In May 2020 one of Russia’s worst ecological disasters occurred when a fuel tank owned by a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel ruptured, dumping more than 20,000 tons of diesel oil into the Ambarnaya river in the Russian Arctic.
This is the Bankers for Net Zero initiative, set up by All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Fair Business Banking and transformation-focused business advisory firms Volans and Re:Pattern. In particular, they aim to demonstrate how banks and capital can be leveraged to help finance the path to a net-zero future.
Attempts by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) to get to grips with responsible gold sourcing will founder unless it can get to grips with east African supply chains used to move conflict gold in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to Dubai.
Despite the unpromising medium-term outlook, Ghana should be able to raise the money provided it can meet the conditions set by Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investors, Bohlund says.
The $1.5 trillion goal builds on Bank of America’s longstanding work with clients to provide lending, capital raising, advisory and investment services, as well as develop financial solutions and drive innovation, to spur transformative change.
The number of banks that foster a culture of sustainability and which have updated their governance structures accordingly is up by half (51%) while there is a similar increase (45%) in the number of banks which now align their disclosures with ESG reporting standards.
In the meantime, talks have escalated back in the U.S., with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calling for President Joe Biden to declare a climate emergency just today.
When it comes to green fintech, Switzerland is on a roll. The Alpine country is stepping up its support for the fashionable holy union of fintech and sustainable investing, with its Federal Council having launched a Green Fintech Network to ‘identify areas in which the conditions for green fintech could be improved’.
t’s not just for publicly listed companies anymore, ESG has become an ever more present concept throughout 2020. When Greta Thunberg met Sir David Attenborough on Skype back in January, it didn’t seem as significant as perhaps it does today:
Crucially, once we come out of the other side of the crisis, private asset investors and their portfolio companies are in a unique position to act as change agents to build back stronger economies, and ESG considerations must play an integral part in this rebuilding. Upcoming legislation will no doubt drive the direction in which investors will move regarding ESG strategy but is important to be proactive beyond the regulatory requirements and focus on a strategy that drives change.”
“I believe the role of the investment community is also key to making effective change. The more that investors make decisions based on ESG criteria that they can trust, the better it will be for sustainability in the long term.