ESG funds that invest in regimes linked to conflict are at of risk compromising sustainability standards and promises to clients, according to sustainable investment professionals. However, data shows European and UK sustainable funds hold almost £5bn in defence and aerospace companies. As conflicts rage on in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, Pacific Asset Management’s chief sustainability officer said countries…
COP28 started mired in controversy and ended with a ground-breaking agreement to gradually phase out fossil fuels and move the world into a new era of decarbonisation. A month on from the close of this critical UNFCCC summit, the question remains – how are we going to make the necessary transition? The transition is not going to be easy, and…
Legal action could prompt banks to strengthen climate action or face reputational risk, according to Morningstar DBRS. This comes in the wake of Milieudefensie, the Dutch branch of climate-oriented NGO Friends of the Earth, announcing plans to take Dutch banking group ING to court over its funding of fossil fuel developments. Milieudefensie’s case argues that ING, through its exposures, has…
EV charging platform Monta has announced today that it has raised €80 million (USD $87 million) at the close of a Series B funding round, with proceeds aimed at supporting the acceleration of the electrification of mobility through the deployment of charging infrastructure. Founded in 2020 by Co-founders Casper Rasmussen & Anders Pedersen, Denmark-based Monta provides an integrated software platform…
Financial market infrastructure provider SIX announced today the launch of a new climate data offering, aimed at supporting investors in reporting and monitoring of climate factors, and in climate-related investment and risk decision making. The climate data sets, from various data providers in a range of industries, will provide clients with modelled and reported emissions data, covering over 33,000 companies…
Global mining and metals company Rio Tinto announced today a new 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA), buying all of the electricity from Australia’s first gigawatt scale solar project, the Upper Calliope Solar Farm, with renewable energy developer European Energy. According to Rio Tinto, once approved and developed, the giant solar farm would have the potential to reduce the company’s operating carbon…
The European Parliament announced today the approval by MEPs on the Legal Affairs Committee by a 21-2 vote of a proposal to delay key aspects of the Corporate Sustainable Reporting Directive (CSRD) by 2 years, including the adoption of standards for companies to provide sector-specific sustainability disclosures and for sustainability reporting from companies outside of the EU. The proposal was…
By: Larry Bradley, Global Head of Audit at KPMG How can a company that tells a positive overall story in the front of its annual report present a loss in its financial statements? And why has a newly announced net-zero strategy had no effect on asset values in a company’s financial statements? These are the types of questions investors ask…
A vast majority of European banks face significant climate transition risk, according to a new study released by the European Central Bank (ECB), with a “staggering 90%” found to have loan books misaligned with global climate goals and the EU’s 2050 climate neutrality target. For the new study, the ECB quantified the transition risks in the credit portfolios of 95…