledge of RI and stewardship reporting standards in an investment management context including familiarity with existing and forthcoming reporting standards and evolving best practice

- Capabilities to perform focussed research and analysis, and present clear, accurate, timely, actionable summaries of their findings to a range of users and audiences

- Experience of process design ownership and oversight, with strong data management capabilities and aptitude for efficient use of data systems

- Strong report writing ability 

- Interest and ability to work effectively and collaboratively with a range of people and disciplines, developing trust in relationships with colleagues and stakeholders, including portfolio managers

- Ability to think creatively to solve novel problems at an organisational level 

- Aptitude for learning, becoming proficient, utilising, and supporting others in the use of new frameworks, software, and data systems.

- Ability to work well collaboratively within a team, with a willingness to be adaptable and flexible.

- Ability to demonstrate and use own initiative to manage competing priorities and deliver to deadlines and against consistently high standards for quality

- Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to research and listen, receive and adapt ideas, process information, and share thoughts and recommendations in a clear, concise and engaging manner 

- Experience and ability in manipulating data in Excel

- Proficiency in MS Office suite

JobPost: GSAM - Asset & Wealth Management, Global Risk Management, Sustainable Investment Risk, Vice President (London | CloseDate: Unknown)

JobPost: Aviva -  Investment Distribution Manager (London | CloseDate: Unknown)

Apply here: https://worldbenchmarkingalliance.bamboohr.com/careers/53

Sustainability Research Analysts 

The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) is a non-profit organisation that assesses and ranks the world’s most influential companies on their contributions towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At WBA we seek to generate a movement around increasing the private sector’s impact towards a sustainable future that works for everyone. The private sector has a crucial role to play in advancing the SDGs, but to incentivise companies to change, there needs to be a way in which their impact is measured. That’s why we assess the performance of 2,000 of the world’s most influential companies with respect to the SDGs. Our benchmarks are publicly available and used by investors, civil society, governments and companies to inform their contributions towards a positive transformation.

We are now recruiting Research Analysts to join our global organisation. We are looking for purpose-driven candidates with demonstrable research competencies and a passion for sustainable development. Research Analysts are responsible for collecting and analysing company disclosures, evaluating performance against scoring guidelines, and engaging with companies, other stakeholders, and experts in the benchmark process. Candidates should have strong attention to detail and the ability to thrive in an agile work environment that promotes minimum oversight, maximum responsibility and a commitment to the WBAs mission.

What you will do:

• Work with research partners and/or directly collect information from publicly available sources (e.g. CSR/sustainability/ESG reports, policy documents) and analyse the findings to score companies’ performance;
• Ensure that company information is correctly inputted and analysed;
• Engage with stakeholders, including companies, as part of the benchmark process (e.g. company calls to explain methodologies and scoring decisions);
• Draft scorecards summarising the performance of benchmarked companies;
• Contribute towards improving methodologies and scoring guidelines;
• Contribute to the drafting of research publications;
• Contribute to WBA-wide research workstreams, including alignment of processes, data harmonisation and digitisation.

What we are looking for:

• 1 – 5 years of relevant experience in research-related roles is required;
• Proven interest in any of the following topics is a plus: nature and biodiversity, climate, and food and agriculture; 
• Strong academic qualifications and analytical skills are required and experience with Excel, R, macros, databases, and statistics will give the candidate a distinct advantage;
• Demonstrable grasp of scientific research methods will be a plus;
• Excellent verbal and written English communication skills, and the ability to write clearly and concisely are a must;
• Ability to read, write and speak Mandarin and/or other East Asian and Southeast Asian languages will be considered an advantage;
• Passion for making a difference with a ‘can do’ mentality and professional attitude;
• Ability to work comfortably across different virtual teams and global cultures in an evolving ‘Teal’ working environment that promotes flexibility, self-management and wholeness.

Our offer:

A challenging role with room to grow in a driven team focused on impact, ambition and collaboration. We promote personal growth, believe in flexible working arrangements and offer market-based employment benefits. We believe in equal pay for equal accountability; the all-in annual compensation is the equivalent of €45k. While we have a physical presence in Amsterdam and London, we also have many employees working remotely across the globe. We are a values-led organization committed to inclusivity; therefore, this role can be based anywhere in the world. We particularly welcome applicants from the Global South.

Interested?

Send us your resume by clicking the 'apply for this job' button addressed to Bosco Lliso (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), including a cover letter (no longer than one page) explaining why you want to join the WBA Research Team. A successful cover letter explains how the candidate meets the requirements listed in the ‘What we are looking for’ section. We encourage candidates to apply as soon as possible but not later than 6 February 2023. In case you have any questions regarding the role, you can reach out to Aarti Misal (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) The first virtual interviews will be held starting 20 February 2023. For more information about us and our benchmarks, visit www.worldbenchmarkingalliance.org or follow @SDGBenchmarks.

Core Responsibilities

• Work with research teams developing content to ensure clear, concise and engaging publications that communicate their message effectively and are attuned to the needs of the desired audience.
• Improve the logic, clarity of argument, the structure and the style of content from research teams.
• Lead research staff through the publishing process, including guiding them on planning out timelines.
• Keep up-to-date records of publications in development and their associated timelines via centralised content planning tools.
• Prepare content in the CMS, handling basic layout and formatting, and working with design and digital production teams on the overall look and feel of published content.
• Identify and escalate content that could provide a reputational or legal risk to the PRI.
• Provide editorial expertise to ad hoc projects as required.
• Contribute to broader Communications team activities, such as producing launch materials and organisational communications pieces.
• Provide regular reporting to the Managing Editor as required.

JobPost: Acre - Head of Recruitment & Search - Sustainable Finance (Europe) (Amsterdam | CloseDate: Unknown)

JobPosts: 71 @ MSCI 

As of 30/12/2022, MSCI are advertising 71 job opportunities in the ESG/SRI space, including:

28 in Client Coverage (Frankfurt, Mumbai, Tokyo, Stockholm+ Others)

24 in Data Services (Manila, Mumbai, Monterrey, Pune)

6 in Research (Frankfurt, Boston, Soeul and Mumbai)

Including (amongst others):

ESG Climate Operations - Senior Associate (Location: Manila | Close Date: Unknown) 

ESG Market Expert Senior Associate (Location: Monterrey | CloseDate: Unknown)

ESG Models - Country Risk Specialist (Location: Boston | CloseDate: Unknown)

Job Post: 79 @ ISS ESG 

As of 30/12/2022 ISS ESG are advertising 79 job opportunities in the ESG/SRI space 

Locations include: Tokyo, London and Rockville 

Jobs posted in the last week include: 

ESG Product Manager - regulatory Solutions (APAC) (Multiple Locations: CloseDate: Unknown) 

Vice President, Sales (Location: Tokyo, CloseDate: Unknown) 

Advisor, Corporate Governance/ESG (Location: Tokyo, CloseDate: Unknown)

JobPosts: 29 @ MSCI

As of 23/12/2022, MSCI are advertising 29 job opportunities in the ESG/SRI space found here

8 in Client Coverage (Frankfurt, Mumbai, Tokyo, Monterrey + Others)

15 in Data Services (Frankfurt, Stockholm, Monterrey, Sao Paulo)

6 in Research (Frankfurt, Boston, Soeul and Mumbai)

Including (amongst others):

ESG Policy Research Intern ( Frankfurt | CloseDate: Unknown)

ESG Models - Country Risk Specialist ( Boston | CloseDate: Unknown)

ESG Research Analyst-On Contract ( Mumbai: CloseDate: Unknown)

ESG Research Intern (Seoul | CloseDate: Unknown) 

As of 20/12/2022 ISS ESG are advertising 83 job opportunities in the ESG/SRI space

Locations include: Tokyo, Mumbai, New York and Paris 

Jobs posted in the last week include: 

ESG Methodology Specialist (Mumbai | CloseDate: Unknown) 

ESG New Business Sales (New York | CloseDate: Unknown)

Sustainability Advisor- Manager (Toronto | CloseDate: Unknown)

Das Asset Management der an der Schweizer Börse kotierten VZ Gruppe ist für die Bewirtschaftung und Weiterentwicklung von Anlagelösungen zuständig. Für verschiedene Kundenbedürfnisse bieten wir eine breite Palette von regel- und fundamentalbasierten Vermögensverwaltungsmandaten, Advisory-Mandaten und Self-Execution-Angeboten an. Zudem entwickeln wir redaktionelle Inhalte zu Anlagethemen. Da wir weiter wachsen, suchen wir Verstärkung für unseren Hauptsitz an zentraler Lage in Zug.

Kontakt: Manuel Rütsche, Head Asset Management (LinkedIn: (1) Manuel Rütsche | LinkedIn)

JobPost: 7 New @ JP Morgan Chase & Co.

As checked on 19/12/2022 JP Morgan Chase & Co. posted 5 new jobs in the ESG/SRI space in the last week: 

Locations include: London, New York and Luxembourg 

Including: 

Associate - Sustainable Growth Associate (Location: San Francisco | CloseDate: Unknown)

Analyst - Analyst AWM Risk (Location: Luxembourg | CloseDate: Unknown)

Executive Director - CCB - Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Controller and Quality Assurance Manager (Location: Columbus | CloseDate: Unknown) 

JobPost: PRI - Operations Associate, PRI Academy (London | Closing: 8:00pm, 8th Jan 2023 GMT)

This is a high growth role where the new associate will develop knowledge, experience and a network in the field of responsible investment; as well as a broad skillset applicable to any social enterprise or and/or start-up.

Core Responsibilities Include:

• Provide the highest level of customer satisfaction through excellent sales service, assessing customers’ needs and providing assistance and information on product features
• Undertake sales support activities, including, maintaining commercial details and reports on clients or potential clients, developing business opportunities and researching and analysing sales options
• Maintain professional and technical knowledge by attending educational workshops, reviewing professional publications, establishing personal networks, and benchmarking
• Support in the production of PRI Academy collateral and marketing materials, including, drafting, proofreading and copy-editing communications
• Provide research for business and strategy planning to include topics such as pricing analysis, competitor analysis, business model research, board papers, etc.

(12 Month Fixed Term Contract - Family Leave Cover) High Possibility of Extension

The Head of Accountability & Reporting Support oversees the PRI’s Accountability workstreams, maintaining and developing the minimum requirements for membership as well as showcasing best practice via the Leaders’ Group. The role also supports the annual PRI reporting process, ensuring all signatories are aware and supported before, during and after the reporting cycle. The role reports to the Chief Reporting Officer. Full details on the Reporting and Assessment activities can be found at: https://www.unpri.org/reporting.

Core Responsibilities Include:

Team management

• Provide oversight and management of direct reports, supporting their development and managing their performance effectively to help the team fulfil their potential.
• Support the Chief Reporting Officer and the Director of Products and Services in delivering against the team’s business plan and budget, including interactions with the Executive Team, the Reporting and Assessment Advisory Committee, and the Board.
• Ensure direct reports meet agreed deadlines, acting as a point of escalation for team performance and quality issues
• Provide regular reporting to the Director of Products and Services and Chief Reporting Officer as required

Accountability

• Lead on the delivery of key Accountability projects such as the minimum requirements and Leaders’ Group.
• Ensure Accountability measures are enabled through the Reporting Framework.
• This includes working closely with the Reporting & Assessment Framework team, the Data insights team and the Reporting Platforms team.

JobPosts: 7 New @ S&P Global 

As checked on 16/12/22 S&P Global posted 7 new jobs in the ESG/SRI space in the last week:  

Locations include: Mexico City, New York and London

Including: 

Director - Banking Sales Team (Multiple Locations | CloseDate: Unknown)

Senior Manager, Client Experience (Mexico City | CloseDate: Unknown)

At this point there were 49 jobs in the ESG/SRI space in total at S&P Global

JobPosts: 8 @ Moody's Corporation 

As of 16/12/2022, Moody's Corporation are advertising 8 jobs opportunities in the ESG/SRI space found here 

Locations include: London, Paris and New York.

Including (amongst others): 

Sustainable Finance Analyst (Paris | CloseDate: Unknown)

Data Specialist (Gurgaon, Haryana, IN | CloseDate: Unknown)

VP-Senior Financial Writer (London | New York | CloseDate: Unknown)

Family Leave Cover (10 month Fixed Term Contract)

Job Description

The successful candidate will lead on and contribute to a range of projects within the PRI’s stewardship team. This will include supporting the development and coordination of PRI-led collaborative engagements, contributing to internal and external communication needs of the team and general administrative support for PRI stewardship initiatives and the broader team.

As this is a relatively new function within the stewardship team, the exact nature of the role is likely to be varied and will be tailored depending on the skillset and prior experience of the successful candidate.

Core Responsibilities Include:

• Work with the team to improve processes and systems used to coordinate PRI collaborative stewardship initiatives
• Support the development of new collaborative stewardship initiatives by developing template materials to be used in engagements (such as investor letters to companies and investor briefing packs with background information on companies)
• Provide administrative support for PRI stewardship initiatives. This includes:
• Attending, organising, and taking notes for initiative meetings
• Liaising with participating investors
• Answering in bound questions

JobPosts: 58 @ Sustainalytics

As of 23/12/2022, Sustainalytics are advertising 58 job opportunities in the ESG/SRI space found here

Locations include: Chicago, New York, Amsterdam, London, Sydney, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing + Others.

Including (amongst others):

ESG Research Analyst, Corporate Solutions (Amsterdam | CloseDate: Unknown)

ESG Sales Manager (London | CloseDate: Unknown) 

ESG Sales Senior Associate (London | CloseDate: Unknown) 

Senior Associate Client Relations (ESG Focus | CloseDate: Unknown)

As of 13/12/2022, ISS ESG are advertising 45+ job opportunities in the ESG/SRI space found here

25+ in Client Coverage (London, USA (Multiple), Hong Kong, Toronto + Others)

10+ in Data Services (Frankfurt, Stockholm, Tokyo, Sydney + Others)

5+ in Research (Hong Kong, Tokyo + Others)

5+ Other (New York, Hong Kong + Others)

Including (amongst others):

Sales Specialist, ESG (New York | CloseDate: Unknown)

ESG Marketing Associate (London | CloseDate: Unknown)

Head of ESG Research, Market Specialist Japan (Tokyo | CloseDate: Unknown)

Custom ESG Research Analyst (Norman,USA | CloseDate: Unknown)

Scrum Master, Market Intelligence & ESG (Norman/Rockville/Eatontown, USA | CloseDate: Unknown)

JobPost: J.P. Morgan - CIB, ESG Market Data Vendor Relationship Manager/Vice-President (London | CloseDate: Unknown)

JobPost: EthiFinance - CDI, Credit Analyst Financial Rating (Paris | StartDate: 1 January 2023)

JobPost: EthiFinance - CDI, Senior Consultant Sustainable Finance Advisory (Paris| StartDate: 1 January 2023)

JobPost: Bloomberg - Fixed Income ESG Data Specialist (London | CloseDate: Unknown)

JobPost: AXA IM LTD - ESG/Credit Analyst (London | CloseDate: Unknown)

JobPost: ESG Analyst (London | CloseDate: Unknown)

Pearse Partners on behalf of a leading global infrastructure investment firm are looking for an ambitious and driven ESG professional to support an ESG Director in a newly created role.

JobPost: CDP - Senior Manager, Ocean Finance (London | CloseDate: 20 December 2022)

JobPost: GIIN - Director, Climate Solutions (Washington | CloseDate: Unknown)