HSBC AGM sparks controversy as ShareAction flags continued lack of targets and transparency over sector’s sustainability claims. NGO ShareAction has declared it will continue to aid investors in their push for transparency into HSBC’s green finance investment pledge, highlighting endemic issues across the banking sector. The decision followed the HSBC’s most recent AGM, at which a coalition of shareholders requested…

Public sector pension giant notifies oil major of consequences to decision to sue shareholders over climate shareholder resolution. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), one of the world’s biggest pensions schemes, has warned ExxonMobil it will face consequences for its controversial decision to sue shareholders over a climate shareholder resolution. CalPERS issued the warning after a group of ExxonMobil…

A selection of the major stories impacting ESG investors, in five easy pieces.  Articles 8 and 9 may yet live on, but investors made a clear call to the European Commission for streamlining green fund regulation. Rage against the (green) machine – It seems we’re little nearer to knowing the future of green fund regulation in Europe, after the European…

Farrer & Co Senior Associate Rebecca Standing considers the options for investors and developers facing the UK’s biodiversity net gain rules. The requirement to provide 10% biodiversity net gain (BNG) became mandatory in England when Part 6 of the Environment Act 2021 (2021 Act) came into force on 12 February 2024, or 2 April 2024 for small sites – developments…

Nicole Yeomans, Offshore Industrials Lead and Marine Ecology Expert at NatureMetrics, says technology can future-proof floating offshore wind investments against nature risks. In 1991, ten years after the construction of the first wind turbine, the world’s first offshore wind farm was built in Denmark. Since then, much research has been conducted to better utilise the ocean’s wind power, making offshore wind…

Bert Kramer, Head of Climate Research at Ortec Finance, says we cannot discount the possibility of a transition-related financial crisis. As the clock ticks down from the 2015 Paris Agreement, there is growing uncertainty that on our current trajectory the world is going to meet the stated goal to be net zero by 2050. As this target approaches and governments…