In his monthly column, Mike Scott analyses the latest developments in sustainable finance, from the ‘not-so-green’ recovery to Aviva’s tough stance on decarbonisation plans
COMMENT: Yan Swiderski explains what led him to co-found the Global Returns Project, a new initiative aiming to generate $10bn annually to tackle the climate crisis
Critics of the new science-based target for the finance sector say it doesn’t go far enough, while there are fears the EU's sustainable finance taxonomy will lack rigour. Mike Scott reports
Oliver Balch talks to Ray Cameron, head of stewardship for the Americas, about the asset manager's new approach to demanding greater transparency from companies on ESG
The World Bank's 2030 Water Resources Group and Ceres' Valuing Water Finance Taskforce are among groups coordinating collective action to address water scarcity as a systemic risk. Angeli Mehta reports
Comment: Caroline Rees of Shift says the pandemic has demonstrated that there is no longer ambiguity about what is expected by investors, public figures, civil society and business commentators
Issues like fair tax and executive pay will be a bigger focus going forward as funds look beyond environmental factors in assessing performance, writes Mike Scott
In this comment piece, Christen Dobson of Business & Human Rights Resource Centre and Ali Hines of Global Witness say safeguarding labour rights and rights to land and resources is a strategic imperative for companies and institutional investors
Alexia Perversi and Andrew Jones of Mazars say a recent study by the auditing firm casts huge doubt on the credibility and utility of carbon disclosures in year-end reports
Andrew Parry of Newton Investment Management argues that today's companies will only survive if they address the tension between financial returns and meeting wider societal needs
David Grayson of the Cranfield School of Management says the Davos Manifesto 2020 reflects a recognition by corporate leaders that business as usual is no longer an option
In part three of his monthly sustainability news round-up Oliver Balch reports on growing pressure for the world's largest asset manager to step up action on climate change as the sustainable finance industry begins to get serious traction
Helle Bank Jorgensen of Competent Boards on how boards can cut through the confusion surrounding climate risk by learning from sustainability leaders like Paul Polman and Cornerstone Capital's Erika Karp
Oliver Balch talks to Leon Wijnands, head of sustainability at the Dutch bank, about how his team developed the Terra approach, a ground-breaking methodology he hopes all banks will adopt to steer climate-friendly lending