Hostility toward science is not a recent phenomenon. In 1948, the Soviet Union officially denied the existence of genes, eliminating plant science in favor of “training” plants to be more productive. The resultant crop failures led to millions of deaths in both the USSR and China, whose communist party also adopted this pseudoscience. Even when not official governmental policy, pseudoscience…
Wolters Kluwer Launches New Solutions to Connect ESG and Financial Data, Enable CBAM Compliance
Professional services and information solutions provider Wolters Kluwer announced today the launch of two new ESG data solutions, CCH Tagetik ESG & Sustainability for CBAM aimed at simplify compliance with the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism regulation, and CCH Tagetik ESG & Sustainability for Planning & Analytics, designed to support the alignment of ESG initiatives with financial performance and to…
NatWest, NAB, SC Ventures Back New SME-Focused Climate Data Management Platform FourTwoThree
A new climate action platform, FourTwoThree, has debuted with backing from NatWest Group, NAB, and SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s platform, aiming to accelerate the sustainable transition of millions of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) globally. The platform has been designed to facilitate collaboration between large enterprises and their SME value chains when measuring, understanding, and reducing carbon emissions. The initiative…
EU Eases Ability to for Member States to Fund Cleantech, Industrial Decarbonization Sectors
The European Commission announced the adoption of its new Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF), aimed at enabling Member States to provide support for goals including clean energy development, industrial decarbonization and clean technology. Key aspects of the new framework include the ability to provide significant electricity price support for companies in energy-intensive sectors, as well as funding to…
GRI Releases New Climate and Energy Reporting Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) announced today the release of its new finalized Climate Change and Energy Standards, aimed at enabling companies to disclose on climate-related and energy management issues and impacts, and on how they are managing those impacts. GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards are one of the most commonly accepted global standards for sustainability reporting by companies, developed to…
Biodiversity: A theme of growing importance and investment opportunity
By Jake Moeller, associate director – responsible investment, Square Mile Investment Consulting and Research The decline in the variety of plant and animal life on our planet is not just a concern for scientists. It’s rapidly becoming a material issue for financial markets. As ecosystems are compromised, biodiversity loss poses material financial risks and the erosion of shareholder value as…
‘Tradeable impact’: WEF and the Schwab Foundation highlight the case for impact credits
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum (WEF) has released a whitepaper introducing an economic framework for impact credits, a method that assigns monetary value to positive social and environmental outcomes to unlock funding for high-impact initiatives. The report – Redefining Value: From Outcome-Based Funding to Tradeable Impact – highlights scenarios for how outcomes-based financing can…
Microsoft Signs Deal for 4.8 Million Tons of Carbon Removal Generated Through Improved Forest Management
Climate solutions provider Anew Climate and U.S. forestry-focused carbon removal platform Aurora Sustainable Lands announced a new agreement with Microsoft, for the delivery of 4.8 million nature-based carbon removal credits over 10 years, generated through Improved Forest Management (IFM) on U.S forestlands. The deal marks the second agreement between Microsoft, Anew and Aurora, following a 970,000 ton carbon removal agreement…