(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…

(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…

(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…

(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…

(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…

(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…

(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…

(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…

(The Washington Post) Up until now, the so-called techlash that ushered in historic scrutiny of Silicon Valley companies has been mostly toothless, producing few new rules in the United States to rein in their conduct.  But 2022 may finally be the year that policymakers turn their fiery tech rhetoric into significant regulation of the industry…

(Techcrunch) Last week, in response to a Black entrepreneur who said VCs are racist, venture capitalist and entrepreneur Joe Lonsdale attributed disparities in venture capital investing to “average black culture.” “A real view: average black culture needs to step it up and stop having as many kids born out of wedlock (statistical indicator of underperformance)…