January 2024
26Jan

Sustainable Finance and ESG: From Policy Concerns to Transformative Tools

By Peer C. Zumbansen  This article provides an in-depth summary of the inaugural Fall conference on ESG and Sustainable Finance at McGill University, November 2023. The conference was hosted by the SGI CIBC Office for Sustainable Finance (OSF) and the Business Law Platform at McGill’s Faculty of Law. OSF was established under the auspices of McGill’s Sustainable Growth Initiative, a cross-departmental research and collaboration platform committed to cutting-edge scholarship and training on sustainable finance, decarbonisation, green mobility, climate change and...

January 26, 2024
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26Jan

Measuring the unintended consequences of public pension fund disinvestment from fossil fuel companies

Environmentalists are pursuing new strategies to pressure major polluters to decarbonise, including calling for widespread disinvestment from companies currently in the fossil fuel business. This column presents evidence that this strategy may be misguided. Focusing on public pension funds in the US, the authors find that companies reduced their greenhouse gas emissions when stock ownership by green funds increased, and did not alter their emissions when ownership by non-green funds changed. Ownership and constructive engagement were more effective than...

January 26, 2024
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24Jan

UK pension funds turn to renewable energy investment

UK pension funds and insurers are keen to increase allocations to renewable energy in the coming years, according to new research. A survey by AlphaReal, a specialist real assets manager, found that a majority of pension funds and insurers planned to increase their allocation to renewable energy in the next year. The survey, which included institutions with a combined £360bn in assets under management, found that 90% of respondents planned to increase their allocation to renewables, with the remaining 10% open...

January 24, 2024
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23Jan

US. ‘Too few’ public pension funds address climate in proxy voting — report

"Too few" public pension funds are addressing climate-related financial risk when it comes to proxy voting, according to a report released Jan. 23 by nonprofit organizations Sierra Club, Stand.earth and Stop the Money Pipeline. The report, "The Hidden Risk in State Pensions: Analyzing State Pensions' Responses to the Climate Crisis in Proxy Voting," looked at 24 public pension funds with a collective $2 trillion in assets, including the $241.7 billion New York City Retirement Systems and state pension funds in California,...

January 23, 2024
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23Jan

UK. Climate communications: Why Olivia Colman’s Make My Money Matter campaign went viral

Thousands of business leaders convened in Davos last week for the World Economic Forum’s annual summit. Top of their to-do list this year, as evidenced by the summit’s theme, is rebuilding public trust in the ability of the private sector to work with policymakers in addressing some of the world’s most pressing challenges including the climate crisis. This will be no mean feat. Historic climate action failures resulted in the hottest year on record, during which leaders met in an...

January 23, 2024
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15Jan

Investors ‘flying blind’ into legal risk of climate change, Oxford researchers warn

As investors assess climate-related financial risk, they are "flying blind" to the risk of climate lawsuits that could hit companies with trillions in damages, according to a research report from Oxford Sustainable Law Programme published Jan. 11 in Science. The Oxford Sustainable Law Programme is a joint initiative of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment and the Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford, England. Current practices used by investors to assess the financial risk of climate change...

January 15, 2024
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11Jan

UK. ‘Drive to reach net zero’ top reason for pension investment in renewable energy

The pursuit of reaching net-zero carbon emissions is the top reason for pension investment in renewable energy, according to research by AlphaReal. When asking UK pension schemes and insurers to select the three main environmental, social and governance (ESG) drivers for investing in renewable energy, almost three-quarters (72 per cent) included ‘measurable targets and benefits including achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050’ in their top three. Climate risk mitigation was the second biggest ESG driver for pension schemes and insurers, chosen...

January 11, 2024
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December 2023
15Dec

UK. New report finds greening pensions reduces carbon footprint more than stopping flying

Scottish Widows’ latest Green Pensions Report has found that while most Brits are well aware of how to reduce their carbon footprint through changing their behaviours, two thirds (67%) don’t know how to switch to a ‘green pension’. If this information gap were to be addressed by the government, industry and employers, UK consumers could collectively save up to 386 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually through their pensions[1] – the equivalent of 11 return flights from London to New...

December 15, 2023
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12Dec

UK. Over two thirds of savers unsure how to switch to a greener pension

While most Brits are well aware of how to reduce their carbon footprint through changing their behaviours, more than two thirds (67 per cent) don’t know how to switch to a ‘green pension’, research from Scottish Widows has revealed. Scottish Widows’ second annual Green Pensions Report found that there is growing appetite for responsible retirement savings propositions among employers and employees, with nearly three quarters (74 per cent) of savers expressing a keen interest in obtaining more information about sustainable options for...

December 12, 2023
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04Dec

The Largest U.S. Pension Fund Just Rolled Out A Climate Transition Plan Focused On Risk And Opportunity

There are times when an established company, an investor, a startup makes a move that is so strategic—so in tune with the risks and the opportunities of the moment—that it marks the shift between the market’s past and its future. We recently witnessed that moment. In a bold step tailored to meet the existential challenges and colossal financial risks of a warming climate and harness the massive opportunities of the shift to a new clean economy, California Public Employees' Retirement System...

December 4, 2023
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