ESG

Capital Calls: Four-day workweek

19 Sep 2023

Concise views on global finance: US Senator Bernie Sanders joined striking autoworkers in urging a conversation about shortening the workweek. Rising productivity has long enabled labor to win fewer hours. With disruptive new technologies rising, bigger victories make sense.

Big oil lawsuits are riskier than quitting tobacco

18 Sep 2023

California is suing fossil-fuel companies, alleging tens of billions in climate-related damages. Decades of litigation forced tobacco firms to pay up. The tension is that, while global warming’s ravages imply higher costs, US oil production is crucial amid tightening supply.

Capital Calls: Burning Man, Intel/Tower

5 Sep 2023

Concise views on global finance: The festival’s mud-soaked disaster reveals tensions between libertarian ideals and providing infrastructure in a warming world; the $155 bln chip giant’s partnership with its former acquisition target salvages some of the benefits of a tie-up.

Climate change turns US utilities grimly exciting

31 Aug 2023

Hawaii’s biggest electricity provider is at risk of bankruptcy after wildfires destroyed a town. Increased capital expenditure can mitigate, but not eliminate, damage from storms and heat. Little wonder investors are slowly waking up to the dangers posed by litigious customers.

Glencore deal epitomises net zero’s reduced status

27 Jul 2023

The $75 bln miner used to argue it was better to wind down its coal assets than sell them to a less responsible owner. Now CEO Gary Nagle wants to buy a rival and spin off the enlarged coal unit. Investors, distracted by energy security and fat profits, are unlikely to stop him.

How to crack the climate free rider problem

10 Jul 2023

One reason countries fiddle while the world burns is that they bear the costs of action while everyone benefits. Creating a “climate club” would incentivise nations to pull their weight. But a lot of geopolitical stars first need to align, says Hugo Dixon.

Capital Calls: Diverse workforces

5 Jul 2023

Concise views on global finance: The court’s ruling against affirmative action could make future workforces more homogeneous. That’s a bitter pill for the US Federal Reserve, which has pushed for a more inclusive labor market.

EU green finance standard may play second fiddle

3 Jul 2023

Sustainability-minded investors are flocking to climate disclosure plans set out by the ISSB, an accounting standards body. They already cover less than tough EU goals. Brussels believes its regulatory might will make its standards the norm, but global finance may well not.

Hydropower IPO tests appetite for weather risks

28 Jun 2023

Hidroelectrica’s market sale in Bucharest could value the renewable energy supplier at 10 bln euros, Europe’s largest IPO so far this year. High margins, low debt and fat dividends make the offer palatable. But as droughts intensify, water scarcity may prove a headache.

Green alliance crisis is more than just a US drama

19 Jun 2023

Most insurers have quit their industry’s UN-backed climate body. Sector specifics and fear of US lawsuits partly explain why, but so do European governments focusing on energy security rather than net-zero targets. The same dynamic may affect banks and fund managers.

EU takes broad aim at ESG jungle

14 Jun 2023

Europe wants to rein in the industry for environmental, social and governance assessments by forcing firms to disclose their models and data. A plan to stop conflicts of interest may create compliance headaches. But more transparency and oversight should lead to better outcomes.

Shipping tax could yield $100 bln climate windfall

12 Jun 2023

The industry emits almost 3% of the world’s greenhouse gases. It’s also largely escaped taxation. A levy on emissions would encourage shippers to go green, while raising money to help poorer countries. Key meetings in the next month are the time to push the idea, says Hugo Dixon.

Global tax would spoil investors’ plastic party

1 Jun 2023

The world is drowning in waste, but demand for durable polymers is soaring. This may change if UN talks to end plastic pollution by 2040 succeed in introducing a levy. That will shrink a bonus market for Big Oil and cut packaging firms’ margins.

Europe’s oil major sweet spot could yet turn sour

4 May 2023

Shell, BP and Total are still making fat profits, and investors seem fine with a slower route out of oil. Rising rates also make wind projects look even less enticing than fossil fuel ones. But longer term, Europe’s oil titans may lose their head start in the shift to net zero.

Oil AGMs presage awkward investor decoupling

28 Apr 2023

BP sailed through its annual shareholder meeting without much blowback on how it had backtracked on climate goals. That will embolden competitors to dismiss pro-green investors’ concerns, and give more to the opposite camp. It is becoming harder to please both sides.

Guest view: “1% for 1.5C” can power green finance

11 Apr 2023

Poorer nations pay the highest human and financial cost of climate change. Multilateral development banks should offer to lend to them at 1% to help mitigate and adapt to global warming, argues UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP27 Mahmoud Mohieldin.

Water finance pipe is full of recycled pledges

28 Mar 2023

Attendees left the UN’s first H2O confab in 46 years pledging to invest $300 bln. To hit that target, governments and companies like Veolia and Xylem mostly repackaged old commitments or dressed up ordinary outlays as new spending. Global water policy needs more pressure.

Bayer pumps H2O to top of climate agenda

21 Mar 2023

The UN is hosting its first confab on water security in almost 50 years as floods and droughts worsen with rising temperatures. In this Exchange podcast, Bayer executive and former member of Germany’s Green Party Matthias Berninger lays out the drugs-to-seeds maker’s remedies.

Water’s big moment risks getting lost in the weeds

20 Mar 2023

New York is hosting the first UN confab on the scarce resource since 1977. Securing supplies requires $1 trln a year. There’s no climate COP-like demand for national commitments but there is a decent investment case. Banks can get a lot of bragging rights bang for their buck too.

EU and US green arms race misses bigger picture

16 Mar 2023

The European Union’s response to Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act gives member states leeway to push back with their own green subsidies. Yet plans for production targets are misguided. To decarbonise while managing China risks, it’s better to seek common ground with the US.