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
Globally, ESG Derivatives Are Taking Off
ESG (environmental, social, and governance) based derivatives are ramping up volumes globally, raising expectations for innovative new products.
Deutsche Bank Adds ESG ETF through DWS
Deutsche Bank has bolstered its “responsible” investment offerings through its asset management arm, DWS. The money manager will provide exposure to emerging markets with an ETF tied to environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.
French Pension Fund Dodges U.S. Treasury Market
ESG Concerns Shun the World’s Most Liquid Market A French pension fund and several other ESG funds are shunning the U.S. Treasury market. The funds found fault this week with the United States government and listed reasons for divestment. According to Bloomberg, ESG funds at Erste Asset Management, Joh. Berenberg Gossler, and Union Investment are…
Climate Change Protests in London: Activists Glue Themselves to BlackRock’s Doors
Climate change activists took on the world’s biggest financial institutions today, specifically BlackRock and the Bank of England, in London. They demanded the cessation of funding of a looming environmental crisis.
Temasek Will Sit Out the Saudi Aramco IPO on Environmental Concerns
Singapore’s Temasek Holdings will not invest in Saudi Aramco’s mega-IPO, sources said, according to Bloomberg.
Temasek, which focuses on sustainability and environmental, social and governance principles, will, therefore, be unable to participate in the Saudi Aramco IPO. Moreover, it has a 2030 target to reduce the carbon footprint of its portfolio companies by 50%.
LGPS Launches Climate Change Strategy
LGPS Central has announced the launch of a multi-factor equity fund. The manager of pooled assets from nine British public sector pension funds say that climate change sits at the center of the investment strategy.
Pepsi Issues Its First ‘Green Bonds;’ These Align With UN Sustainable Development Goals
Pepsi issued $1 billion in senior notes due 2049, at a coupon of 2.875%, payable semiannually.
This new debt offering is the first of Pepsi’s green bonds. Pepsi will use the funds raised from the issue for purposes that align with U.N. Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs.
MUFG First in Japan to Issue Aussie Dollar-Denominated Green Bonds
MUFG’s green bonds amounting AU$500 million (US$337 million) were oversubscribed twice over. Australian institutional investors purchased most of the flotation.
MUFG issued this latest tranche of its green bonds in Australian dollars in a nod towards climate-conscious Australian investors. The AU$500 million bond offering comprised both fixed and floating rate bonds of five years maturity.
An ETF To Take Advantage Of “One Of The Largest Infrastructure Build-Outs In History”
According to Goldman Sachs, cities will be on the frontlines of climate adaptation. Urban adaptation will have to follow.
The FlexShares STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure Index Fund (NYSEArca: NFRA) is an infrastructure-focused ETF. It tracks the performance of the STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure Index. Investors looking for ESG-positive investments could consider infrastructure given its relevance in urban adaptation following climate change.
Park Square Capital: Private Credit Investors in Favor of ESG-positive Deals
Park Square Capital, a US$10 billion investor in private credit, is a signatory to the UNPRI.
ESG in private credit deals is making steady progress as investors wise up to the risks from ignoring Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria.
Oil Rich Norway’s Government Pension Fund Slashes Exposure to… Oil Production
Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global, Oslo, will cut its exposure to upstream energy production. The pension fund will cut 50 billion Norwegian kroner ($5.5 billion) in equity allocation from its investment portfolio.
Purpose Investments Goes All In on ESG Principles
Purpose Investments is the latest asset manager to integrate environmental, social and governance – ESG principles – into its strategies. The catch – they will adopt ESG into every single one of their funds. The company made the announcement on Wednesday. Its goal is to create a new ESG framework and fuse it with as many of its funds as possible by January 1, 2020.
Credit Suisse To Include ESG Criteria in Fund Assets Worth CHF 100 Billion By 2020
Credit Suisse Asset Management is set to introduce an ‘environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)’ investing framework across its funds The Credit Suisse ESG initiative will initially include 30 funds carrying assets more than CHF 20 billion. These funds will therefore need to reposition by end-October 2019 under the Credit Suisse Sustainable Investing Framework. Ultimately,…
Credit Suisse Asset Management Makes ESG Announcement
Credit Suisse Asset Management announced plans to adopt ESG factors into all of its investment decisions. The firm said that any fund with more than CHF 20 billion in assets will implement ESG criteria into its framework.
RBC Global Asset Management has launched the RBC BlueBay Global Bond Fund
RBC Global Asset Management has launched the RBC BlueBay Global Bond Fund. The company calls it “a globally diversified fixed-income fund designed as a core portfolio holding for U.S. investors.”
Vermont’s Green Mountain Power Divests from Fossil Fuels
Green Mountain Power announced that its pension fund will completely divest from fossil fuel companies. Last week, the company’s leadership finalized the reallocation of roughly $13.5 million of its $180 million fund.
Interactive Investor Releases Ethical Buy List
The Ethical Buy List has arrived amongst a flurry of new ESG products sweeping the market.
Invesco Report: Sovereign Funds Adopting ESG Standards Quickly
Sovereign investors are ramping up their environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments. A new study by Invesco shows that two-thirds of sovereign funds are considering these socially conscious investments.
Goldman CEO David Solomon: Time for ESG Investing to Go Mainstream
Goldman CEO David Solomon said that financial institutions need to push ESG investing into the mainstream. During a talk at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum, Solomon encouraged advisers to ramp up conversations with clients about climate change and the associated exposure.
Big-Name Institutional Investors Join Hands for Carbon-Neutral Portfolios by 2050
Announced at the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in progress in New York, the Alliance will address climate change and low-carbon portfolios.
New Law Requires California Pensions to Divest all Turkish Assets
New legislation bars California pensions funds from investing in Turkish assets. Turkish assets are now barred at California pensions. This is because of Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge responsibility for the Armenian Genocide. This tragedy claimed the lives of about 1.5 million Armenians a century ago. However, for funds and pensions, the new law brings to…
Responsible Investing in Commodities is Possible: OFI Asset Management
Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) objectives are not incompatible with commodity investing says an OFI portfolio manager. Certainly, ESG in commodities is possible through proactive asset management, according to Benjamin Louvet, commodities portfolio manager at OFI AM. How the twain shall meet One very simple method is to drop an offending sector or industry from…
University of California: “Fossil Fuel Assets a Financial Risk”
The University of California Pension and Endowment funds will divest all fossil fuel assets.
That’s because fossil fuel and coal and oil sands posed a “long-term risk” to the University of California’s portfolios. Two senior University officials revealed the divestment plans in an opinion piece Tuesday in the LA Times.
Japanese ESG Investments Outperforming Benchmarks
Latest GPIF Report Shows that Sustainability Can Pay Off Japanese ESG investments are doing very well. The country’s $1.47 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) said today that four of five ESG indices topped the Tokyo Stock Price Index (TOPIX) and market averages since April 2017. The GPIF has invested about $32.4 billion of its…