With the timeline now confirmed, investors are nevertheless being advised to stand ready for implementation. Ongoing controversies and industry pushback could result in Scope 3 emissions disclosure requirements being removed from the California climate bills, a regulatory expert has warned. If the threat is averted, the bills could offer an alternative to federal legislation, with the US Securities and Exchange…

A selection of the major stories impacting ESG investors, in five easy pieces.  Global leaders were not short of information on which to base future climate action this week. Mine’s a treble – The effectiveness of New York Climate Week in eliciting tougher policy commitments is not yet scientifically proven, but it certainly provides plenty of evidence of the need…

DAI Magister CEO Victor Basta highlights the opportunities for investment in the technology required to accelerate the transition towards a more sustainable future. The climate technology sector has seen steady expansion over the past 10 years and is expected to have a strong growth path in the coming decade. Data published by provider Statista earlier this month showed that the…

Tackling the UK’s health challenges requires a whole-of-society response, including from investors, explains Anna Taylor, Executive Director at The Food Foundation. Last week, a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) made it clear that the UK’s worsening health was affecting the workforce, worsening productivity, holding back pay, damaging public finances and adding to regional inequality. Bolstering the findings from…

The Financial Conduct Authority’s decision to halt the development of an effectiveness metric undermines systemic stewardship, says Gustave Loriot-Boserup, Founder of Compass Insights. In an update published on 5 September, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it will “discontinue” the development of a metric measuring stewardship effectiveness, highlighting the complexity of isolating the effect of engagement activities on companies’…

Arianna Manili, Senior Policy Officer at Planet Tracker, considers the implications of the ex-ECB chief’s report on EU competitiveness. On 9 September, in Brussels, former European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi presented his report on the ‘The Future of European Competitiveness’. The document outlines the challenges that EU businesses face in being both productive and environmentally-friendly. The report proposes around…

September’s edition of the Policy Digest features key regulatory developments surrounding the global baselines set by the EU Corporate Sustainable Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) Standards. In the EU, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has finalised the format and presentation of sustainability statements with the XBRL taxonomy for the first set of European…