Trade unions

Practically everyone has heard the phrase “save a tree.” Its call to action is more poignant and timelier than ever as whole forests are disappearing at alarming rates, often because of business activity. Equity investors must gain a greater understanding of how companies are impacted by and addressing deforestation—and how different approaches might affect long-term return potential.

The challenge for investors is to examine how well companies in different industries are managing potential deforestation risks and the opportunities it poses for their businesses.

AllianceBernstein’s (AB) Concentrated Global Growth team conducted a comprehensive deforestation analysis of more than 100 companies within the investable universe for the equity portfolio. Guided by a list of strategic questions (Display), they aimed to identify risks, and survey and analyze the extent of each company’s forestation policies, if any.

Sustainable investors tend to look for businesses that embody two virtues. The first is a commitment to consider stakeholders, society and the environment in a way that is aligned with long-term, rather than merely short-term, profitability. The second is a sustainable competitive advantage that enables the business to survive multiple cycles and compound its earnings growth over the long term. Most sustainable investors would argue that it is very difficult to find the second without the first.

Sustainable businesses have specific markers relating to these two virtues. Some are relatively easy to quantify, such as a high return on invested capital. Others, such as a strong corporate culture, are less tangible. Neuberger Berman believe that analyzing and assessing these less tangible characteristics requires qualitative judgment and close relationships built on long-term shareholder engagement.

In Neuberger Berman's view, that raises questions about the rising popularity of rules-based, passive sustainable investing products, which mirrors past waves of enthusiasm for market-capitalization, style and factor indices and indexed products. In this paper, we argue that the complex, long-term nature of sustainable investing makes it inherently an active management discipline.

Sin stocks are an interesting area to explore if you want to understand why people follow ESG investments. In theory, if ESG investors shun sin stocks (gambling, defense, alcohol, tobacco) the risk premium on these stocks should increase offering investors higher returns in the long run. In practice, though, it is unclear if there is any risk premium to sin stocks. Now, thanks to a series of lab experiments we get a better understanding of why people invest in sin stocks and who invests in these stocks.

After a downturn in 2022, the global green economy has returned to form in 2023. Green equities struggled in 2022 due to a combination of factors, including high inflation, rising interest rates and geopolitical tensions. However, by the end of Q2 2023, market capitalisation of green companies had recovered to its 2021 average of over 9%.

Despite financial volatility, the green economy has continued to expand steadily. Green revenues for listed companies are on track to exceed US$5 trillion by 2025, with market capitalisation of the green economy approaching 10% of the equity market.

The green economy is maturing and diversifying; green companies are becoming larger and more investable. The average market capitalisation of pure plays (companies with 100% green revenues) reached over US$7 billion by June 2023 – a more than a six-fold increase since 2016.

There has been strong government support to accelerate clean energy development, such as the US Inflation Reduction Act and the EU Net-Zero Industry Act. However, attempts to decouple global supply chains and secure key raw materials may introduce structural inefficiencies that threaten to slow the growth of the global green economy.

• Our flagship report provides the 4th annual update on the global green economy
• Building on the unique and highly granular FTSE Russell Green Revenues data, this report provides detailed analysis on the global green economy with a broad listed equities universe and for the first time discusses new geopolitics related to the green economy
• This report highlights how to use our Green Revenues data to identify and analyse investment opportunities in the green economy and measure portfolio exposure to climate and environmental solutions

This latest report from Vanguard Group covers key areas which include: 

• Vanguard Group's 4 principles, including oversights of strategy and risk and shareholder rights
• Case studies and insights, these cover the topics of the 1,802 engagements conducted in 2022, examples include Board diversity at Vodaphone Group plc
• Proxy voting history, divided by geography 
• Company engagements, with 1,304 companies engaged with in 2022

Swedbank Robur: Corporate Governance & Engagement Report 2022

Swedbank Robur's latest report covers various key areas included: 

• Engagement to make a difference 
• Voting, including participating in more than 850 general meetings in Sweden and abroad
• Governance engagements 
• Collaborations, such as, Valuing Water finance initiative and talks with SSAB for Climate Action 100+

Janus Henderson Investors: 2022 Impact Report 

Janus Henderson's latest report covers key topics including: 

• 2022 highlights - these include, being carbon neutral for 15 years and 77% of employment engagement score
• Governance, commitments to ethics 
• People, employee engagement score ad gender pay gap
• Community, including pride parade, walk to fight suicide, charity auction
• Environment, carbon neutrality
• Responsible Investing, covering evolving ESG proposition

OFI's Engagement Report covers key areas including:

• Engagements broken down by ESG pillar, including engagement examples such as Nestle and Engie
• Engagement during the investment process and with market participants, these included Dufry and participation in ClimateAction 100+
• Voting rights exercised in 2022, statistics include a 68.4% approval rate as the percentage of all resolutions submitted. 

RMI: A Path through Carbon Markets Turmoil

For voluntary carbon markets, the best way ahead is to strengthen the integrity of data and processes. Here’s how.

This summer’s headlines — from record-breaking heat waves in Phoenix and Baghdad, to hot tub-esque ocean temperatures off the Florida coast, and devastating wildfires across Maui and Canada — are an urgent call for aggressive climate action that can rapidly reduce 420 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions or remove 10–13 gigatons of emissions that have already been released by 2050.

As a complementary tool to direct decarbonization, the voluntary carbon market (VCM) — a market mechanism that enables private parties to buy, sell, and invest in carbon credits tied to avoided, reduced, or removed greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions — has the potential to align incentives, unlock critical project financing, and build the institutions required for climate stabilization.

Recently, the VCM has emerged as the go-to mechanism for companies looking to meet their 2030 net-zero targets, for countries searching for a financially viable pathway to climate-aligned growth, and for early-stage climate technology companies seeking a path to commercialization. In 2022, the VCM conducted roughly $2 billion in trades. In 2023, VCM-related headlines focused on the market’s struggles to develop and deliver accurate and reliable carbon credits.

S&P Global Ratings: Decarbonizing Chemicals Part Two: The Credit Risks And Mitigants

Drivers of decarbonization-related credit risks may gain greater influence in future, especially beyond 2030. Sector risks should be manageable until then, based on current information, policies, and regulations

Key Takeaways:

• There is no quick fix to decarbonize the chemical sector. The sector’s numerous (over 70,000) and heterogenous products, and dependence on carbon-based fuels and feedstock, create risks relating to decarbonization technology, costs, and regulations.
• S&P assume that companies will benefit from the future technological evolution and development of decarbonization options, thereby mitigating some credit risks. Decarbonization could create new markets and applications for some chemicals.
• While S&P see potential risks for chemical companies, in their view the sector's credit risks are currently manageable under existing regulatory policies. 
• S&P believe decarbonization-related credit risks won’t hurt company credit standings at least until 2030. After that, risks could mount especially at lower rated companies with limited flexibility to absorb decarbonization costs and capital outlays, and lower ability to avail of mitigants.

S&P Global Ratings: Decarbonizing Chemicals Part One: Sectorwide Challenges Will Intensify Beyond 2030

Medium-term decarbonization targets are unlikely to materially affect chemical companies' cost structures but could imply more significant disruptions to the sector post-2030.

Key Takeaways:

• The interim decarbonization targets (typically by 2030-2035) of the chemical companies we rate are technically feasible without materially disrupting the sector’s cost structures, and with limited financial impacts.
• Decarbonization over that time frame could largely rely on energy efficiency gains and the electrification of certain processes. It will also hinge on external factors such as the availability of sufficient renewable energy. Inconsistent regulation across regions, in globalized chemical markets, could create uncertainties and diverging effects.
• Longer term decarbonization targets, on a roadmap toward carbon neutrality by 2050 for instance, could see greater shifts in product chains. These could for example involve hydrogen-based manufacturing or greater carbon-capture capacities. Such shifts could prove more disruptive to the industry's cost structures, while early movers are likely to be better prepared to absorb transition-related impacts.

S&P Global Ratings: Global Sustainable Bonds 2023 Issuance To Exceed $900 Billion

Green, social, sustainable, and sustainability-linked bond issuance has risen this year, despite challenges posed by high global interest rates, while traditional bond issuance is stagnating. 

Key Takeaways:

• Despite stagnating global bond issuance, we anticipate that GSSSB issuance should be in line with our forecast of $900 billion to $1 trillion, or 14% to 16% of total issuance, in 2023.
• S&P anticipate issuance of sustainability-linked bonds will decline in 2023 as questions regarding the credibility of targets persist, while green bonds will continue to dominate the GSSSB market, building on a record level of issuance in the first half of the year.
• Europe will remain the leading region for GSSSBs, while North American issuance may be hampered by lower supply and demand for the remainder of the year. Emerging markets may see increased issuance in the coming year

S&P Global Ratings: Lost Water: Challenges And Opportunities

Non-revenue water or "lost water" deters investment in water infrastructure, representing a global sustainability challenge.

Key Takeaways:

• Non-revenue water (NRW), or lost water, deters investment in water infrastructure assets. Analyzing NRW can provide valuable information about the infrastructure's performance, financial vulnerability, and governance in the sector.
• Reducing NRW can have many benefits, including increasing universal access to safe water, mitigating water stress, reducing the impacts of freshwater withdrawals on ecosystems, and mitigating global greenhouse gas emissions.
• Investment decisions made today could significantly affect future NRW rates, yet in many cases--particularly emerging markets--access to private-sector funding is limited and regulatory incentives are insufficient.
• High NRW rates may pose operating risks for water utilities. In severe cases, this could contribute to downgrades, but these have been rare among the utilities we rate.  

• Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) publishes final disclosure recommendations and guidance
• TNFD likely to transform availability of nature-related information, with material implications for corporate value
• We explain what's next for TNFD and priorities for investors, including how they can help accelerate adoption

Clients of HSBC Global Research can access the full report via the HSBC Global Research website or by contacting Wai-Shin Chan

• In case you missed it...this note is a compendium of the HSBC ESG team's most popular research so far this year
• The ESG of EV batteries, our guide to ESG Integration, and our ESG Sentiment Surveys were the most read
• Analysis of regulations, major energy transition themes and ESG integration into equities also proved popular

Clients of HSBC Global Research can access the full report via the HSBC Global Research website or by contacting Wai-Shin Chan

HSBC: Asia Real Estate - ESG Integrated 3.0: Focus on upstream emissions  

• Rising regulatory, legislative, and investor demand shows the need for better Scope 3 emission disclosures by corporates
• Hong Kong and ASEAN lead in disclosure rates, while mainland China and India lag; Swire Property is a case study
• Actions by corporates are key to decarbonisation; the green transition presents opportunities and risks for industry leaders

Clients of HSBC Global Research can access the full report via the HSBC Global Research website or by contacting Wai-Shin Chan

Who's ahead? Across our coverage, ASEAN and Hong Kong had the highest Scope 3 disclosure rates in FY22. Mainland China and India had the least. The major sources of carbon emissions in the property value chain are third-party contractors, tenants, business travel, and waste. About 25% of our covered companies have set voluntary targets for carbon reduction, led by Hong Kong and ASEAN.

Opportunities from the push towards greener companies include: (1) rising demand for property technology (PropTech) offerings; (2) increasing demand for green products and buildings; and (3) cost savings from higher energy efficiency. Risks include: (1) regulatory and legislative changes like mandatory climate disclosures in Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as expanding cap and trade in mainland China; and (2) higher R&D and associated costs, given already elevated interest rates. Challenges include data quality due to inconsistent reporting frameworks and quantifying returns and paybacks for green investments. However, the long-term returns from sustainable investments and the benefits tied to the real estate ecosystem should increase shareholder value.

A rebound in growth stocks helped sustainable funds beat traditional funds in the first half of 2023, as assets under management rose and ESG investors increased their use of restriction screening.

In the first half of 2023, sustainable funds saw a median return of 6.9%, beating traditional funds’ 3.8% and reversing their underperformance in 2022, according to a new “Sustainable Reality” report from the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing. Investor demand also remained strong as sustainable funds’ assets under management (AUM) reached record levels.

“Our mid-year update shows the resilience of ESG funds with a return to outperformance after a challenging 2022,” says Morgan Stanley's Chief Sustainability Officer and CEO of the Institute for Sustainable Investing Jessica Alsford. “Investors are increasingly turning to sustainable funds with sustainable AUM now at ~8% of total AUM globally.”

Understanding 2023 Fund Performance

Last year, a rapid rise in interest rates contributed to declines in both equities and bonds. Value stocks (those trading cheaply) and high-quality, short-duration fixed income benefited, which contributed to the relative underperformance of sustainable funds in 2022, since sustainable funds tend to skew away from these categories. This year, a rebound in growth stocks (which prioritize long-term potential) has especially helped sustainable funds’ relative outperformance.

By asset class, sustainable equity funds posted the strongest gains, showing a 10.9% median return and outperforming traditional equity funds’ 8%. Fixed-income outperformance was more muted, with sustainable funds at a 3.8% median return vs. traditional funds’ 2.2% (see Figure 1).

The global aviation industry is aiming for decarbonization. And while it will be a long and expensive journey, the transition could bring billions of dollars in investment opportunity. 

The challenge: How to curb and offset the industry’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which were estimated at 1 billion metric tons in 20191–roughly equivalent to those of Japan—and expected to double or even triple by 2050 amid increased demand for international air travel, according to the UN agency that regulates international aviation.  

To meet net-zero targets aligned with the Paris Agreement, the airline industry needs to reduce its carbon footprint to around 885 million metric tons by 2030, 13% below a 2019 baseline, and to about 200 million metric tons by 2050—an 80% reduction, according to International Energy Agency estimates.

“Sustainable aviation fuel, which can offer over 80% reduction in CO2 emissions over conventional jet fuel, presents the best solution for decarbonizing in the near to medium term,” says Ravi Shanker, Morgan Stanley's Freight Transportation and Airlines Analyst.  

Supply and scale will be a big part of the success story for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), with investment implications for global refiners, airlines, chemicals and aerospace companies.  

This SRI Report explains La Banque Postale's approach as a responsible investor and conviction: to draw on all the levers it has to encourage a – fair and organised – transition, to contribute to the general interest and deliver financial, environmental and social performance to our customers. 

Editorial

"2022 was a year of powerful commitments for LBP AM and its subsidiary Tocqueville Finance. As part of its participation in the Net Zero Asset Management Initiative, the group set out a decarbonisation trajectory for its portfolios with an ambitious objective: 80% of total assets would be aligned with a decarbonisation target compatible with the objectives of the Paris Agreement from 2030. This ambition is underpinned in particular by an across-the-board and transparent policy for managing fossil fuel allocations, applied to oil and gas since 2022 through distinct measures. 

Concurrently, it has stepped up its commitment to the conservation of biodiversity, with the deployment of a policy and a dedicated fund... 

Executive summary

• A growing body of research demonstrates the financial materiality of physical, transition and adaptation risks to companies, issuers and their investors.
• Investment to reduce or mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will lower the costs of physical risks arising from climate change, but trillions of dollars must also be spent to adapt the global economy to the new climate regime.
• Though many experts believe markets are widely underestimating climate-related risks, studies show that lower-emitting companies and those with transition plans have delivered financial outperformance

The 2022 RBC Global Asset Management Responsible Investment Survey was answered by over 700 participants from around the world, including the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia. Respondents came from all corners of the investment business.

Nearly 45% of the respondents represent organizations with $1 billion or more in assets with the highest number, or 21%, coming from organizations with $1 to $10 billion in assets. However, smaller firms with assets of less than $100 million were nearly equally represented, with 19% of respondents working at these firms.

Key Highlights from the survey include:

• Climate change has broken away from the pack of ESG themes of greatest concern: 51% of investors cited it as their top #1 or #2 ESG concern - more than double the next highest concern, renewable energy (21%). Rounding out the list of the top five #1 or #2 concerns are water, human rights and anti-corruption.
• Aligning investment portfolios with the goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 is important for a majority (54%) of global investors.

Impax Asset Management: The transition will not be televised – Part 3

In Part 1 of this series, Impax focused on changes in the ‘upstream’ portion of the clean electricity value chain, exploring the potential for technologies like wind and solar to accelerate their existing growth rates. Part 2 unpicked the emerging ‘midstream’ in clean power that’s using storage and hydrogen technologies to make renewables more flexible and reliable.

Here, Part 3 looks at how energy users in the ’downstream’ segment (industrial, commercial and residential customers) are changing the way they buy and use energy. This looks at how falling technology costs and accelerating government policies are creating new opportunities for companies at the cutting edge of shifts in US energy demand.

Executive summary

• A potential re-ordering of the relationship between energy producers and consumers presents numerous opportunities for equipment suppliers, infrastructure providers and new market entrants.
• Technological advances are enabling consumers to take charge of their energy use. Early adopters are demonstrating the bottom-line benefits of wrestling control away from incumbent energy producers.
• With this push from consumers, the US energy system could shift rapidly towards higher rates of efficiency, electrification and independence from fossil fuels. But the potential won’t be realized without substantial hardware and software upgrades to US power networks.
• Consumers can be an important catalyst for innovation – if regulators let them. Regional and state agencies should resist their pressure to restrict the higher levels that distributed generation enables.

TPI’s Carbon Performance assessment is based on the Sectoral Decarbonisation Approach (SDA). [1] The SDA translates greenhouse gas emissions targets made at the international level (e.g., under the Paris Agreement to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) into appropriate benchmarks, against which the performance of individual companies can be compared.

The SDA is built on the principle of recognising that different sectors of the economy (e.g., oil and gas production, electricity generation, and automobile manufacturing) face different challenges arising from the low-carbon transition, including where emissions are concentrated in the value chain, and how costly it is to reduce emissions.

Therefore, the SDA takes a sector-by-sector approach, comparing companies within each sector against each other and against sector-specific benchmarks, which establish the performance of an average company that is aligned with international emissions targets. 

TPI currently uses three sectoral benchmarks for the assessment of companies in most sectors, including steel:

1. A 1.5 Degrees scenario, which is consistent with the overall aim of the Paris Agreement to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels”.
2. A Below 2 Degrees scenario, which is also consistent with the overall aim of the Paris Agreement to limit warming, albeit at the middle of the range of ambition.
3. A National Pledges scenario which is insufficient to put the world on a path to limit warming to 2°C, even if it will constitute a departure from a business as-usual trend. 

Key areas of the latest report include: 

• Stewardship updates and committee 
• Engagements, themes and process 
• Public policy engagements 
• Collaborative engagements, including CDP, WDI, Climate Action 100+ and Share Action

Highlights:

• Global green bond issuance hit a record US$314 billion in the first half, with the finance sector dominating the market, while governments and agencies also played a larger role.
• Analysis on the use of proceeds from impact bonds indicates that the most common category of project for such funds was renewable energy , with around 400 issuances representing more than US$157 billion of investments.
• The issuance of sustainability-linked bonds amounted to US$35 billion in 1H 2023, falling 28% year on year. European corporates accounted for 65% of issuances globally. Among all sectors, the industrial sector issued the largest amount of such bonds in the first half.
• The Asia-Pacific region had a record half-year with US$140 billion of impact bonds issued. Japan and Hong Kong drove regional growth, though China remains the top issuing country globally.
• North America saw a 20% year-on-year drop in first-half issuance, with US$42 billion of impact bonds: growth in green bond issuance was offset by falls in social and sustainability-linked bonds.

Comgest: Annual Responsible Investment Report 2022 

This report covers key areas of their responsible investment strategy and progress in 2022, this includes: 

• Responsible Investment approach and 2022 highlights 
• Governance and resources 
• Intergrate 
• Engagements 
• Transparency on key ESG metrics

Sycomore AM: Sustainability and Shareholder Engagement Report 

This report is Sycomore AM's response to meeting the requirements of Article 29 of France's Energy and Climate Law. It follows the recommendations of the Autorite des Marches Financiers on reporting and meets SFDR requirements on the disclosure of principal adverse impact indicators. 

Key areas of this report include:

• Responsible investment approach, covering main areas of progress in 2022
• The sustainability of Sycomore's investments, environmental, social and governance analysis
• Shareholder engagement, implementation of the voting policy 
• Governance to support sustainability 

Breckinridge Capital Advisors: In Evaluating Risks from Weather Extremes, Insurers and Bond Investors Share Strategies and Goals

• Insured catastrophic storm losses in 2022 totalled $132 billion, with average insured losses reaching an all-time high of $86 billion.

• Strategies employed by property and casualty insurance companies and bond investors to assess and protect against financial losses due to extreme weather events share important commonalities.

• Materiality is an essential consideration for both insurers and investors when assessing risks within the context of business sustainability.

Sabanci Holdings' 2022 Sustainability Report is available to read and download here.

See here for further Corporate Governance and Sustainability reports and information.

A Best Practice Guide for Plastics – Executive Compensation: A report card for plastic-related companies can be downloaded here. Click here to download the Engagement Sheet.

Tesco: Annual report 2023 & Sustainability reports

Tesco has published its Annual report for 2023. The report contains information on Climate and TFCD reporting; standalone reports on the following are available

• Climate change
• Healthy, sustainable diets
• Food waste, Packaging
• Diversity and inclusion
• Sustainability data book 2022/23.

See here for Tesco's approach to sustainability reporting.

Date and time
Thu, 16 Nov 2023 08:00 - 19:00 GMT
Location
1 Birdcage Walk London SW1H 9JJ

UKSIF's annual Leadership Summit is back for 2023, and we're pleased to host you on Thursday 16th November at the prestigious One Birdcage Walk.

This is a chance to hear from senior representatives from across our membership. Giving a spotlight and platform for the people we think are doing most in sustainability, talking about the barriers they've faced, solutions and how the rest of the industry can follow.

Tickets for this event are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.

Attendance is reserved for UKSIF members, if you are not a member your ticket will be cancelled without warning.

The risk of organizational liability – and directors’ personal liability – is increasing rapidly. But board reporting has not kept pace, creating an imbalance that is likely to have drastic repercussions if solutions aren’t put in place.

Cybersecurity. Climate. Diversity. Endlessly evolving regulations. The list of issues facing boards in 2023 is longer – and more complex – than ever before. At the same time, board members are sitting on more boards and are exposed to more information, but with less opportunity to focus. It’s an equation that doesn’t add up.

But there is a solution – and it comes from the core of the organization. Functional leaders in the business need to break down complex data into actionable insights for the board, to distill day-to-day complexities into reports that offer ample opportunity for meaningful engagement.

Planet Tracker: Agriculture’s pathway – how financial markets can help

Read the full blog here

The IEA’s Breakthrough Agenda report clearly shows that the global food system is continuing down an unsustainable pathway, generating more GhG emissions not less. 

It is continuing to add to the harms to nature through actions such as deforestation. 

This cannot continue if we are to meet our interlinked Paris and Montreal-Kunming climate and nature goals. 

The ‘Breakthrough Agenda’ Report (2023) provides a valuable insight into the low-carbon transition pathway for the global agricultural sector. It is not a comforting read. 

But the good news is that financial instruments, such as a deforestation-linked sovereign bond, could help deliver a faster transition. 

UNFCCC COP28 this December is being promoted as a crucial decision-making point – the food system is on the agenda, but will we see concrete actions or just more words?

Planet Tracker: Global Plastic Treaty headwinds

Read the full blog here

We are faced with a major opportunity to end plastic pollution.

The UN is providing the opportunity for sovereign states to tackle the global plastic pollution crisis. Negotiations for a Global Plastic Treaty are soon to enter their third round; but there are significant headwinds.

If global economic growth resumes, plastic demand can be expected to rise while at UNFCCC COP28, plastics is struggling to make the agenda. Unsurprisingly, oil and chemical giants are keen to focus on downstream plastic pollution solutions rather than upstream production. Politically, there are major economies, notably in the G20, unwilling to push for a transition away from fossil fuels while continuing to provide subsidies.

The Zero Draft option paper quite rightly includes a reduction in fossil-based plastic as part of the solution. The UN deserves more support from politicians to ensure that the fossil fuel industry does not assign this opportunity to the waste pile along with the plastic it produces.

We need a meaningful Global Plastic Pollution Treaty.

Planet Tracker: Robin Millington named Global Sustainable Business Leader of the Year

We are so proud that Planet Tracker’s CEO, Robin Millington, has been awarded Sustainable Business Leader of the Year, Global, by the Environmental Finance Sustainable Company Awards judges. This is the latest in a string of awards for the financial think tank, which also won two awards at Environmental Finance’s Sustainable Investment Awards earlier this year. 

Robin co-founded Planet Tracker in 2018, with the aim of embedding the true value of nature into global financial flows to ensure sustainability of the environment and of the businesses and products dependent upon natural capital. 

She leads a growing team of specialists with expertise in financial analysis, and environmental data to produce reports which target environmentally unsustainable industrial practices, identify the companies causing the damage and the investors who are enabling these practices to continue unchallenged, call out greenwashing and provide investors with practical tools such as interactive databases and shareholder questionnaires to help them put pressure on corporate management.  

Over the past 12 months, Planet Tracker has published over 20 reports, including the  Financial Markets Roadmap for Transforming the Global Food System which analysed over 400,000 companies across the food supply chain and sets out practical steps that investors can take to help achieve a net zero food system by 2050. 

The growing impact of Planet Tracker’s reports includes Uruguay’s recent announcement that it has successfully issued a Deforestation-Linked Sovereign Bond (DLSB) which closely matches the structure Planet Tracker proposed in its July 2021 report and specifically references Planet Tracker’s  recommendations in its published sustainability-linked bond framework. 

Robin commented: “Planet Tracker’s mission is to create significant and irreversible transformation of global financial activities by 2030 towards a financial system that is fully aligned with a resilient, just, nature-positive economy and supports sustainable and just business practices. 

“At the heart of our thinking is the belief that a holistic approach to the planet’s problems is now essential. Climate and Nature can no longer be considered separately. Nature loss, despite the widespread acceptance of its severity, has remained in the shadow of the Climate Change movement as a subject of political and financial concern until more recently – notably the adoption of the Global Biodiversity Framework in December 2022. 

“To win an award for leadership in the sustainability space is a rare honour. This is a recognition of Planet Tracker’s contributions which would not have happened without the hard work and dedication of this amazing team and the fact that we all share a common vision: where the future of the planet is concerned, accepting the status quo is not an option”.

Craig Inches, Head of Rates and Cash, looks at the importance and possible ways of bringing responsible investing to liquidity and short-term fixed income management.

Clean energy technologies are set to drive growth in demand for critical minerals over the next two decades, throwing up a rich seam of investment opportunities – and challenges.

Read this article to understand:

• Why demand for metals such as copper is set to soar
• The obstacles to increasing global supply
• Opportunities presented by the electrification of mining

Short discussion of areas Tesla needs to improve on to stay ahead of the competition

RFI: The Global Stocktake offers a wake-up call for financial institutions working towards long-term climate targets

A Global Stocktake to update on the world’s progress towards goals set down in the Paris Agreement shows notable ambition, although not enough ambition or follow-through to keep on a 1.5° C trajectory. One of the upcoming milestones required to stay on track is for the world to reach peak global emissions by 2025. The nearness of this deadline highlights an important reality in addressing climate change — the world is working on mitigating an issue that will bring catastrophic consequences if unmitigated, and we will only know whether we’re back on target long after the actions we are discussing today may be completed.

The financial sector has a particularly important role in this process because investments made in the next 1–2 years will determine whether global emissions peak in time to preserve the possibility to limiting warming to 1.5° C. A lot of efforts in responsible finance are focused on long-term trajectories, improving data collection quality and Net Zero alignment of high-emitting sectors. Those efforts are important, but will produce less effect if we collectively fail to reach peak global emissions by 2025.

There is also a need to step up the urgency of action by using as much of the financial sector’s assets as possible. A key message from the Global Stocktake is that although the development of cost-competitive renewable energy has progressed quickly (unit costs for some technologies have dropped 80%), it isn’t leading to a reduction in emissions at the scale needed.

The Global Stocktake summarizes the ‘all-of-the-above’ approach with the call to action that “achieving net zero CO2 and GHG emissions requires systems transformations across all sectors and contexts, including scaling up renewable energy while phasing out all unabated fossil fuels, ending deforestation, reducing non-CO2 emissions and implementing both supply- and demand-side measures”.

For the purpose of finance, that means climate action through responsible finance cannot be limited to allocating funding towards renewable energy generation, although that amount should be increased as much as possible. It does not mean only addressing deforestation enabled by the financing of companies working in forests, although that is also important. Addressing both supply- and demand-side measures means looking across a financial institution’s whole set of financing to see how it can contribute to reducing emissions.

That sounds like an obvious point, but much of the work being done in the financial sector is narrowly targeted towards high-emitting sectors’ direct emissions, beginning with efforts to build better data collection systems. Given the urgency of the emissions reductions needed to reach global peak emissions, however, financial institutions should work more broadly and fully across their financing assets, even where data are less available or less reliable.

Methodologies such as that embedded in the RFI Foundation’s financed emissions reports which are based on top-down models may not reach the precision of developing emissions data collections standards, but they do provide broad outlines of what’s needed and do so in a way that is coherent with our top-down understanding of global emissions and the links between supply- and demand-sides. The bigger-picture issue is that broad action is urgently needed and lack of data cannot be an excuse for lack of action.

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

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Environmental, social and governance (ESG) adoption continues to grow in many parts of the world, fuelled by increased client demand and changing regulations.
• ESG integration, the most widely used implementation strategy, focuses on identifying those ESG risks and opportunities that are likely to affect the longer-term value of an investment.
• ESG integration has become a valuable aspect of investment-idea generation, research and analysis, alongside supporting engagement with issuers of equities and bonds.

'This is the seventh year that our firm, Generation Investment Management, has published The Sustainability Trends Report, with contributions in recent years from our new business, Just Climate.

Sustainability has several dimensions, of course, but given the rising urgency of the climate crisis, it is the primary focus of this work.

The report is meant to answer a simple question with complex implications: In the transition to a low-emissions economy, where do we stand?

(You will learn in this report that for every beacon of hope and progress, another signpost makes clear how very far we still have to go.)'

During the latest proxy season, investors voted on many more environmental, social, and governance-focused resolutions at U.S. companies’ shareholder meetings. Yet, these higher volumes of resolutions haven’t resulted in increased support from asset managers. In fact, our latest research on proxy voting shows the opposite is true. BlackRock and Vanguard lowered their level of support for ESG-focused resolutions, lamenting ‘poor quality’ or even ‘redundant’ proposals, which was a key factor in the overall decline in shareholder support. 

This event is organised by UKSIF
03/10/2023 8:30AM
Location: Riverbank House
Address: 2 Swan Ln , London

'Good Money Week is back for 2023, and we're pleased to host you in person in Central London! This is a chance to look at new research, discuss greenwashing and see how the most successful businesses are engaging the retail sector, talking about making green finance accessible to the public and implementing SDR. Space for this event is limited, we will act on a first come first serve basis. Attendance is prioritised for UKSIF members, if you are not a member your ticket may be cancelled without warning.'

Pirelli: Integrated Annual Report 2022

The 2022 integrated annual report1 of Pirelli (“Annual Report”) aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the process of creating value for the Company’s Stakeholders, resulting from the integrated management of the financial, productive, intellectual, human, natural, social and relational capitals. The reporting reflects the business model adopted by Pirelli, which is inspired by the United Nations Global Compact, the principles of Stakeholder Engagement set forth by the AA1000, and the Guidelines of ISO 26000.

See here for more information    |     Pirelli Sustainability

Natura & Co: Annual report - Sustainability data 2022

Natura & Co's Full Annual report 2022 is available to read and download.

In addition, the company has published a standalone documents containing sustainability data. This document supplements Natura & Co's 2022 Annual Report, providing additional data, transparency and accountability on its environmental and social performance across four Business Units (Natura &Co LATAM; Aesop; The Body Shop and Avon International) from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022, in line with global reporting frameworks.

 In July 2023, this document was updated to include new sections covering environmental, social & governance / economic indicators.

See here for other Sustainability updates.

While climate targets have been the centre of attention for a while, investors are increasingly focusing on implementation of transition plans. This shift was highlighted in a recent Sustainable Fitch webinar on transition finance where participants were asked to anonymously choose the most important indicator of a credible transition plan. Almost 40% of respondents answered that strong governance and accountability for senior management are the main indicators for the credibility of a company’s transition plan.

The in-depth, ‘Mid-Year Review’ report complements the annual world outlook report, Actionable Insights: Top ESG Themes in 2023 – Global Edition.

The new report draws on comprehensive ISS ESG data, with research and insights from ISS ESG’s financial research and sector leads, climate specialists, and regulatory experts to help investors assess the extent to which key ESG risks and investment opportunities have been actionable so far this year.

JobPost: JP Morgan & Co - Business Manager - ESG Paris / Net Zero Reporting- Sr Associate (New York | CloseDate: Unknown)

JobPost: JP Morgan & Co - ESG Business Manager - Wealth Management Solutions - VP (New York | Close Date: Unknown)

JobPost: Moody's - Associate Lead Analyst – Sustainable Finance (São Paulo | CloseDate: Unknown)

JobPost: S&P Global: ESG Client Engagement Specialist (New York or Toronto | CloseDate: Unknown)

JobPost: Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility: Program Associate: Climate Change & Environmental Justice (New York | CloseDate: 15 Oct)

JobPost: Director, Impact Measurement & Management (IMM) Engagement: Global Impact Investing Network (New York/hybrid | Posted 2 Sept)

JobPost: ISS ESG: ESG Product Manager - Regulatory Solutions (Berlin/Stockholm/Munich/London | 6 Sept)

Contract role (6-12 months, full time or part time)

JobPost: Pyrford International (within Columbia Threadneedle): ESG Operations & Reporting Manager (London | CloseDate: Unknown)

JobPost: JPMorgan Chase & Co.: Business Manager - ESG Paris / Net Zero Reporting - VP & Senior Associate (New York / Wilmington | Posted 21 Aug)

Senior Associate role

Vice President role

JobPost: Sustainalytics: Associate, Debt Capital Markets & Sustainable Finance (Toronto | CloseDate: Unknown)

JobPost: S&P Global: ESG Client Engagement Specialist (New York or Toronto | Posted 23 August)

JobPost: MSCI ESG Ratings: Senior Associate - ESG Rating - China Real Estate focus (Singapore | CloseDate: Uknown)