Climate-named funds have expanded rapidly in both publicly listed and private capital markets, reflecting growing investor interest in the energy transition and decarbonisation opportunities across asset classes, according to the latest MSCI Transition Finance Tracker. Assets under management in publicly traded climate funds has grown nearly 20-fold over the past seven years, up to $560bn, while private capital climate funds launched between…

Sustainable funds suffered their worst outflow on record in the first quarter as investors globally withdrew a record-breaking $8.6bn throughout the period, according to Morningstar Sustainalytics. It unravelled the optimism injected in the previous quarter when inflows of $18.1bn signalled glimmers of hope for the sector. Much of this year’s outflows came from US investors, who withdrew $6.1bn – it’s…

Sustainable-themed global equity funds outperformed the MSCI All Countries World index during the chaos wrought after Donald Trump announced his ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs, according to data provided by FE fundinfo. On 2 April, President Trump imposed a minimum 10% tariff on all exporters to the United States and additional reciprocal duties on roughly 60 nations with the largest trade imbalances…

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced today the launch of LEED v5, updating its flagship LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building system for rating with a sustainability-focused building standard. According to the USGBC, the new LEED system was developed with input from thousands of green building professionals, with the organization holding two public comment periods in…

Climate solutions provider Patch announced the launch of a new platform offering companies with software, data and expertise to streamline purchasing and management of carbon credits. According to Patch, the new platform is aimed at addressing a series of key challenges that are keeping the voluntary carbon market (VCM) from reaching its potential, including market fragmentation, with buyers required to…

The IFRS Foundation’s International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) announced today a series of proposed changes to its climate-related disclosure standard, aimed at easing some requirements for companies related to reporting on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While the changes would affect a wide range of companies reporting on climate-related issues under the standard, the amendments would most significantly impact requirements for…

Leaders from across industry, healthcare and the legal profession have formed the first-ever independent Menopause Advisory Group, the government has announced. Convened by the government’s Menopause Employment Ambassador, Mariella Frostrup, the group discussed the impact menopause can have on workers, current efforts to support women in work and how businesses can work in partnership with the government to ensure women…

The government of France presented a new “Charter for Paris-aligned and high integrity use of carbon credits,” launching a pledge for companies to follow in using carbon credits to help reach their climate goals, aimed at supporting the development of a more transparent and credible international carbon market. The charter, announced by French Minister of Ecological Transition, Biodiversity, Forests, the…

EU banking supervisor The European Banking Authority (EBA) announced the release of a new ESG dashboard, containing key indicators enabling benchmarking and monitoring of climate-related risks in the EU and European Economic Area (EEA) banking sector. Based on information disclosed by banks as part of their Pillar 3 ESG disclosures, the new dashboard covers climate risk from both a transition…

This week in ESG news: Goldman Sachs shareholders overwhelmingly reject anti-DEI proposals; Canada hits pause on corporate climate reporting requirements; Apple slashes product manufacturing emissions; LEGO Group opens its most sustainable factory; Musk-backed competition awards $100 million to climate removal startups; Microsoft signs large-scale deal to remove carbon by reforesting mine lands; EcoVadis launches workforce human rights monitoring solution; CDP…