Jamie Hicks
The sustainable business movement is a prolific generator of new terms. From SRI to ESG to impact, now to TCFD and TNFD and Net Zero, one can easily be overwhelmed by detail.
The last few years has seen huge growth in ESG and climate-themed financial products on global markets, with the funds offered growing to a total value of $1.7 trillion in 2020. In parallel, regulators have become increasingly concerned about the quality, consistency, and transparency of available products in this category. This research assesses 723 equity funds specifically marketed using ESG- and climate-related key words, with over US$330 billion in total net assets. It does so on the basis of two climate criteria (portfolio Paris Agreement alignment and fossil fuel intensity) likely to be of primary interest to investors in funds marketed in this manner.
An analysis of whether the EU’s procedural framework for sustainable finance policymaking is fit for purpose.The ex-ante impact assessment is one of the most important tools available to policy makers. It is a critical step to promoting informed decision making and ensuring that the final policy design is optimal for addressing the issue at hand.In this crucial year for sustainable finance policy, with the recent release of a new Sustainable Finance Strategy, the impact assessment process must be improved to ensure that any policy is actually doing what it needs to. EU policymakers do not have a moment to lose and cannot afford any mistakes.
An IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty. - cited from the IPCC special report: Global Warming of 1.5 ºC
For the eighth consecutive year, Novartis published on Jan 26, 2021 an annual Novartis in Society ESG report. The Novartis in Society ESG Report details progress on environmental, social and governance topics and demonstrates the company’s commitment in global health and corporate responsibility.
The border industry, its financiers and human rights09 April 2021Policy briefingThis report seeks to explore and highlight the extent of today’s global border security industry, by focusing on the most important geographical markets—Australia, Europe, USA—listing the human rights violations and risks involved in each sector of the industry, profiling important corporate players and putting a spotlight on the key investors in each company.
The ocean, which regulates climate and supports vital ecosystem services, is crucial to our Earth system and livelihoods. Yet, it is threatened by anthropogenic pressures and climate change. A healthy ocean that supports a sustainable ocean economy requires adequate financing vehicles that generate, invest, align, and account for financial capital to achieve sustained ocean health and governance. However, the current finance gap is large; we identify key barriers to financing a sustainable ocean economy and suggest how to mitigate them, to incentivize the kind of public and private investments needed for topnotch science and management in support of a sustainable ocean economy.
Workers in apparel supply chains are among the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Even before the pandemic, workers had to survive on poverty wages; in the first three months of the pandemic alone, workers lost at least US$3 billion in income. Poverty, discrimination, a lack of labor protections, and restrictions on movement form the breeding ground for exploitation and forced labor risks— and the Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically worsened these factors. Workers’ already meager livelihoods were taken away and many lack the support of social and labor protections, which do not extend to (undocumented) migrant workers.
On 1 February 2021, Myanmar’s military staged a coup in a brutal attempt to reimpose
military rule, nullifying the results of the November 2020 elections, arresting and detaining democratically elected members of parliament and declaring a state of emergency.
Over 820 civilians have been killed and thousands detained since the coup. Attacks against
ethnic communities have intensified, including indiscriminate airstrikes. Gross human
rights violations have become widespread and systematic, amounting to crimes against
humanity.
A ranking of 70 of the world’s largest
insurers’ approaches to responsible
investment and underwriting