Navigating the thicket of ESG metrics

October 24, 2021

(Financial Times) Sustainable investing may be gratifying for wealthy individuals and families, but it is far from simple. A lack of standards in the measurement and reporting of ESG (environmental, social and governance) products and funds can leave investors confused. And when it comes to impact investments, capturing the right data takes time, effort and,…

Climate crisis brings venture capital money back to clean tech

October 22, 2021

(Financial Times) Venture capital money is flooding back into clean tech companies a decade after the “mini green bubble” saw private financing for the sector dry up. But John Thornhill argues that the climate tech 2.0 investment boom has better promise than version 1.0. Between 2006 and 2011, VCs spent more than $25bn funding clean…

ESG and shareholder activism: A tsunami is coming to Silicon Valley

October 21, 2021

(Techcrunch) With the increase in attention on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues over the past few years, it’s easy for companies to assume that we’ve reached the crest of the ESG wave. However, we are only at the early stages — an ESG tsunami is headed toward Silicon Valley. The increased attention on ESG…

Twitter’s own research shows that it’s a megaphone for the right. But it’s complicated.

October 21, 2021

(Protocol) Twitter is publicly sharing research findings today that show that the platform’s algorithms amplify tweets from right-wing politicians and content from right-leaning news outlets more than people and content from the political left. The research did not identify whether or not the algorithms that run Twitter’s Home feed are actually biased toward conservative political…

Fed bans stock trading, restricts other investing activities by top officials

October 21, 2021

(Reuters) The U.S. Federal Reserve on Thursday banned individual stock purchases by top officials at the central bank and unveiled a broad set of other restrictions on their investing activities roughly six weeks after reports of active trading by some senior policymakers triggered an ethics uproar. The new rules will limit the types of financial…

Plant-Based Food Companies Face Critics: Environmental Advocates

October 15, 2021

(New York Times) Consumers and investors alike have gobbled up Beyond Meat’s burgers, sausage and chicken in recent years, thanks at least in part to the company’s message that its plant-based products are good for the environment. But some aren’t so sure. One investor tracking firm gives Beyond Meat a zero when it comes to…

‘No reason’ to stop US pension plans from choosing ESG default funds, says long-awaited DoL proposal

October 13, 2021

(Responsible Investor) The US Department of Labor (DoL) had today put forward a proposed rule that would remove Trump-era obstacles preventing US workplace pension schemes from considering ESG when investing, including using ESG funds for their default strategies. Read more here.

Starbucks Temporarily Closes 2 Stores That Are Trying to Unionize

October 13, 2021

(Vice) Starbucks has temporarily closed two stores involved in a union drive in Buffalo, New York, that are leading what could soon become the first campaign to successfully unionize the coffee shop giant. The company said that the two temporary store closures in Buffalo have nothing to do with the union drive—one is for a remodel…

Private Equity Funds, Sensing Profit in Tumult, Are Propping Up Oil

October 13, 2021

(New York Times) As the oil and gas industry faces upheaval amid global price gyrations and catastrophic climate change, private equity firms — a class of investors with a hyper focus on maximizing profits — have stepped into the fray. Read more here.

Climate-vulnerable populations are suffering a mental health crisis

October 11, 2021

(World Economic Forum) Mental illnesses, such as depressive and anxiety disorders, are among the 25 leading drivers of global burden of diseases. More broadly, mental health includes mental wellness, emotional resilience and psychosocial wellbeing – all of which are impacted by climate change, particularly among vulnerable communities in natural-disaster prone environments, and in low- and…