Finance & Investment
The latest in the spheres of socially responsible investing, impact investing, and other ways investors and shareholders are asserting their desire for ethical investment options.
New Report Urges Insurance Companies to Stop Underwriting Climate Change
‘Underwriting Our Planet’ finds that rather than addressing climate change and biodiversity loss, many economic activities underwritten by insurance companies actually fuel the twin crises.
L’Oréal Launches €15M Climate Emergency Fund
The new endowment fund will reach vulnerable communities facing greatest disaster risk through partnerships with both local disaster-relief organizations and international NGOs.
Study Shows Stronger ROI for Companies with High ESG Ratings
Kroll analyzed data on over 13K companies across industries and found that those with better ESG ratings outperformed their peers with lower ratings; globally, ESG leaders had annual returns of 12.9% vs 8.6% for laggards.
ISSB Urged to Prioritize Human and Worker Rights in Next Set of Reporting Standards
Cross-Posted from Supply Chain. The investor letter asserts that the financial materiality of human rights-related topics – and the critical role of human rights due diligence in identifying business risks – has never been clearer, and that ‘investors are in dire need of a unified social disclosure framework.’
A Defiant Optimist: How One Woman Has Reshaped Finance to Fight Global Inequality
“By valuing and giving a voice to [women of color], and recognizing their potential as solutions and stabilizers, impact investing is a powerful way to build systemic resilience … and reduce the negative impact of climate change on everyone.” — Durreen Shahnaz
Landmark Report Sets Out 7 Steps for Embedding Nature, Equity Goals into Global Financial Activity
Cross-Posted from The Next Economy. The Taskforce on Nature Markets asserts an unprecedented shift towards accurately pricing nature in global markets must occur to deliver on nature, climate and equity goals.
At Long Last, There’s a Metric for Quantifying the Monetary Value of Sustainability Investments
Cross-Posted from New Metrics. Astanor Ventures’ Impact Multiple on Investment methodology translates the expected and realized benefits of invested-in products or services into monetary terms — helping investors make more informed, strategic decisions.
What Is the Role of Climate Scenarios in the Investment Process?
Increased availability of a wide range of plausible climate scenarios can help steer financial institutions away from group think and reduce the long-term financial risks of climate change.
What CFOs Need to Know About Fast-Emerging Biodiversity-Credit Markets
When companies invest in biodiversity credits, the ‘unitization’ of biodiversity outcomes in the form of credits takes the guesswork out of designing the investment. But they are not intended to offset an equivalent, negative impact on biodiversity elsewhere.
Climate Vault Aims to Spur Climate Action by Locking Away Carbon Permits
The organization works to purchase and vault CO2 permits from regulated cap-and-trade compliance markets — thus keeping major polluters from using them to emit and, theoretically, stopping pollution before it happens.
WWF: Funding Locally Tailored Food-System Innovation Is Essential for a Healthier, Abundant Planet
WWF’s new framework guides improved investment of innovation funds in food systems, so investors and businesses can work with local communities and stakeholders to identify the right innovations for the right impact in the right place.
FootPrint Coalition: Propelling Climate Tech to Create a World of ‘Radical Abundance’
Robert Downey Jr's FootPrint Coalition is taking a three-pronged approach to boosting environmental science and technology — including a science engine that funds non-traditional innovators, a VC fund for scaling promising solutions, and a media platform that amplifies the innovations.
Carbon Neutral Is Dead; Long Live Nature Positive
Cross-Posted from The Next Economy. If we invest in public campaigns for nature positive and brands shout it from the rooftops, we save what was originally valuable about the voluntary carbon market while actually doing what’s right for nature.
Inequality: The Sustainable Business Blind Spot
Climate change affects everyone but in vastly unequal ways. To address this and drive real, sustainable change, businesses must ensure their sustainability strategies do not exacerbate existing inequalities even further.
‘Doing the Doable’: How Alight Helps 4M Displaced People a Year & How Businesses Can Become Allies
Cross-Posted from Collaboration. Alight CEO Jocelyn Wyatt shares how the NGO works to give the world’s displaced people a voice — and how businesses can catapult this movement of helping restore their security, dignity and opportunity.
Aquaculture Industry Must Become Regenerative or Fail to Meet Demand by 2050
Cross-Posted from The Next Economy. Analysis from Planet Tracker finds diversifying farmed seafood production can close supply gap while tackling biodiversity risks, and calls on investors and lenders to help finance this regenerative transition.
Investor Demand Propelling Corporate Plastic-Reduction Strategies
Kraft Heinz and Church & Dwight responded to shareholder proposals with new goals to cut virgin plastic use; now, 185 investors have called on 30 other CPG brands and retailers to accelerate their action on plastic.
Is the Voluntary Carbon Market Worth Saving?
Cross-Posted from The Next Economy. Despite its flaws, I believe that the VCM is an essential tool in our climate toolkit. To ensure funding is channeled into real climate-action projects, we still must drive greater integrity and transparency. Here are four ways we can do that.
Estée Lauder Companies Advances Financial Literacy for Women in Shea Supply Chain
The ELC Charitable Foundation’s work supports programs at the intersection of environmental sustainability and social impact, including investments in communities around the ELC supply chain.
Pension Funds Committed to Net Zero Are Still Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees
According to Global Canopy and Make My Money Matter, the majority of pension providers in major climate coalitions do not have credible policies or commitments to tackle deforestation.
