WBA social benchmark finds financial services is worst-performing and least transparent sector on key social issues. Pension and sovereign wealth funds have been heavily underperforming on matters related to social and human rights. This is the stark message conveyed by a new study from the World Benchmark Association (WBA), which gave some of the world’s largest asset owners rock-bottom scores….

A selection of the major stories impacting ESG investors, in five easy pieces.  With electoral excitement reaching fever pitch in several major economies, public and private sector climate and sustainability strategies came under scrutiny this week. Podesta’s problem – US Climate Envoy John Podesta gave a strong signal this week on the likely introduction of a carbon border adjustment mechanism…

Rand Corporation Senior Economist Harry Broadman says equal emphasis should be placed on sustainability disclosures and operational transformation, and CSOs should be empowered to drive change. There are two of issues Harry Broadman is concerned about when it comes to sustainability: the tension between emission disclosure efforts and concurrent corporate operational change; and the attribution of ESG-related decision-making within a…

Dr Anthony Kirby, Head of Regulation and Risk for Asset Management and Capital Markets in Europe at EY, considers the key concepts and implications behind a key policy innovation in the UK. Most readers are already aware of alarming rates of biodiversity and ecosystem loss, with the WWF estimating a devastating 69% decline in wildlife populations on average since 1970….

National plans must shift gears to prevent climate finance from stalling, says Lindsey Stewart, Director of Stewardship and Policy at Morningstar Sustainalytics. London Climate Action Week marked the halfway point between the annual UN Climate Conferences – COP28 in the UAE last year, and COP29 in Azerbaijan this year. But the bright midsummer weather in the British capital didn’t match…

Sarita Gosrani, Director of ESG and Responsible Investment at bfinance, outlines five continuing challenges in the diverse and fast-evolving passive ESG investing sector. The landscape of equity indices with ‘ESG’, ‘climate’ or similar labelling has improved substantially in recent years. Yet institutional investors seeking to replace passive equity exposures with a credible sustainability-oriented quasi-passive alternative must still tackle difficult questions, ranging…

The Supreme Court’s overturning of 40-year-old precedent has opened litigation floodgates, but investors can be “voice of reason”.   Last week’s overturning of the Chevron precedent by the US Supreme Court places climate-focused rulemaking at risk, according to US investor bodies, requiring investors to amplify its importance to their decision-making processes.   Chevron held that a federal agency’s reasonable interpretation…