ESG

Sustainable Finance Initiative – MiFID II suitability requirements – feedback requested

EU proposals to include ESG as part of investment and advice processes. On 24 May 2018 the EU published draft recommendations proposing the inclusion of ESG within the obligatory advice process as part of their ongoing work supporting the growth of Sustainable Finance. Their draft text is open for feedback until 21 June. You can access what they have published via […]

Citywire Wealth Manager ‘Screened, Themed & Engaged’ event article

I am delighted to share an article that Libby Ashby from Citywire has kindly written about our ‘Screened, Themed and Engaged 2017′ event which she attended. This article was published in Citywire’s Wealth Manager magasine today (3 November 2017).             Libby Ashby asks: When will ESG be fully integrated into mainstream investing? Last month […]

ILP Moneyfacts SRI articles: Climate Risk and Ethical Fund Survey

  This month saw the publication of two SRI/ethical investment articles in ‘Investment Life and Pensions Moneyfacts’ magazine.  One was written by Moneyfacts editor Richard Eagling, the other by myself. See here for the ILP Moneyfacts annual ethical and SRI fund survey – Ethical Funds Survey July 2017 See here for my climate risk article (and in particular […]

NRG – a topsy turvy case study

I have Raj Thamothram of Preventable Surprises to ‘thank’ for bringing this shocker of a story to my attention. In brief – this is a tale of the investment markets rewarding a company for turning its back on green issues and attempting to turn back the clock. There is much to say and many questions to ask – including how […]

HLEG – EU sustainable finance interim report published

The EU has recently published its High Level Expert Group (HLEG) Sustainable Finance interim report. This ambitious and significant report covers issues ranging from financing greener infrastructure to the labelling SRI funds. Although mainly aimed at institutions the implication is that the final recommendations will also impact individual (retail) investors. The EU plans to start implementing changes at the start of 2018 […]

SwissRe switch all assets to ESG indices

Reports in the FT and elsewhere today announce the important news that SwissRe now integrates Environmental, Social and Governance issues across all their equity and fixed income investment assets. They are doing so by using benchmarks based on the highly regarded MSCI ESG methodology. The first section of the SwissRe media release (from their website) is reproduced […]

Actuaries issued climate change Risk Alert

Actuaries sent risk warning by professional body (IFoA) regarding material risk of climate change for pension schemes and other clients.