By: Anna-Stina Reuter, Principal Sustainability Consultant at Sphera Over the past few years, discussions surrounding sustainability reporting standards have evolved significantly. In the coming months alone, the threshold for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is set to be lowered, the simplified set of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) will be published, and the reporting deadline under California’s Climate…

Materials science company Recover announced that it has entered a multi-year agreement with fashion and design brands company H&M to supply its recycled cotton fiber, RCotton, for use across the latter’s product ranges. Madrid-based Recover turns textile waste from post-industrial and pre- and post-consumer origins into high-quality recycled cotton fiber and fiber blends, including its 100% pure and unblended recycled…

Industrial mineralization company Arca announced that it has signed a new 10-year agreement with Microsoft to permanently remove nearly 300,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere by using mining waste to transform it into rock. Founded in 2021, British Columbia-based Arca provides technology to accelerate the natural process of carbon mineralization in alkaline industrial waste, removing CO2 from the air,…

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the investment manager for Norway’s $1.4 trillion oil fund announced the publication of its 2030 Climate Action Plan, outlining its updated investment and engagement approach to managing the financial risks and opportunities arising from climate change, and to support its mandate to have portfolio companies organize their activities to be compatible with global net zero…

Investor-focused sustainability data provider Net Purpose announced today the acquisition of the Sustainable Development Investments Asset Owner Platform (SDI AOP), in a move the company said is aimed at creating a unified standard to accelerate investing to achieve climate and other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Launched in 2020 by pension asset managers APG, AustralianSuper, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) and…

Impact data company Upright announced the launch of a new double materiality assessment (DMA) tool, capable of providing companies with real-time DMAs, including clarity on key impacts, risks, and opportunities, using just a company URL. Upright said that it is offering the new tool free of charge, with organizations that have advanced sustainability reporting assurance needs able to upgrade to access…

Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp owner Meta and Engie North America announced that they have signed new purchase power agreements (PPAs), including a PPA which will see Engie supplying 100% of the energy produced from its largest-ever solar project to power Meta’s data center operations in Texas. The new agreement will increase the overall scale of the commercial relationship between the…

European asset manager Amundi announced that it has been selected by a coalition of UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), led by the University of Cambridge, to launch a cash fund that excludes companies contributing to fossil fuel expansion globally. According to Amundi, the new fund will exclude fossil fuel companies, as well as utilities, banks, insurers, and other companies that…