The Singapore Sustainable Finance Association aims to support the low-carbon transition and sustainable economic growth in the APAC region. In a move to promote collaboration between the financial industry and other sectors in driving sustainability initiatives, Singapore has launched a new cross-sectoral industry body called the Singapore Sustainable Finance Association (SSFA). The association, which is the first of its kind,…
bp Invests in Aviation Decarbonization Solutions Provider CHOOOSE
Climate tech startup CHOOOSE announced today the launch of a new partnership with energy giant bp, aimed at enhancing its decarbonization solutions for the aviation industry, and helping airlines to meet their sustainability obligations. As part of the partnership, bp is making a strategic investment in CHOOOSE. Founded in 2017, Norway-based CHOOOSE provides a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform enabling companies to build…
Are women more effective in sustainable finance than men?
Covid-19 has fundamentally altered the global paradigm, and its impacts are evident practically in every facet of our lives. The growing interest in social risk and human capital management, and enthusiasm for ESG and socially responsible investing, has increased worldwide. In 2023, the majority of assets managed in Europe, comprising approximately €7trn out of a total of €12trn euros, were…
Global sustainable funds see first quarter of outflows
Global sustainable funds saw their first quarter of outflows in the last three months of 2023, driven by an acceleration of investors fleeing ESG funds in the US and Japan. However, in spite of a collective outflow of $2.5bn at the global level, European and Asia-ex Japan funds continued to see inflows, Morningstar’s Global Sustainable Fund Flows: Q4 2023 in…
GRI updates biodiversity standard to meet stakeholder demand
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has published a major update to its biodiversity standard to enable companies to meet the growing demands from multiple stakeholders for information on biodiversity impacts. With human activity the leading cause for as many as one million animal and plant species being pushed to the brink of extinction, GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024 is designed to…
Three reasons clean energy stocks could come back in 2024
High interest rates and a weaker global economy have been headwinds for clean energy equities over the past year. The growth some had expected did not quite materialise, and the MSCI Global Alternative Energy Index fell 27% in 2023, down 50% from its 2021 highs. Yet despite the weak performance in publicly listed companies, the installation of global renewable power…
Best and worst performing sustainable funds of 2023
Artificial intelligence (AI) was the big player in the top sustainable funds of last year, with nine of the ten best performers having technology company NVIDIA in their ten largest holdings – making up 8.8% of the portfolios on average. NVIDIA’s focus on AI has boosted it to a market capitalisation of $1.48trn at the time of writing. Morningstar Direct…