Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) announced that it has decided to drop its target to mobilize $500 billion in sustainable finance, and has held off on providing some climate finance-related disclosures, following changes to greenwashing regulations in Canada. The announcement, revealed in RBC’s 2024 Sustainability Report, follows the passage of amendments last year to Canada’s Competition Act, aimed at tackling…
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the conduct regulator for financial services firms and financial markets in the UK, announced that it would not currently proceed with its proposal to extend its new Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) and sustainable investment labelling regime to portfolio managers, despite “broad support” for the rules, following industry feedback on the proposal. The proposal, announced in…
Companies globally continued to increase the ambitions of their climate goals in 2024, despite policy headwinds, with a substantial increase in the year of listed companies with validated science-based emission reduction goals, and a continued decoupling in the correlation between revenue and GHG emissions growth, according to a new study released by investment data and research provider MSCI. For the…
For those of us working in sustainability, the negative rhetoric of the past few months hasn’t been easy to ignore. Driven in large part by the changing political environment in the US, a whole spectrum of issues that had previously enjoyed near-unanimous consensus have become more divisive than we could possibly have imagined just a few years ago. This increasing…
A 73% majority of private equity fund investors have said moves pushing back against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in the US could have a meaningful impact in Europe, according to Brackendale’s sixth private equity sentiment report: DEI: Progress, Policy or Pushback. The report explores the perspectives of European LPs on DEI and its long-term viability in European private markets,…
Fund rebranding activity accelerated in the first quarter of 2025, as the 21 May deadline for the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) greenwashing rule rapidly approaches, according to Morningstar’s latest report: SFDR Article 8 and Article 9 funds: Q1 2025 in Review. At least 262 Article 8 and Article 9 funds with ESG-related terms in their names rebranded in…
So, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has officially paused its plans for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) targets. While no one wants overly burdensome regulations, this move risks undermining DEI’s importance, reducing it to a trend that can be ignored. Worse, it perpetuates the myth that DEI is an overhead rather than an opportunity. A particular bugbear of mine is…
The investment industry has reacted with disappointment after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) indefinitely postponed plans to extend its Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) regime to model portfolio services (MPS). In February 2025, the FCA announced it would no longer publish a policy statement in Q2 2025 that would put MPS under the scope of SDR, saying it was aware that…
The investment industry has reacted with disappointment after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) indefinitely postponed plans to extend its Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) regime to model portfolio services (MPS). In February 2025, the FCA announced it would no longer publish a policy statement in Q2 2025 that would put MPS under the scope of SDR, saying it was aware that…
Luxury brand group Kering announced the launch of its new Water Positive Strategy, aimed reducing water-related risks in the company’s value chain and supporting the company’s commitment to have a net water-positive impact by 2050, and measured net positive water impacts in its key hotspots by 2035. Headquartered in Paris, Kering’s brands include Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, and…