Venture capital firms lack ability to focus on ESG – report

January 24, 2022

(Pensions & Investments) Some venture capital managers may be interested in considering ESG factors in investments, but many lack adequate resources to apply those considerations and influence over portfolio companies and do not consider ESG to be material to the asset class, according to a report released Monday by the Principles for Responsible Investment, a…

Investors grapple with physical climate risks, long-term impacts

January 14, 2022

(Pensions & Investments) Investors are stepping up efforts to understand and better manage the impact of climate change on their physical investments in real assets, including private equity, from farmlands to urban office buildings. It is an increasingly urgent mission as the transition to a net-zero economy ramps up. “Physical climate-risk scenario analysis is particularly…

Economists Pin More Blame on Tech for Rising Inequality

January 11, 2022

(New York Times) Daron Acemoglu, an influential economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been making the case against what he describes as “excessive automation.” The economywide payoff of investing in machines and software has been stubbornly elusive. But he says the rising inequality resulting from those investments, and from the public policy that…

LP Perspectives 2022: An ESG revolution

January 10, 2022

(Venture Capital Journal) Investors are scrutinizing the ESG credentials of their private equity managers like never before. “While ESG is a relatively new priority for LPs, interest is not only increasing but accelerating,” says Jennifer Choi, managing director of industry affairs at the Institutional Limited Partners Association. Indeed, ILPA published the ESG Assessment Framework earlier…

An ‘impossible product’? Comparing Europe’s dissonant ESG fund labels

January 10, 2022

(Qontigo) The list of sustainable investment (SI) frameworks guiding portfolio design is long and continues to proliferate. Many countries now have their own ESG labels to ensure a certain quality of SI for the growing pool of funds targeting sustainability goals. But with each one having different stated aims, scope and criteria, how should fund…

Carbon Offset Prices Could Increase Fifty-Fold by 2050

January 10, 2022

(Bloomberg) Prices for carbon offsets – verified emissions reductions equivalent to one ton of carbon each – could be as high as $120/ton or as low as $47/ton in 2050, according to research company BloombergNEF (BNEF). The outcome will mostly depend on what types of supply are eligible to meet the rapidly expanding universe of…

SEC Pushes for More Transparency From Private Companies

January 10, 2022

(Wall Street Journal) The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to force more transparency from big private companies, as regulators grow concerned about the lack of oversight of the private fundraising that has fueled their rise. Private capital markets have become an increasingly popular way for companies to raise money in the U.S. in recent…

France spanks Google $170M, Facebook $68M over cookie consent dark patterns

January 6, 2022

(Techcrunch) Chalk another one up for decentralized enforcement: France’s data protection watchdog has slapped headline-grabbing fines on Facebook and Google for failing to respect local (and pan-EU) cookie consent rules. Today, the CNIL said it’s fined Google €150M (~$170M) and Facebook €60M (~$68M) for breaching French law, following investigations of how they present tracking choices…

How VCs Can Help Startups Set (and Meet) ESG Goals

January 6, 2022

(HBR) The complex challenges the world faces today — climate change, the energy transition, and growing inequality just to name a few — have forced large, incumbent companies to take action, reinventing their business models in some cases or radically re-engineering their products, services, and operations in others. These actions are crucial to securing a…

An Industry-Backed Group Thinks the Metaverse Can Avoid the Ills of Social Media. Here’s How

January 6, 2022

(Time) Today marks the one-year anniversary of the 2021 insurrection, when thousands of protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol to dispute the election of President Joe Biden. They injured at least 140 officers, planted pipe bombs and vandalized lawmakers’ offices. Their actions ended in five deaths and tested the mettle of American democracy. Crucially, they organized…