August 2022
05Aug

Green bonds poised for revival after shaky start to 2022 — report

Green bond issuance got off to a shaky start in 2022, but picked up in the second quarter, according to data from the Climate Bonds Initiative published on Thursday . The investor-focused non-profit organization promotes large-scale investment in the low-carbon economy. It screens self-labeled green bonds, including green, social, sustainability, sustainability-linked and transition labeled debt. In the first half of 2022, issuance of bonds aligned with international climate targets reached a combined volume of $417.8 billion, a 27% drop from the...

August 5, 2022
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July 2022
29Jul

Impact Investing: Measuring Social and Financial Returns

Although the field of impact investing has experienced astounding growth over the past decade, there remain concerns about its ability to generate both outsized financial and social returns. Can investors achieve their desired social or environmental impact without sacrificing their financial goals? What are the differences between ESG, sustainable investing, and impact investing? How do investors evaluate impact? To better understand what an effective impact investing strategy might look like, SSIR publisher Michael Gordon Voss speaks with Juliette Menga,...

July 29, 2022
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21Jul

Canada. Pensions need to up their climate-risk management game

As the United Kingdom sweats under record-high temperatures, pension fund managers on this side of the pond are being warned about their net-zero targets. Pension fund administrators should continue to adopt net-zero emissions targets for 2050, and have their targets vetted through third-party certification standards — such as the Science-Based Target initiative or Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net-Zero — according to Building Climate Resilience in Canada’s Pension Funds, a report released by the Smart Prosperity Institute on Wednesday. The institute...

July 21, 2022
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12Jul

New guide to help pension funds tackle global deforestation

A new interactive guide to provide pension funds with the tools they need to ensure their investments are not driving deforestation across the globe is launched today by Global Canopy, Make My Money Matter and SYSTEMIQ. This year, research revealed that £2 in every £10 individuals save into their pensions in the UK is linked to companies and financial institutions at high risk of deforestation, jeopardising many schemes’ ambitious commitments to achieve net zero.. How to achieve deforestation-free pensions provides practical...

July 12, 2022
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04Jul

Africa insurers urged to focus more on climate change

Africa’s insurance industry has been challenged to play a proactive role in addressing the climate change agenda. Speaking at the Africa Insurance Organization Annual Conference, General Assembly in Nairobi, director School of Pension and Retirement Studies Edward Odundo, underscored the need for climate change provisions in Environmental, Social and Governance, ESG, risk assessment. "The risks posed by the rising global temperatures cut across all sectors including the insurance industry,"Odundo said. He added that the increasing frequency and intensity of disasters relating to...

July 4, 2022
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June 2022
24Jun

Greening Pensions: A Behavioural Perspective

By Alice Farrell, Kristina Londakova, Izzy Brennan, Jake Reynolds & Toby Park Through their pensions, the vast majority of people in the UK are investors, with pension pots collectively amounting to over £2.6 trillion.1 Investing a greater portion of this money sustainably - i.e. in businesses who have positive or neutral impacts on the environment and green technologies – could significantly accelerate our transition to a low-carbon society. While 68% of people say they would like their investments to be responsible...

June 24, 2022
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16Jun

Pension funds criticize Toyota for anti-green lobbying

Pension funds in Denmark and New York City expressed their dissatisfaction with Toyota Motor Co. Wednesday over what they see as lobbying activity that is slowing down a green transition. "We are extremely concerned that Toyota's lobbying activities are misaligned with its climate goals and its electric vehicle strategy," New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, fiduciary of the $265.9 billion New York City Retirement Systems, said in an emailed statement before the car maker's annual shareholder meeting Wednesday. "Toyota's approach puts...

June 16, 2022
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10Jun

UK. BMW disputes inclusion on Make My Money Matter net zero target list

BMW has contested its inclusion on a list of the UK’s 20 largest pension schemes to have allegedly not set net zero targets. The roster, compiled by Make My Money Matter, covers schemes with more than £200bn of assets under management, the campaign said. “Investments this size potentially enable 24mn tonnes of carbon to enter our atmosphere every year,” it claimed. The campaign said that it has been contacting the schemes for a year. They are a mix of corporate and...

June 10, 2022
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01Jun

The Rise Of Green Pension Funds

This marks another milestone in the pressure to be ‘green’ when investing. Scheme members are already expecting to see a responsible investment approach from their managers, adding to the pressure for trustees to produce a coherent and measured sustainability strategy. These disclosures will further fuel a movement towards responsible pension investing. In July 2021, pensions minister Guy Opperman described climate change in no uncertain terms, as a “major systemic financial risk and threat to the long-term sustainability of UK private...

June 1, 2022
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May 2022

People and Investor Attention to Climate Change
19May

People and Investor Attention to Climate Change

By Mauro Aliano, Franco Fiordelisi, Giuseppe Galloppo & Viktoriia Paimanova This paper empirically studies whether people and investors globally really see climate change as a major threat, as defined by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Our identification strategy aims to investigate two research questions: (1) whether people attention to Climate Change varies depending on local natural disasters and (2) how does the climate change attention affect the stock price of local firms and, thus, the investors’ trading behavior....

May 19, 2022
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