Updates from PRI Spring and the TNFD also showcase efforts to enhance accountability on nature-related impacts. Industry experts have highlighted the importance of nature investments and potential risks arising from their underfunding, amid increased regulatory attention. Speaking at City & Financial Global’s Biodiversity and Nature Markets Summit 2024, Rhian-Mari Thomas, CEO of the Green Finance Institute (GFI), suggested that economic…
ESG Today: Week in Review
This week in ESG news: ISSB moves to standardize reporting on climate transition plans, GHG emissions; ISO to launch global net zero standard; Switzerland proposes major expansion in sustainability reporting requirements; Deloitte survey finds nearly all C-suite execs want compensation tied to human sustainability metrics; Bloomberg launches sustainability data and reporting tools for investors; Canada passes new anti-greenwashing laws; IBM…
Phoenix Champions Human Rights Stewardship
Asset owner makes progress on climate and asset manager information-sharing in first year as Stewardship Code signatory. Human rights controversies are a systemic risk that should form a central part of asset owners’ stewardship strategies, according to one of the UK’s largest asset owners. “We are a universal owner and exposed to many economies, regions, sectors, countries and companies,” Valeria…
Be prepared: The technical standards on STS securitizations’ ESG disclosures enter into force on July 8, 2024
The Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1700 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2017/2402 with regard to regulatory technical standards (“RTS”) was adopted on June 18, 2024. These RTS set out the content, methods and presentation of information in relation to the principal adverse impacts (“PAIs”) of the assets financed by the underlying exposures on sustainability factors for securitizations and the new rules will…
Cleantech Startup Rondo Energy Secures $80 Million Funding for New Industrial Decarbonization Projects
Zero-carbon industrial heat solutions provider Rondo Energy announced that it has secured €75 million (USD$80 million) in funding, aimed at expanding its European presence by supporting three industrial decarbonization projects in the food, clean fuel, and chemical production industries. Founded in 2020, California-based Rondo Energy provides solutions to address emissions from industrial heat processes. Industrial heating uses high amounts of…
ISO to Launch Global Net Zero Standard
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) announced that it has commenced work on the development of a new international standard on net zero, aimed at providing clarity and credibility to organizations’ net zero targets and strategies, and to guard against greenwashing. The process to develop the standard follows the launch in 2022 at the COP27 climate conference of the ISO…
Take Five: No Half Measures
A selection of the major stories impacting ESG investors, in five easy pieces. Whole-economy transformation was high on the agenda at London Climate Action Week and beyond. Silent crisis – Among the more significant announcements made at London Climate Action Week (LCAW) was the unveiling of its draft ‘Global Roadmap for a Nature-positive Economy’ by the World Wide Fund for…
Inertia a Barrier to Impact
The case for allocating to social investment solutions has never been clearer and relevant, according to Big Issue Invest Chair Mark Porter. The 2024 Joseph Rowntree Foundation poverty survey tells us that 14.4 million people are in poverty in the UK. That’s approximately 22% of the population, a level roughly 50% higher than much of the 1970s. This is more…
IFRS, IFC Launch Partnership to Improve Sustainability Reporting Emerging Markets
The IFRS Foundation and the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) announced the establishment of a new strategic partnership aimed improving sustainability reporting at in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), in order to strengthen sustainable capital markets through improved standardization and transparency. The new alliance comes as developing economies will need to significantly scale up climate investments and…
Lack of Climate Finance for EMs a “False Barrier”
Developing economies have the ambition to tackle climate challenges, but require investors to step up and capitalise on a plethora of projects. Industry experts have stressed the importance of mobilising finance in Africa and other emerging markets (EMs), urging investors and governments to take action and find ways to overcome perceived hurdles for investment. Speaking at the London Stock Exchange-hosted…