Buzz: Transfer to editor

... includes ...

• The Rise of an Investable Asset Class
• Demand-Side Integrity: the Shift to a Contribution Approach
• Supply-Side Integrity: Ensuing Market Consolidation Over Division
• COP30 and the Next Decade of Climate Finance

Can sustainable fashion can overcome cost pressures, regulatory hurdles, and scalability challenges to deliver scalable financial returns, as investors weigh its long-term potential against the dominance of fast fashion?

The fashion industry is in the midst of a sustainability crisis. The dominance of fast fashion, particularly ‘ultra-fast-fashion’ brands like Shein and Temu, has shaped consumer expectations for artificially low prices.

The shift to a high-volume, low-cost operating model driven by thin margins within a globalised supply chain is concealing harmful side effects not born by the fashion brands or their customers. Regulation is lax and limited consumer demand for ‘ethical’ clothing means there are few incentives for fashion companies to invest in sustainable practices.

Includes:

• A series of challenges
• Sustainable solutions?
• Investor lens: waiting but watching

"Putting head in sand on ESG - a costly mistake

2025 felt like a whirlwind from a sustainable investment perspective. With no shortage of negative headlines, it is easy to be deceived in thinking it was a uniformly negative year. But scratch beneath the surface, and it becomes clear that the reality is far different. We highlight below the 5 biggest ways ESG issues impacted markets in 2025.

1. ESG created the best performing market?
2. Environmental concens continue to shape technology and cash flows
3. Shifting role of defence in sustainability considerations
4. Social issues debated extensively, but incentives dominated outcomes
5. Pricing of negative externalities in security prices

...

The renewed political push to restrict institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes has re-emerged as one of the most potent housing narratives in the United States.

The appeal is immediate: the idea that large pools of capital are crowding out households and inflating prices resonates in a country where homeownership remains both an economic aspiration and a cultural anchor. Yet housing markets, like all capital-intensive sectors, are governed less by intent than by capacity. When examined through the lenses of scale, supply elasticity and historical experience, the case for constraining institutional single-family rental capital as a remedy for affordability appears significantly weaker than the rhetoric suggests.

...

Why is there a women's health gap and how can we fix it?

Women might live longer than men, on average, but they also suffer from poor health for longer. In the European Union, for example, women’s life expectancy is five years higher than men’s, but the gap shrinks to just one year if you consider how much of that time is spent in good health.

Reasons for this disparity include lack of research, testing, and investment focused specifically on women’s health. Closing the women’s health gap would present at least USD1 trillion of economic opportunities, according to research by the McKinsey Health Institute and the World Economic Forum.

... includes:

• ESG & sustainable investment: A decade-long hype cycle
• Environmental Outlook 2026
• Social Outlook 2026
• Governance Outlook 2026

... & Sustainable Finance Overview

China’s energy transition and sustainable finance ecosystem is vast and multifaceted, with meaningful implications for both generalists and sustainability-focused investors. This report provides key indicators and investment insights to help track and interpret that evolution over time.

China’s commitment to the energy transition and ongoing reform related to sustainable finance has important implications for global investors. As the world’s second-largest economy, China accounts for 17% of global GDP1 and approximately 30% of global carbon emissions2, making its decarbonization progress critical to achieving worldwide climate goals related to the Paris agreement.

...

"Welcome to the new space race, brought to you by AI.

Data centers built to deliver artificial intelligence (AI) services are springing up as fast as Wall Street can finance them. Meanwhile, these sprawling digital workhorses are inhaling electricity (putting pressure on already stretched grids) and consuming massive amounts of water for cooling. Earthly limits loom.

Not so in space: Up there, data centers can feed on continuous solar power and simply radiate heat into the void; furthermore, orbital centers could allow high-performance computers to sit right next to the satellites that collect the raw information, helping reduce data-processing time."

...

Engagement Priorities Summary for Benchmark Policies

'This note summarizes BIS’ Engagement Priorities. Our approach to engaging on each priority is set out in detail in the supporting commentaries on each topic. This summary should be read in conjunction with the supporting commentaries.'

Key Takeaways
 
- With engagement oversight practices quickly evolving, a coordinated, cross‑team approach across ESG, investment, and client‑facing functions is essential.
- Purpose-built technology and external engagement support can help investors meet the demand for more structured, scalable tracking of engagement activities and outcomes.

Part One here

..What the Latest Data Says on Director Independence, Commitments and Diversity

Key Takeaways

• Compared to 2024, there were slight increases in board independence (77.5%) and the presence of an independent chair (44.9%)
• In response to ongoing shareholder concern regarding the substantial increase and scope of directors’ responsibilities and oversight, the number of issuers implementing policies limiting director commitments continued to rise, with 75% of companies within the Russell 1000 having such policies.
• Although the overall number of women on Russell 3000 boards increased slightly in 2025 to 30.6%, the number of gender diverse, first year appointments at Russell 3000 companies decreased from 35% in 2024 to 28.4%.
• There was a significant decrease in the number of companies within the Russell 1000 that disclosed the racial/ethnic diversity of directors on either the aggregate board or individual director level (approximate 24% decrease from 2024).

The global financial system is undergoing a silent yet irreversible transformation. The current capital is no longer assessed by its ability to compound returns in a particular fashion, but by what it facilitates in the actual economy. Whether it is climate volatility and biodiversity loss, or social inequality and governance failures, systemic risks no longer exist independently of financial performance. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are at the heart of this change process.

Initially seen as aspirational goals by governments and NGOs, the development goals presented by the UN have become a strategic instrument for financial institutions. In 2026, banks, asset managers, insurers, and asset owners are likely to increasingly measure, report, and manage SDG impact across portfolios not as a reputational activity, but as an essential aspect of risk management, regulatory alignment, and long-term value creation.

This guide summarizes the 17 SDG goals, how SDGs’ sustainable development relates to financial decision-making, and how tools like SDG impact data, SDG impact ratings, SDG scores, and UNSDG impact scores are influencing the future of capital allocation.

This Regnan Alert analyses two developments with growing relevance for global investors. It assesses China’s accelerating green hydrogen leadership and the implications for Australia’s export ambitions and examines how rising affordability pressures are driving a shift in US utility rate decisions. Together, these themes highlight material risks and opportunities across evolving energy and infrastructure systems.

• Waste generation is expected to grow at double the rate of the global population by 2050
• Regulation and environmental awareness are catalysts for change
• Investment in waste management infrastructure and systems is essential – put simply ‘there is no sustainable economy without waste management’
• The waste sector offers an array of long-term secular growth opportunities ...