Despite concerns, Richard Howitt, one of the architects of the EU’s non-financial disclosure rules, sees opportunities as the package moves into co-decision. From whichever angle one views things, attempts by the European Commission (EC) to streamline its sustainable finance disclosure rules look like bad news for investors.  The proposal significantly reduces the scope of companies caught by the Corporate Sustainability…

Taxonomy-aligned capital expenditures (capex) from large listed European companies grew 34% in 2023, reaching €250 billion (US$271 billion) by year end, according to a new report from the Platform on Sustainable Finance (PSF). Half of this was directed toward enabling activities, while transitional activities accounted for 11% of the total (double the previous year). According to the report, debt financing…

INTERNATIONAL    SBTi postpones revision of Corporate Net Zero Standard   The SBTi has postponed the release of the Corporate Net Zero Standard and will first hold a public consultation on its revised version. Expert Working Groups are developing the standard, focusing on key areas such as Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM), Scope 2 and 3 emissions, Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR),…

As Charlotte Yonge sorted through boxes of her grandmother’s things this year, she found a pile of handwritten share records from the 1970s. It triggered a memory: when she was young, Yonge had always seen women as the ones who invested, as her grandmother had throughout her life. But as she grew older, Yonge realised she was relatively alone in…

Asset manager’s Head of Fixed Income hopes market expansion will eliminate need for the purely green bond-focused vehicle within the next decade. The tenth anniversary of Nordic asset manager Storebrand’s Green Bond Fund offers a yardstick for the significant growth of and interest in green, social, sustainability, sustainability-linked and transition (GSS+) bonds during the last decade. Launched in 2015, the…

2024 was a big setback for net zero coalitions. Many asset managers, especially US asset managers, left the Net Zero Asset Manager Initiative and Climate Action 100+. The UN-convened Net Zero Insurance Alliance was completely disbanded.  This is a drastic change from just four years ago when there was great hope and enthusiasm that the finance sector could change the world if…