What’s Happening in Sustainable Finance: The Push for Climate-Related Disclosures, Assessing SPT Ambitiousness, and More
Highlighting what’s new in the world of sustainable finance including the push for more company reporting climate-related risks, the emergence of more oil & gas companies exploring sustainable finance options and our tips on how companies can assess the ambitiousness of the targets used in sustainability-linked debt.
Governance in Brief – August 12, 2021
Investors managing over USD 14 trillion of assets have released a set of expectations for companies through the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (“IIGCC”). These are set forth in a “position statement” calling for new corporate governance measures aimed at ensuring that companies can be held accountable for meeting their net zero emissions commitments.
ESG Risks of Aging Pipelines for U.S. Energy Infrastructure Investors
Pipelines play a critical role in the U.S energy infrastructure transporting natural gas, crude oil, natural gas liquids, petroleum, and petrochemical products. While these pipelines play a vital role in supporting the U.S economy, investors are increasingly scrutinizing pipeline operators' long-term economic profitability and sustainability practices. A closer look into the status of pipelines reveals a particular issue that investors need to consider.
ESG Spotlight Report - Investing in racial diversity: North American equities
Access Sustainalytics' second ESG Spotlight Series report on race and ethnic diversity this year. Building on insights from the previous ESG Spotlight, the next series installment focuses on bridging the demographic data gap by compiling corporate disclosures of employee composition. Our research shows that companies with more diverse upper management tended to deliver greater financial returns than those with less diverse upper management over the last five years.
Moving the Needle: How Loans and Bonds Are Being Tied to Corporate Sustainability Performance
The tide continues to rise for the sustainable debt market, with sustainability-linked debt contributing to its steady growth. In this article we take a closer look at what’s driving market adoption of sustainability-linked debt and the principles and frameworks guiding market participants.
ESG Investors Consider Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 in the Construction Industry
The construction industry can have a reputation for workforce insensitivity and is highly vulnerable to economic and social variabilities. The ESG Impacts of COVID-19 drive companies to adapt to significant challenges related to the demand for construction services. This construction sector research snapshot highlights relevant social issues that corporations face due to ripple effects from the pandemic using Sustainalytics’ ESG Risk Ratings and Controversies Research.
Governance in Brief – August 05, 2021
Activision Blizzard Inc. faces an investor class action lawsuit alleging that it failed to disclose an investigation by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (“DFEH”), which ran for two years and culminated in the agency filing a separate civil suit against the company on July 20, 2021.
Delays, Questions and Confusion: Updates on the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation
In this blog, we look at the delay of the level 2 regulation, some aspects of the Q&A, and the ongoing confusion and divergence around SFDR. We pay special attention to the potential impact of the Principle Adverse Impact indicators, an element of SFDR.
Financing Sustainability: Recent Trends in Sustainable Bonds, Linked Instruments and Disclosure
The “Financing Sustainability: Recent Trends in Sustainable Bonds, Linked Instrument and Disclosure” ebook shares insights on recent progress made by organizations bridging the gap between sustainability and finance.
What’s Happening in Sustainable Finance: Adopting the Climate Transition Finance Handbook, Recovery Through Sustainable Sovereign Debt and More
In this episode, we discuss ongoing diversification in the labeled bond market and highlight developments around transition finance guidance as well as new and updated principles in the loan market.
ESG Risk Exposure from COVID-19 Vaccine Transportation and Distribution
As mass vaccination against the coronavirus started, a key challenge has been to keep millions of doses of vaccines at the right temperature. An increase in temperature inside a truck or aircraft, by half a degree, for half an hour, would reportedly result in a 'defrosted' vaccine which has then to be discarded.
Governance in Brief – July 15, 2021
The OECD will review the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance aiming to adapt these “to the post-COVID-19 reality.” The organization noted that the pandemic aggravated structural weaknesses in the “corporate sector” and concluded that strengthening corporate governance should be a priority to promote economic recovery.
EU Taxonomy Developments and the EU’s Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy
On July 6th, the European Commission published its Strategy for Financing the Transition to a Sustainable Economy, the successor of the EU’s Sustainable Finance Action Plan, which launched in 2018. The strategy focuses on transforming the financial system and financing transition plans, building on the 2018 Action Plan, which centered on developing the EU Taxonomy, putting in place disclosure regimes, and developing tools for the market to develop sustainable investment solutions and prevent greenwashing.