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LATEST ARTICLES
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Corporates seeking to leverage sustainable investment opportunities continue to be restricted by the lack of reliable data on which to base their assessments.
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Corporate and development banks want their capital to reach the smallest and most impactful of SMEs in frontier markets. Traditional credit ratings and risk assessments can get in the way.
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The global clubs charged with defining what pace of transition is both scientifically and politically acceptable are only as good-willed as their members.
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The 28th Conference of the Parties starts in Dubai tomorrow. Dubbed the finance COP, conflicting priorities could turn it into a fossil fuel investor roadshow.
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Data hoarding, ESG illiteracy and credit risk are roadblocks for regional banks looking to establish sustainable supply-chain financing programmes in the Gulf, just as COP28 approaches.
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Farmland acquisition for transition agriculture has proved attractive to the climate-focused investment management franchises of large asset managers. Will real-asset investors follow suit?
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The climate circus has packed up and left, with everyone disappointed and no one surprised. Some thoughts from a COP first-timer.
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Euromoney meets Damian Payiatakis, Barclays Private Bank’s head of sustainable and impact investing, to talk about how quiet private wealth has been so far at the UN Climate Change Conference.
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Saving the planet requires shutting down coal plants while also ensuring the livelihood of the people who depend on them. The ADB has a plan.
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Bank’s ESG head urges competitors and regulators to respond more quickly to emissions accounting challenge.
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Climate-smart innovations and regenerative agriculture are attracting tech-savvy equity investors to the farming sector. Access to affordable financing will determine how fast those companies can grow to scale and provide an exit.
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Boutique investment bank DAI Magister suggests donor funds could catalyse private equity and debt investment in climate tech, the big theme of COP27.
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Carbon credit traders want to secure the integrity of the voluntary carbon market while encouraging speculative trading that could fix its liquidity problem.
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Demand for carbon offsetting credits on the VCM has intensified as corporates look for solutions to reach net zero. But as more and more institutions look to tap this market, can the existing infrastructure cope?
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With more than 220 million homes to renovate, banks must provide the necessary funding to avoid being left with non-compliant housing assets. But a lack of standardized data on energy performance certificates makes it difficult to justify lending to some homeowners.
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Wealth managers are keen to engage with clients on biodiversity, but concerns over liquidity and access pose challenges to retail and private clients.
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Banks want to capitalize on the surge in green capex borrowing as corporates rush to decarbonize. Cost inflation has increased the risks involved but not the long-term benefit of carbon reduction.
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Latest iteration of the nature-related reporting framework tackles tension between demand for clear and simple methodology applicable to business models and the complexity of the science.
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The banking industry has become frustrated by slow regulatory progress as it waits for necessary standardization of climate risk assessments and disclosure policies to meet net-zero targets.
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Credit intelligence specialist OakNorth is working with a consortium of US banks to assess physical and transition climate risk in loan portfolios. The motivation for the banks is clear: self-preservation in the face of growing climate-related disruption.
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If the French company cuts greenhouse gas emissions, it will use savings on loan margin to finance sustainability projects: if it doesn’t, its banks will fund them.
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War in Europe has completely upended the narrative around energy transition. Corporates and their banks are now engaged in a more complex conversation around the production – and financing – of oil and gas to replace Russian supplies. This could translate into more aggressive shareholder action as ESG investors fight to keep their near-term green agenda on track.
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China’s approach to ESG is a jumble of grandiose and contradictory state planning alongside often marvellously successful bottom-up plans by banks and fintechs to instil in consumers a more sustainable lifestyle.
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Early in the Covid crisis, CACIB avoided the big equity derivatives losses its local rivals suffered. Chief executive Jacques Ripoll tells Euromoney how the bank plans to take advantage of the rise of sustainable finance, which plays to its long-standing expertise in infrastructure and energy.
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A ‘remarkable’ global dollar bond from Airport Authority Hong Kong raises the question of whether any member of the aviation sector should include a green tranche within its funding structure.
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Rabobank CEO Wiebe Draijer says that private finance must have a role in financing the transition to a more sustainable, equitable and healthy way of feeding the planet.
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Governments have been slow to impose compulsory cap and trade schemes, but if voluntary markets nudge them along, a new asset class could flourish.
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A new programme announced at COP26 plans to speed up progress away from coal-fired power in Indonesia and the Philippines by buying out plants, shutting them down, and helping to provide a cleaner alternative.
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Investors fear that many Asian governments aren’t doing enough to transition to net zero. They are therefore engaging with the region’s largest utilities hoping for better results. CLP may be an example for others to follow.
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There has always been great overlap between Shariah-compliant finance and ESG principles. Malaysia is trying to harness the potential that arises from this confluence.
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A new poll by the data-room technology provider finds that worries over the potential for post-deal value destruction because of climate change have added to a risk environment already heightened by the coronavirus pandemic.
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President Xi Jinping has set out ambitious plans to decarbonize China’s economy. But most companies and banks, hampered by a lack of top-down regulation, have little idea what ESG is, let alone how to measure and report it. It is a mess – and one that China needs to clear up fast.
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Before long, investors will pay as close attention to an issuer’s green framework as to its credit rating.
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The BlackRock chief executive sees a big gap opening up between the commitments of large public companies and banks and the rest of society as inflation hits.
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Sustainable agriculture holds the key to reducing emissions and transforming the global food system, says Rabo Carbon Bank’s chief executive.
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Bank of America’s Abyd Karmali is on the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures. He spoke to Euromoney ahead of the nature-based COP15 and climate-based COP26 conferences about what is at stake.
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Amazonia Impact Ventures says that financing sustainable agricultural production can reduce deforestation rates.
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Climate change cannot be tackled in isolation. Biodiversity is an equally important challenge, and the two must be considered in tandem. A new report backed by Singapore’s Temasek spells out the challenge and the opportunity.
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Want to know what banks will be doing at COP26? Give them a minute and they’ll get back to you…
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Credit Suisse’s chief sustainability officer is no ESG ideologue. She is at heart a hard-nosed investment banker who sees a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to guide clients to a more sustainable future.
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South African banks’ sustainable finance challenges reflect the nation’s difficult but vital transition away from coal.
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Macquarie Group chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake has laid out her bank’s ambitions in green energy, as its Green Investment Group reports a record portfolio.
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The world has been pressuring Brazil about the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest within its borders for decades. New ESG-style initiatives are being adopted by Brazilian banks and businesses, but it could be the climate impact closer to home that’s creating the impetus for real change.
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Sustainable finance and renewable energy are becoming more important for the French firm, as it reduces its emphasis on equity derivatives.
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Can multilateral development banks fight climate change while still promoting economic development in emerging markets? The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is the first to set out concrete plans on how to do this.
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Australia is not the first country that comes to mind with regards to climate action. But away from the political rhetoric, the exceptionally powerful superannuation funds and corporates are pushing change. The key is an acceptance that in Australia it’s all about transition.
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One of the stars of Estonia’s post-Soviet generation, André Küüsvek, talks to Euromoney about escaping lockdown in Kazakhstan, expanding the NIB’s environmental remit and the risks posed by rising inequality.
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A new analysis of European banks by ShareAction finds that while some firms distinguish themselves in some climate and biodiversity practices, the overall picture is of a sector that still has much work to do.
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Many are still a long way from understanding the risk climate change poses to their businesses.
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Private equity has been slow to join the ESG revolution. More firms are waking up to the opportunities on offer as well as the downside risks.
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The two banks plus Singapore’s stock exchange and sovereign wealth vehicle believe they have the collective strength and skills to build Climate Impact X, based initially on southeast Asian forestry and mangrove projects.
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Biodiversity loss now competes with climate change as the principal challenge for sustainable finance. What does it actually mean for banks and asset managers and what can the private sector do to restore the balance of nature?
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A $100 million World Bank bond arranged in early March by Citi crowded in funding from wealthy individuals as well as institutions for the first time. When it comes to impact investing, this is just the start.
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ESG investors want to see evidence that their money is making a difference. It could be putting a dampener on banks’ appetite for issuing social bonds.
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East Capital co-founder Karine Hirn began her investing career in Russia in the 1990s before moving to China to head up the firm’s Asian expansion. She discusses the challenges of the Chinese market, why eastern Europe has the edge on corporate boards and why governance is key to ESG.
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The US president’s prompt action in rejoining the Paris Agreement has given encouragement to environmentalists at home and abroad. What should be next on his green hit list?
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Asset managers and owners are scrutinizing firms’ climate commitments like never before, as HSBC is discovering.
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UK bank urged to set timeline for fossil-fuel financing phase-out.
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Arguments over the definition of impact miss the point in a rapidly growing market.
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Across the UK, Legal & General has invested over £22 billion in affordable housing, homes for the homeless, clean energy, life sciences, creative industries, and technology and infrastructure. Is this the institutional-scale impact model we have been waiting for?
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The asset manager has decided to pull investment from firms that don’t make sufficient progress on ESG disclosure while it routinely votes against climate-related shareholder resolutions itself.
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Year after year, research highlights the gap between what impact investment consumers want and what they are being offered by advisers, banks and pension funds. The UK’s new Impact Investing Institute hopes to bring everyone to the table to change this.
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Crowdfunding platform Kiva is an example to everyone in finance who wants to make systemic impact.
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Why it doesn’t make sense that economic theory has kept natural capital as an externality.
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Partnership with Ellen MacArthur Foundation aims to raise awareness of circular opportunity in financial sector.
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The Seychelles will need to tackle its drug problem head on if it wants to develop a thriving blue economy and pay back debt raised from the first ever blue bond.
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Investors should focus on collection and recycling to have the greatest impact in targeting plastic waste.
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In June, the Refugee Investment Network launched an impact investing and blended finance collaborative connecting investors with refugee ventures.
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Shareholder proposals to support policies around climate change mitigation have had some recent wins that deserve celebrating.
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Africa has the largest number of refugees of any continent – in Uganda, many of them are economically active, while others are excluded from accessing basic banking products. Euromoney finds out how integrating refugees into the formal financial system could benefit the country.
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A recent report from The Nature Conservancy and Encourage Capital aims to support demand for sustainable aquaculture and conservation finance.
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TNC aims for $1.6 billion impact of blue bonds by 2025; Morgan Stanley commits to financing plastic reduction for oceans.
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Non-profit organization Virtual Enterprises International held its annual gala at Cipriani in New York City in April.
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To bring about fundamental change and to find long-lasting solutions, isn’t always pretty and it is certainly not always a win-win in the financial sense.
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Over the last two years, Bank of America has been overhauling its low-to-moderate income business, redesigning branches and products, improving employee retention and working with community partners, but will the bank get the credit its actions deserve?
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Founders claim existing meat-production business model at risk from stranded assets as interest in meat-free diet grows.
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Momentum for Sibs is growing – which banks will take the lead?
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The smackdown on greenwashing is coming – and ‘commitments’ to clean energy and environmental practices will not be enough.
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Impact investing would seem an unlikely business for avaricious private equity funds. But many are embracing what they see as a new opportunity. Should we be sceptical or see private equity’s buy-in as proof of the impact investment concept?
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Neal Cross brought a range of unusual experiences to his job as chief innovation officer at DBS, one of the world’s most impressive banks for digital ideas. His desire to disrupt and transform doesn’t stop at the bank – it extends to Sumatran orangutans.
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Islamic finance has become too focused on getting arcane structures to be technically Shariah compliant, but a new initiative in Malaysia attempts to make Islamic finance socially positive once more – and to measure its success.
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The transition to capitalism has brought prosperity to much of emerging Europe but left large sections of society struggling to catch up – now Austria’s Erste Group is going back to its roots to bring prosperity to the region through social banking.
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Vancity is the largest credit union in Canada, but by 2007 it was acting like a commercial bank – yet now, after steering every part of the business back to being mission-based, it is delivering record profits, lower risk, new membership and improved employee engagement. Has it shown that the ‘triple bottom line’ of people-planet-profit can be achieved?
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Over 20 years after microfinance first arrived in Kyrgyzstan, the largest players are transforming into banks to lower funding costs and increase financial inclusion. Can they convince the country’s farmers to put their cash into banks instead of cows?
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Triodos Bank is probably the most sustainable bank in the world. Behind every decision it makes – the loans and investments it underwrites, the people it hires, the suppliers it uses, the way it reports and the way it serves its stakeholders – lies sustainability. It also makes a profit. Is it a model for the broader industry?
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Any important new market needs its innovators, cheerleaders and pioneers… As banks try to build more responsible and sustainable businesses, these are the champions of impact banking at 10 of the world’s biggest firms. From green and blue finance to financial inclusion and social banking, they are leading the way and setting an agenda for others to follow.
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From the United Nations and the European Commission to customers and shareholders, the world’s banks face increasing pressure not only to consider their broader role in society but also to take actions that have a positive impact on it. There is no doubt that most chief executives take this challenge seriously. Whether they take it far enough remains to seen.
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The Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility aims to source projects that transform lives and environments, and to securitize the project loans into bonds that will be sold to investors through the MTN markets. It all starts with a rubber plantation in Sumatra.
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The first refugee investment impact bond is poised to launch in 2019.