(Forbes) I would be surprised to learn of anyone interested in sustainable investing who isn’t aware of DWS’s dramatic dismissal of Desiree Fixler. She was the group sustainability officer at the big German asset manager DWS and was fired after eight months on the job. Fixler has an extensive background in investing and investment banking…
(Yale Insights) Why are fewer women promoted to senior positions than men? In a study of evaluation and promotion data from a large retail chain, Prof. Kelly Shue and her co-authors found that women got higher performance ratings than men but were consistently—and incorrectly—judged as having less leadership potential. Read more here.
(NY Times) Apple, known among its Silicon Valley peers for a secretive corporate culture in which workers are expected to be in lock step with management, is suddenly facing an issue that would have been unthinkable a few years ago: employee unrest. On Friday, Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, answered questions from workers in an…
(ACLU) Gaining the public’s trust in artificial intelligence (AI) will take more than just setting technical standards. It will require that institutions using this technology first prove they are worthy of our trust. Earlier this year, Congress passed its most significant law to date on AI. As part of this law, Congress tasked the National…
(GreenBiz) Last week, news circulated that a number of mission-driven companies plan to launch IPOs this fall. And if you’re an investor who pays attention to certain media outlets, you might have gotten the impression these stock-selling charlatans — with their eco sneakers and their hippie yogurt — are out to hoodwink you. Not that…
(Nasdaq) I know, I know, I know. Some of you may think Crazy Uncle Marty’s anti-ESG schtick is getting a bit nauseating. However, as you should have realized by now, I cannot control myself. When I think there is a good point to be made about the subject, I will make it. And that is…
(Morningstar) The grievances are legion lately: Perceived greenwashing in the fund industry is one. This week’s salvo came from Aswath Damodaran, a well-regarded New York University finance professor, who, in a widely read blog post, denounced environmental, social, and governance investing as “a mistake that will cost companies and investors money, while making the world…
(Reuters) More than half of 530 corporate executives have little or no confidence in the reliability and maturity of their environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) programs, according to a global survey from corporate governance advocacy non-profit OCEG. The report paints a dim picture of the corporate world’s perception of ESG initiatives, which vary greatly…
(Barron’s) Views differ on what information is financially material for an investment, and it is the Securities and Exchange Commission’s job to draw this line, deciding what companies must disclose, and what they don’t have to. Over the years, the requirements have changed to include risk factors, executive compensation, and other new information. The latest…
(Blue Ridge Public Radio) The daughter of Fikile Ntshangase says that last October, three armed men entered her mother’s home and shot her dead. Ntshangase had publicly questioned a local coal mine that she thought was — quite literally — undermining the small South African town where she lived, located about 360 miles east of…