GLOBAL: The financial consequences of climate procrastination are being badly underestimated. LGIM says delaying shift to low-carbon economy could cut value of global stock markets by a third.
Investors pull back support for green and social measures amid US political pressure Climate and human rights proposals overall receive fewer votes in 2023 corporate proxy season FT 3 min read
Governance: Human rights rules put bankers bonuses under fire
Banks, insurers and asset managers could face fines of up to 5 per cent of global revenues for financing or underwriting companies accused of human rights and environmental violations. They will also have to publish transition plans in line with the goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. And, for those with at least 1,000 employees, director pay will have to be linked in some way to the quality of these transition plans. Read
Alternative view on AI and ESG : I don't own green funds because I want to live
Alongside Nvidia, which makes up 2 per cent of the JPMorgan US sustainable equity fund, for example, Microsoft (partner of ChatGPT), Alphabet (Bard, cloud servers, DeepMind) and Amazon (servers) are all in the top 10. Together they account for 18 per cent of the assets. In other words, almost a fifth of a sustainability fund is dedicated to companies that may be green but they put at risk the sustainability of the humans who invest in it by advancing the threat from AI. All of this makes a mockery of ESG scores - both the ones that rank exposures to environment, social or governance factors as well as those assessing how green a company is. If AI wipes us off the planet, we won't be around to measure the progress. FT Times 3 time read
Anti-ESG funds fail to gain traction in the US FT Times 3 min read
EUROPE: Phasing out financing for fossil fuels: BNP Paribas, France's largest lender, will no longer finance the development of new oil and as fields, as it reiterated its target of an 80% cut of its oil exploration financing by 2030. Reuters 3 min read
Credit Agricole pledged earlier in December 2022 not to finance new oil extraction projects
Governance and the power of shareholders. In Italy attempts by rebel investor Covalis Capital to install its choice of directors on the board of 63 Billion Euro green champion Enel failed to get sufficient support from institutional shareholders. Reuters
Nordea AM excludes chemicals giant on biodiversity grounds. Read more here
------------------------------
Aya Pariy
------------------------------