Public companies will be required to disclose climate risks and greenhouse gas emissions under President-elect Biden’s administration. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will institute rulemaking and guidance on the federal monitoring of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. The Biden administration’s decision to require climate report disclosures follows complaints from investor advocacy groups about inconsistent disclosure practices due to voluntary reporting frameworks.
Net Zero Gaining Momentum Like Never Before Among Investor And Business Community (Forbes)
2020 can’t get behind us fast enough. But the shocking realization we’ve all faced about how vulnerable our society and global economy is also one of the reasons we’ve seen the remarkable embrace of ‘net zero’ by the business community this year.
This year, the number of the world’s largest companies committing to net-zero emissions targets, meaning they will eliminate as much of the greenhouse gases as they produce, tripled to 1,500 from the start of the year.
When the pandemic hit in the spring, those of us leading the fight against the climate crisis thought that business momentum towards net zero would slow down. But, the opposite happened. The lessons of the pandemic—which scientists had been warning about for years—made major institutional investors and corporations realize they had to increase their own climate ambitions.
ESG Under the Microscope (Baird)
Why Now and What You Should Know
One of the buzziest acronyms in the investing world is “ESG.” These three letters are a tidy summary of a big-picture idea: That it’s possible to “do good and do well” by investing in your values. While ESG focuses on environmental, social and governance themes, there are several other schools of thought on values-driven investing. These approaches, arguably led by ESG, have become more mainstream over the past few years. Many people and institutions are eager to incorporate “responsible” investing into their portfolios.
The Future Turns 50 This Year (WSJ)
From computers and money to relations with China, 1971 changed the world in many ways.
Fifty years ago, America entered a magical year. Any year could hold moments of great significance, but 1971 stands out. After a decade of upheaval, the country was seeking a new start. These events launched it.
Sustainable Finance is “Tops” in Sustainable Finance
In 2017 we launched Sustainable Finance with one mission: to curate the best in research and reporting on sustainability. Founded at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we were the first university to offer programs in Sustainable Finance starting in 2005.
Since launching the blog, we have seen visits to our site double every year, and this year has seen our best year yet, with thousands of visitors from over 65 countries. As we close out 2020, we want to thank our readers for their support in making Sustainable Finance the number one sustainable finance blog in the world.
– Christopher K. Merker, CFA, Ph.D.
Editor, Sustainable Finance
Gross Domestic Wellbeing (CarnegieUK)
Gross Domestic Wellbeing (GDWe)™ offers a holistic alternative to GDP as a measure of social progress. Using the framework and data in the Office for National Statistics Measures of National Wellbeing Dashboard, the Trust has developed a tool that provides a single figure for GDWe in England and mapped this against GDP for the past six years.
In this report, we provide both an analysis of overall Gross Domestic Wellbeing (GDWe) for the past six years, and an individual GDWe score for each of the 10 domains of wellbeing in the ONS dashboard, to highlight areas requiring attention. We have supplemented this analysis with a thematic review of over 800 recommendations from nearly 50 commissions and inquiries since 2010 – from Marmot to Grimsey, Dilnot to Taylor – to highlight the many areas of mutual focus, challenge, and concern. The recommendations show that though the data currently being collected by the ONS offers a useful starting point and a framework for measuring wellbeing, there are significant gaps.
This is a subject also discussed in:
https://blogs.cfainstitute.org/investor/2019/06/12/esg-and-the-commons-from-tragedy-to-governance/
Private Inequity Report (17 Communications)
A research report published by 17 Communications, with contributed content from the Predistribution Initiative, about how the private equity industry is responding to systemic and systematic risks like climate change, COVID-19 and racial injustice.
The Private Inequity report found that manager responses tilted most toward easier moves that foster limited systemic change – 28% making statements and 15% donations – and least to the more substantive internal and external changes to policies and practices, which each saw action from less than 10% of managers. Climate change fostered the fewest manager actions overall, while the pandemic got the most.
The report also has 11 recommendations for managers to improve their ability to respond and help address systemic crises, including guidance on transparency and compensation policy changes, audits of current practices, new accountability mechanisms, and integration of diversity, equity, and inclusion principles, Rothenberg says.
“While we recognize the private equity industry is responding to calls for stronger ESG integration, and many have taken steps in a positive direction, systemic crises demand timely action and less of a piecemeal approach,” said Delilah Rothenberg, Executive Director of the Predistribution Initiative and a contributing author for the report. “Despite limited action to date, private equity firms are well-positioned to drive positive change given their ability to influence portfolio company governance, priorities, and even capital structures. To step up to the plate and demonstrate leadership, private equity investors need to conduct holistic assessments of their internal and external business practices to identify exposure and contributions to such risks, develop action plans with clear targets and timelines to close gaps, and communicate publicly about their ongoing progress.”
The New Energy Giants are Renewable Companies (Bloomberg)
The tipping point may come next year, when Goldman Sachs Group Inc. projects that spending on renewable power will overtake that of oil and gas drilling for the first time.
Meet the clean supermajors. They have the clout and financial might of the energy behemoths that plumbed the world over for oil and gas before them. But instead of digging mines and drilling wells, they’re leading the race to electrify the global economy.
These four companies—Enel, Iberdrola, NextEra Energy and Orsted—prioritized the building or buying of clean-power plants when those assets were still considered alternative and expensive. Now they’re on the cusp of a breakthrough. Ever-cheaper solar panels and wind turbines are beginning to dominate new power installations, threatening the growth of natural gas on our power grids and upending energy markets.
Big Companies Urge Biden, Congress to Address Climate Change (WSJ)
A broad cross section of big U.S. corporations including Amazon.com Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Ford Motor Co. are calling on Congress to work closely with President-elect Joe Biden to address the threat of climate change.
In a letter to be sent to Congress and the Biden transition team on Wednesday, more than 40 companies say they support the U.S. rejoining the Paris climate accord, and urge “President-elect Biden and the new Congress to work together to enact ambitious, durable, bipartisan climate solutions.”
Securities regulators world-wide ‘gravitating’ to sector-specific approach to climate disclosure, US SEC chief says (mLex)
Securities regulators world-wide are “gravitating” to a view that companies’ global-warming disclosures should differ by industry sector, US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton said.
Clayton said he spoke with an International Organization of Securities Commissions task force yesterday about how to create global standards that are “meaningful.”
“This is an area where, for certain sectors and certain companies, we all believe disclosure is required, it’s material,” he told the Senate Banking Committee yesterday. “Different sectors, different ways.”