A coalition of investors — Walden Asset Management, Presbyterian Church USA, and First Affirmative Financial Network — led by shareholder advocate As You Sow recently filed climate-focused resolutions with a large segment of the U.S. banking industry, including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. Investor concern is growing regarding…
Category: climate change
Ceres: Blueprint for Boards on Climate Risk Assessment
Some 73 major U.S. companies recorded material hits to earnings from extreme weather events in one year, while supply-chain disruptions from climate change jumped 29% over the past six years. Once again, we emphasize that ESG is not a trade-off of shareholder value; it is a more sophisticated way of assessing risk. A new report…
UK Labour Proposal: Climate change: Firms failing to tackle crisis will be delisted from stock exchange
Companies that fail to act on the climate change they cause will be axed from the stock exchange, under radical Labour plans. John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, pledged his government would ensure firms are “pulling their weight” to tackle the “existential threat” to the planet. And he warned: “For those companies not taking adequate steps…
Climate Change Will Cost Us Even More Than We Think
A set of assumptions and practices in economics has led economists both to underestimate the economic impact of many climate risks and to miss some of them entirely. That is a problem because, as the report notes, these “missing risks” could have “drastic and potentially catastrophic impacts on citizens, communities and companies.” via Opinion |…
Activists thought BlackRock, Vanguard were climate allies. Not now
In 2017, the two biggest U.S.-based fund managers, BlackRock and Vanguard — which control a combined $12 trillion in assets — both voted to require Exxon Mobil to produce a report on climate change. It was a seen as watershed moment showing what can occur when the biggest index funds punch their weight at the…
Long-term matters: How capitalists can save the Amazon from capitalism
When foundations and wealthy individuals launched their Rapid Response-Able Fund (RRAF) in spring 2020, commentators sneered at the “save the world” motivation while others said it would distract attention from the political changes that were needed. But at $10bn (€9bn), with plans to scale quickly to $100bn, interest in corporate boardrooms snowballed. RRAF would target…
Breakingviews – Fiddling with bank capital can help the planet – Reuters
Climate change could give fiddling with bank capital a good name. Regulators have spent much of the last decade trying to stop lenders massaging their solvency to boost returns. Yet that same sleight of hand could make a big difference in the fight against global warming. The main job of prudential regulators is to stop…
Findings of the ISS Global Survey 2019
The findings of the annual ISS survey on investor priorities: Board Gender Diversity: Majorities of both investors (61 percent) and non-investors (55 percent) agreed with the view that board gender diversity is an essential attribute of effective board governance regardless of the company or its market. Approximately 27 percent of investors tended to favor a market-by-market…
Nordea co-founder of ground-breaking UNEP FI and banking sector sustainability initiative | nordea.com
Nordea, as the only Nordic bank, is one of 30 founding banks of the Principles for Responsible Banking developed together with United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). Today, during a formal ceremony at the UN General Assembly in New York, 130 banks signed the Principles. By signing these, banks worldwide, representing over USD…
Converging on climate lobbying: aligning corporate practice with investor expectations | Reports/Guides | PRI
PRI’s new guidance for engagement on corporate climate denial and lobbying: nvestors are increasingly scrutinising corporate engagement on climate policy as it plays a critical role in helping governments create practical climate policy solutions. However, corporate engagement on climate policy is a double-edged sword. Negative and resistant corporate interest, often represented by third-party organisations, can…
