ESG and Sustainability
The rise of ESG factors in investment decision making will have a dramatic impact on returns and opportunities in the 21st century. A recent survey by LGT Capital Partners and Mercer showed that 57% of respondents believe that incorporating ESG standards into investment decisions will raise returns. Just 9% argued they reduce returns on investment.
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Revaia, Europe’s largest female-founded venture capital firm, has successfully raised €150 million ($160 million) for its second fund, Revaia Growth II. The funding was secured from sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and institutional investors across Europe, with support from existing partners like Bpifrance and new backers such as mutual insurer Carac and the European Investment Fund.
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More Stories on ESG and Sustainability
Alternative Investments/ESG: Invesco Launches ESG ETF For The Canadian TSX Index
Invesco’s new ETF launch will trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange and allow investors to invest in Canadian large-cap equities that have been screened for ethical concerns. The Invesco S&P/TSX Composite ESG Index ETF is the first Canadian-listed ETF to track the S&P/TSX Composite ESG Index.
Alternative Investments/ESG: New “Blue Economy” Equity ETF From BNP Paribas
Investors looking for sustainable investment opportunities may consider ESG criteria like the blue economy and its sectors such as renewable marine energies, biotechnologies, aquaculture and fishing, tourism and environmental protection. The new BNP Paribas Easy ECPI Global ESG Blue Economy UCITS ETF is tailor-made for this purpose.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Renewable Energy ETFs Soar On Possible Dem Election Sweep
As clean energy supporter and Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden’s election chances seem to brighten, so do the prices on two renewable energy ETFs.
Venture Capital: Salesforce Ventures Launches $100M Impact Fund (II) For Cloud Startups
Salesforce Ventures, the global strategic investment arm of Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), announced Tuesday the launch of its second Impact Fund worth $ 100 Million. The fund will invest in cloud companies that have a positive social mission in education, climate action, diversity, equity, and inclusion, or support for nonprofits and foundations.
Alternative Investments/ESG: New Social Justice ETF From Tidal And Adasina
Adasina Social Capital is committed to utilizing public financial markets to implement social justice. It spurs investors to divest from companies that are guilty of racial inequities, do not support gender equity, are unfair in their financial dealings with employees or the public, and contribute to detrimental climate change.
Alternative Investments/ESG: iShares Launches Europe’s First Govt Bond Climate ETF
The iShares € Govt Bond Climate UCITS ETF seeks to track the performance of a climate risk-adjusted index offering exposure to Eurozone, investment-grade government bonds. Among Eurozone government bonds, it will provide a higher exposure to countries less exposed to climate change risks and lower exposure to countries that are more exposed to climate change risks.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Amundi Expands ESG Range With Two New ETFs
Amundi Asset Management launched its Amundi MSCI Emerging ESG Universal UCITS ETF offering investors exposure to large- and mid-cap securities in 26 emerging markets countries.
Alternative Investments/ESG: New ETFs For ESG Investing From iShares
iShares launched September 24 its new suite of ESG screened ETFs that track S&P 500 sustainability indexes by market capitalization. Investors looking to keep their portfolios with a greater component of S&P tracked stocks but with a sustainable focus may find these new ETFs useful additions.
Venture Capital: Mosa Meat’s Slaughter-Free Hamburger
Alternative meat startup Mosa Meat, which harvests beef directly from cow cells, rather than raising and slaughtering a whole animal, announced its Series B fundraising of $ 55 million. The amount was a first closing – part of a larger series B funding round.
Led by Luxembourg-based Blue Horizon Ventures, the round was joined by Bell Food Group, M Ventures, and others.
Alternative Investments/ESG: World’s First Actively Managed Sharia ETF To Debut in London
Almalia is a financial services group focused on innovation in Islamic finance, especially Shariah-compliant investments that are also sustainable and ethical. Headquartered in London, and having a presence in the UAE, Almalia has launched the world’s first actively-managed global equity ETF which is compliant with Shariah laws.
Digital Assets: Conglomerates Employ Technology To Track Deforestation
JBS S.A. (BVMF: JBSS3), the largest meatpacker in the world, has committed to maintaining a vigil against deforestation throughout its supply chain. The Brazilian company has been under pressure from investors and environmentalists because its beef production is leading to deforestation in the Amazon. Cattle owners have been known to clear forests to make way for pasture land.
Artificial Intelligence: Cameras Powered By AI Help Save Elephants
RESOLVE is a Washington, DC-based NGO that seeks sustainable solutions to critical environmental, social, and health, challenges. It has partnered with AI software company CVEDIA to develop WildEyes AI, a camera-based solution to detect elephants and alert wildlife managers and communities. These warnings would prevent conflict situations between elephants and human settlements before they occur.
Alternative Investments/ESG: The COVID-19 Pandemic Spurred ESG Investing To New Records
Sustainalytics Founder Michael Jantzi says people now want to do sustainable investing. And “they’re putting their money where their mouths are,” said Jantzi at the virtual Morningstar Investment Conference on Wednesday. The COVID-19 pandemic boosted an already strong movement in favor of sustainable investing.
Artificial Intelligence: Intelligent Sugarcane Herbicide Sprayer Helps Save Great Barrier Reef
James Cook University College of Science and Engineering senior lecturer, Mostafa Rahimi Azghadi, is overseeing a project to develop a new robotic sprayer for weeds in canefields. The sprayer will reduce the use of herbicides by up to 80% because it uses a targeted spraying method instead of a wider, “at-will” distribution. Herbicides in the water run off from canefields alongside river catchments connected to the Great Barrier Reef are a hazard.
Venture Capital: Forums For Diversity and Inclusion, On Both Sides Of The Pond
“Access All” is a new, virtual, pitching event for founders from under-represented groups such as blacks, Asians, and other minorities. It is an initiative from a group of U.K.-based VCs to counter the inequities in the venture funding system as visible from a bias in favor of privileged and “more equal” founders, and against certain ethnicities.
Alternative Investments/ESG: DWS Launches ESG-Themed Bond And Equity ETFs
DWS, one of the world’s leading asset managers, has launched a USD corporate bond ETF and a euro-hedged global equity ETF under its Xtrackers ESG banner.
Alternative Investments/ESG: AUM At The UBS S&P 500 ESG UCITS ETF Touches $1B
The S&P 500 ESG UCITS ETF from UBS Asset Management was the first passive ETF to impart the Environment-Social-Governance (ESG) screen to the S&P 500 equity index. In a statement, UBS Asset Management said the ETF had passed the milestone of $ 1 billion in assets under management.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Thematic Specialist Rize Floats Sustainable Foods ETF
Rize is Europe’s first specialist thematic ETF issuer. The firm aims to provide investors access to the most ground-breaking megatrends shaping the planet, and to companies that have the potential to become the growth stories of tomorrow. It announced twin ETFs on the themes of sustainable food and digital education.
Alternative Investments/ESG: BMO Global Launches China A-Shares Fund
BMO Global Asset Management has expanded its range of 14 Responsible Investment products with the launch last week of the BMO LGM Responsible China A-Shares Equity fund. The ESG-oriented fund will invest in the top Chinese stocks that feature strong corporate governance and management of social and environmental issues.
Alternative Investments/ESG: HSBC GAM Launches Sustainable Equity UCITS ETF
The HSBC Asia Pacific ex Japan Sustainable Equity UCITS ETF is a low-cost, passive investing vehicle for exposure to Asia Pacific equities ex Japan. It tracks customized FTSE Asia Pacific ex Japan ESG Low Carbon Emissions Select Index, an index that integrates ESG (environmental, social and governance), carbon emissions, and fossil fuel reserves considerations.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Global AUM in ESG ETFs and ETPs Shoots Past $100B End-July
ETFGI reports that inflows into global ESG ETFs and ETPs during the month of July were $6.76 billion. That brought the total inflows into these funds for the year 2020 to date to a record of $38.78 billion, more than triple the figure of $12.37 billion in 2019 at the same time. In another indicator of the bullish fervor in favor of ESG, inflows for the first seven months of the year have already far exceeded the inflows of $26.71 billion received during the entirety of 2019.
Liquid Alternatives/ESG: New Challenges for Pension Financing and Retirement Security
The webinar by the Bloomberg Women’s Buyside Network featured John Livanas, Chief Executive Officer, State Super; Geraldine Buckingham, Chair and Head of Asia Pacific, BlackRock; and Ludovic Subran, Chief Economist, Allianz. Bloomberg’s Executive Editor, Tracy Alloway, moderated the webinar.
ESG: Insurers Take a Fancy To ESG & Sustainability ETFs (Invesco)
Invesco finds on analysis of recent asset allocation trends that some major institutional investors including insurers, have already realigned their portfolios in favor of ESG strategies. What’s more interesting is that these sophisticated investors are taking increasing recourse to ESG-focused ETFs to give effect to their strategies for sustainable investments.
FinTech/ESG: Solar Financier Loanpal Ties Up With Blackstone for $300M of Solar Loans
Loanpal, the fintech that is a market leader in financing of residential solar installations, announced Thursday that Blackstone (NYSE: BX) had committed to invest $300 million in solar loans originating on its platform. The amount committed will enable 10,000 homeowners to finance their solar systems, thereby reducing their homes’ carbon footprint.