SPOTLIGHT
S&P has switched from numbers to narrative when rating ESG factors. It is a welcome move to focus on a clearer qualitative assessment of investments instead of complex, sometimes contradictory scores across different parts of a company’s activities. Investors have found S&Ps numerical ratings confusing and a report from the European Central Bank found that ratings agencies do a poor job of assessing and explaining climate risks. Reliable, transparent information on the environmental impacts of investments is key to reducing greenwashing, but that hasn’t stopped opponents of sustainable investing from celebrating a victory over the “ESG scam.”
NEWS
- Axios: Report: Severe storms in U.S. this year lead to record insured losses
- Barron’s: S&P Drops ESG Scores for Credit Ratings Amid Backlash
- Bloomberg: Blackstone Raises Record $7 Billion to Finance Clean-Energy Push | Zurich Insurance CEO Criticizes Climate Alliances After Exodus | US Companies Slow Progress in Recruiting Black Directors to Boards
- ESG Clarity: To ISSB or not to be | SEC ESG rules expected this fall | US sees third consecutive quarter of sustainable fund outflows
- Fast Company: Google’s office strategy used to be new buildings. Now, it’s old warehouses
- Financial News Arena: ESG Focus: Will Lithium Meet Its Waterloo?
- Financial Times: CVC explores sale of troubled Kenyan tea plantation
- Global Legal Post: Justice Bid to add law firm ESG metrics to outside counsel DE&I selection service
- Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance: Seeking Common Ground in the Politicized Debate About ESG | Trends in ESG Litigation and Enforcement
- InvestmentNews: S&P drops ESG scores from debt ratings
- KEYE Austin: S&P drops ESG score from corporate credit ratings
- Nutritional Outlook: New report identifies challenges food companies face in meeting ESG goals for environment, social, and governance
- Reuters: Zurich Insurance price hikes help it weather climate storms
- Supply Management: How fostering CPO and supplier collaboration can solve the ‘ESG data problem’
- The Salem News: Missouri’s secretary of state reins in environmentally minded investing
- The Wall Street Journal: ESG Roundup: Market Talk
- Yahoo! News: Stephen Miller’s legal group sues Target over LGBTQ Pride collection backlash
OPINION
- Bloomberg: Republicans Wasted Their Summer Attacking DEI and ESG
- Newsweek: The Poor Get Poorer with ESG Investing
OPPOSITION
- Cowboy State Daily: Campbell County Questions Investing With Companies That Hate Fossil Fuels
- NewsMax: Investor Sues Target After Shares Plunge Post-boycott
- The Critic: The liturgy of ESG
SOCIAL
- Philip Pilkington posted: The new capital embargo is just geopolitical ESG. If American capital doesn’t flow into a Chinese VC it will be underpriced and Indian, Russian, or European capital will flow in. Biden admin don’t understand basics of financial markets. Embarrassing.
- The North Carolina Department of State Treasurer account posted: State Treasurer Dale R. Folwell, CPA, will be on @TheBigMoneyShow on @FoxBusiness today at 1:10 p.m. to discuss @BlackRock‘s “wacktivism” and why Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) initiatives are bad for state investments. #ncpol #ncga #ncleg #esg #blackrock
- Eric Balchunas posted: New study finds ESG investing actually hurts efforts to cut emissions (bc good S & G scores can offset a bad E)
DATES
- August 23-25: Global Research Alliance on Sustainable Finance and Investment 2023 Annual Conference. Register here.
- August 24-26: The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City 2023 Economic Policy Symposium “Structural Shifts in the Global Economy.”
- September 17-24: Climate Group Climate Week NYC. View list of events here.
- September 20: UN Climate Ambition Summit.