By: Linda Freiner, Group Chief Sustainability Officer, Zurich Insurance Group We are already paying a heavy price for climate inaction. Record-breaking flooding, heatwaves, droughts and wildfires are having disastrous humanitarian and financial impacts. Due to global warming, our climate risk models show that these natural hazards and severe weather events are becoming more frequent and severe. Insurance can provide protection…
Amsterdam-based global bank ING announced on Thursday a series of updates to its policy for energy financing, including an immediate end to all new general financing – including corporate financing and bonds – to pure-play upstream oil and gas companies that continue to open new oil and gas fields. The new policy was unveiled as part of the release of…
Amsterdam-based global bank ING announced today that it has developed a new tool, ESG.X, that is being used by the bank to assess the climate transition of its clients, and has stated that it will soon begin applying stricter conditions on companies that are not making progress, including potentially ending financing for them. The utilization of the new tool was…
Berlin-based Smalt, which has built a talent development and technology services platform for the green energy sector, announced that it had raised €8M in a pre-emptive seed funding round. The funds will be used to accelerate the company’s growth in providing solutions to address the lack of manpower for the installation of renewable energy systems in commercial and residential properties,…
Home improvement retail giant The Home Depot announced today the achievement of one of its sustainability goals, eliminating expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) film from new packaging for its private-brand products. In announcing the milestone, The Home Depot noted that between 2017 and 2023 it had redesigned over 1,280 packages as part of its efforts to reduce…
Social media giant Meta has signed a long-term contract to purchase 1.3 million nature-based carbon removal credits, with an option for delivery of an additional 2.6 million credits, through 2038, from BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group (BTG Pactual TIG). The deal is one of the largest of its kind, and part of BTG Pactual TIG’s $1 billion Latin America reforestation…
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced today the release of a new compliance guide for fashion brands and retailers, aimed at helping the companies to comply with the regulator’s Green Claims Code when making environmental claims about their products and services. Alongside the launch of the new guide, the CMA announced that it has sent letters to 17…
BlackRock, Microsoft, infrastructure investor Global Infrastructure Partners and Abu Dhabi-based AI development-focused company MGX announced today the launch of the Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership (GAIIP), a new AI-focused partnership aimed at investing in new and expanded data centers and new energy infrastructure to power the facilities. The new partnership aims to raise $30 billion of private equity capital from…
The world’s largest companies are increasingly setting significant climate-related targets, despite facing increasing the challenges they are facing from anti-ESG political backlash and growing scrutiny over greenwashing in their environmental claims, according to a new study released by carbon markets-focused solutions provider Climate Impact Partners. For the study, Climate Impact Partners assessed the climate commitments of the Fortune Global 500…