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4 Mins Read By: Theresa Gusman An enormous transfer of wealth is underway in America that presents an historic opportunity for the financial services industry and specifically for women advisors and customized ESG investing. Female advisors – though they are outnumbered by their male counterparts by more than four to one – are better positioned to guide the […]
3 Mins Read Credit Suisse has managed to raise US$318 million for its fund dedicated to tech-forward climate solutions. The successful close of the Climate Innovation Fund, despite a scandal-ridden few months for the Swiss investment bank, is indicative of the strong demand from investors for sustainable finance. Credit Suisse announced in late May the closing of its […]
3 Mins Read As sustainable investing gains momentum, more funds touting themselves as “green” are misleading investors. According to a report published by the Economist, some of the world’s biggest ESG funds are “stuffed full of polluters and sin stocks”, suggesting widespread greenwashing practices in the realm of sustainable finance. Sustainable investing has been steadily gaining momentum globally, […]
3 Mins Read ESG-forward investing seems to be taking over the financial industry, but ex-BlackRock chief investment officer for sustainable investing Tariq Fancy warns that this is simply another form of greenwashing. In an opinion article, Fancy says that the Wall Street is “greenwashing the public with deadly distraction in sustainable investing practices” instead of getting to the […]
3 Mins Read Goldman Sachs has reaffirmed its sustainability commitments in a new pledge to reach carbon neutrality by the end of the decade. The investment banking giant says it will develop climate data, improve disclosure, and integrate climate-risk considerations throughout its operations in a bold statement penned by its chairman and CEO David Solomon, who said the […]
3 Mins Read A newly published book aims to remedy the gender investing gap by empowering women to invest in a sustainable future. Authored by sustainable finance expert Jessica Robinson, who formerly led the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in Asia, Financial Feminism: A Woman’s Guide to Investing for a Sustainable Future comes with step-by-step explainers […]
3 Mins Read H&M Group’s newly issued €500 million (US$606 million) sustainability-linked bond (SLB) garnered huge interest on the market. The bond was 7.6-times oversubscribed, attract ingmore than US$4.6 billion orders in a strong sign of the greener investment sentiment taking over the financial industry. H&M has issued a €500 million (US$606 million) SLB with a maturity of […]
4 Mins Read A new values-based financial institution, Climate First Bank (In Organisation), will soon be opening its doors in Florida this year. The bank will support the community through ESG-forward principles, offering customers all the conventional services of a bank with a special emphasis on sustainability to drive a “new and conscious way of banking”. It comes […]
3 Mins Read With more investors embracing a sustainable ESG-based strategy, a trend that has received a major boost amidst the coronavirus pandemic, China is losing its allure despite being an enormous and fast-growing emerging market. Ranking bottom on ESG ratings among all major economies in the world, experts warn that lagging behind when it comes to sustainability […]
3 Mins Read Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) has launched its new investment platform dedicated to sustainable finance amidst rising demand from Asian investors. Called the Sustainable and Green Exchange (STAGE), the new platform serves as an online product repository of ESG-focused products across multiple sectors as well as a resource hub for sustainable finance across […]
3 Mins Read Clarity AI, a fintech company that has developed a platform that empowers investors to manage the impact of their portfolio, has raised US$15 million in its latest funding round. The financing will be used to fuel the expansion of its solution, which leverages big data and machine learning to assess the social and environmental impact […]
3 Mins Read Climate Action 100+, an initiative backed by over 500 of the world’s biggest institutional investors that together manage more than US$47 trillion in assets, has written to 161 big-emitting companies demanding them to set climate targets. It is the latest step the campaign has taken to force businesses to do more to help slash carbon […]
3 Mins Read Over 90% of global public investors now have specific environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment policies in place or are in the process of implementing them, reveals a new survey from independent think tank OMFIF and American financial services firm BNY Mellon. The research also found that investors have been especially motivated to adopt ESG […]
2 Mins Read BNP Paribas has announced the successful issuance of equity-linked green bonds totalling A$140 million (US$99.6 million) marking the first to be linked to the Australian Climate Transition (ACT) Index. The ACT Index is based on several climate scenarios and will continually be adjusted to reflect the future technological, social, regulatory and environmental changes. The series […]
2 Mins Read Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. has just issued US$5.75 billion in sustainability bonds, in what it claims is the biggest green bond issued by any firm to date. The proceeds will support investments in both environmental and social initiatives and will not be allocated to any of Google’s activities. As a part of a US$10 […]
3 Mins Read A 23-year-old law student in Melbourne, Australia has filed a lawsuit against the Australian government over failure to disclose the financial risks of climate change to a number of safe investments, including government bonds. Katta O’Donnell says she hopes that the case, which is a world’s-first, will change the way the government recognises and responds […]
2 Mins Read Singapore’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), has recently hired Jeanne Stampe as green finance resource lead. Stampe is a former WWF head of sustainable finance in Asia. The move is yet another indication of the direction that the traditionally climate conservative financial industry in Asia is heading towards to improve its sustainability […]
2 Mins Read BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has just revealed that it has punished 53 companies in its portfolio over climate inaction. The move is a part of the firm’s ramping up of its climate engagement with businesses after it joined the Climate Action 100+ pact earlier this year. Among the companies that BlackRock has taken […]
3 Mins Read New data comparing sustainable investments with traditional funds shows that environmentally-friendly focused investments bring greater returns. The evidence comes amid strengthened interest in sustainable investments prompted by the dual threat of coronavirus and climate crisis in what appears to be tidal change for the financial industry. Statistics obtained by global research firm Morningstar shows that […]
2 Mins Read Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) has announced plans to launch a new Sustainable and Green Exchange (STAGE), representing the first-of-its-kind in Asia. The new information platform will act as a central hub for data on green finance investments in Hong Kong’s securities markets, as well as seek to engage stakeholders in sustainable finance. […]
3 Mins Read Link Asset Management, the manager of Link REIT, has just secured a five-year sustainability-linked loan of HKD$1 billion (US$129 million) from Singapore-headquartered OCBC Bank. It marks the property company’s first sustainability-linked loan transaction in Hong Kong dollars, a show of strengthened commitment to green finance as the industry begins to heed to climate crisis warnings. […]