Sustainability

Predictions: The heat’s rising everywhere in 2020

6 Jan 2020

Expect investors and banks to join the climate-change fight; pain in Russia and South Africa; heightened risk in Hong Kong; and U.S. elections testing Wall Street nerves. Opportunities will abound, too. All this and more awaits in a pivotal year for politics, profit and planet.

An ever-drier world will unleash investment flood

6 Jan 2020

By 2030 humans will be using 56% more water than is sustainable, a new report shows. Closing the gap may cost $1 trln a year. But companies and investors are showing more interest in preventing a global water crisis. That bodes well for finding solutions – and making a profit.

Predictions 2020: Turning up the heat

6 Jan 2020

Expect investors and banks to join the climate-change fight; pain in Russia and South Africa; heightened risk in Hong Kong; and U.S. elections testing Wall Street nerves. Opportunities will abound, too. All this and more awaits in a pivotal year for politics, profit and planet.

The Exchange: India’s water crisis

6 Jan 2020

Kicking off Predictions 2020, Amit Chandra of Bain, Reshma Anand of Hindustan Unilever Foundation and Mridula Ramesh of the Sundaram Climate Institute come together in Mumbai to discuss who should pay for the scarce resource, and how the private sector can map out its true cost.

Beijing steers green cars in a new direction

6 Jan 2020

Subsidy cuts exposed tepid demand for electric vehicles in a country that accounts for 40% of global sales. Hybrids will gain stronger state support instead. China’s sway spells trouble for the likes of Tesla and Nio while giving a charge to others including Toyota and Honda.

Viewsroom: Green M&A in 2020

2 Jan 2020

CEOs increasingly talk a good game on climate change, but the financial implications of global warming have played a small role in dealmaking so far. That will change in the year ahead. Also: why the video-game industry should be bracing for a political backlash.

Greta Thunberg will clog EU budget-airline engines

2 Jan 2020

Climate change will make regulators rethink free carbon credits and impose fuel taxes, hitting easyJet and Norwegian Air hard. More pain would come if the teen activist-inspired drop in Swedish air travel spreads across Europe. All in, 48 bln euros of industry value is at risk.

Sustainable investing will wind up in the dock

31 Dec 2019

Around $31 trln of assets under management now include some kind of environmental, social or governance factor. But there’s widespread confusion over definitions. That leaves the market open to egregious mis-selling and fraud. A scandal is likely sooner rather than later.

India Insight: Onion prices add to nation’s tears

23 Dec 2019

Amid violent protests over a citizenship law, Indians are also having to deal with poor harvests for this staple of the curry dish. It’s a glimpse into how changing climate patterns will exacerbate inefficiencies and create more of the volatility famous for toppling governments.

Viewsroom: Jack Dorsey’s heroic year ahead

19 Dec 2019

From banning political ads to developing cryptocurrency plans, the CEO of Twitter and Square has been politically more astute than rivals like Facebook. That sets him up for a good 2020. Also: the different ways that shareholders, the Fed and M&A bankers will tackle climate risk.

M&A bankers will turn climate risk into clients

19 Dec 2019

The financial impact of global warming is one of the biggest strategic issues CEOs face, yet it plays a small role in dealmaking. That might change in 2020 as shifting regulation and consumer habits start to affect the bottom line, giving climate-conscious advisers an edge.

Green laggards face war on multiple fronts

18 Dec 2019

Businesses slow to react to the impact of climate change have so far got off lightly. In 2020, investors will broaden their activism and target passive funds, too. Meanwhile, some governments may impose stricter measures, and more valuation clarity will wake up short sellers.

Chinese bottled water IPO offers up a muddy glass

18 Dec 2019

Market-leader Nongfu Spring could raise more than $1 bln in Hong Kong. Mainland households are drinking more of the bottled stuff as incomes rise. That thirst, though, has brought competitors, and may also prompt a much-needed tightening of environmental and consumer rules.

Guest view: Cities are $24 trln green opportunity

17 Dec 2019

Metropolises account for 70% of global carbon emissions. That puts them at the forefront of the battle to keep global warming to a minimum, argues Christiana Figueres, the former UN climate chief behind the 2015 Paris accords. But cities cannot do it alone.

Goldman shows world leaders live in wrong climate

16 Dec 2019

The Wall Street firm is targeting $750 bln of sustainable finance over the next decade, even as politicians dither. It’s a fluffy goal. Yet it shows the hard-nosed Goldman sees money to be made from sustainable investment. Its long-term-greedy mantra fits climate change neatly.

Time has come for Aussie CEOs to walk climate talk

12 Dec 2019

Fierce bushfires have left Sydney choking, triggering public anger along with home fire alarms. A government that won by challenging Labor’s green campaign is sitting idle. Companies can fill the leadership gap by pushing for coherent policy that would benefit investors, too.

Climate-bond cold shoulder gets harder to justify

10 Dec 2019

Even though green bonds perform well and can weather economic cycles better than regular issues, they’re still constrained by limited demand. Poor transparency and a comparability have been a turnoff, but a new Nasdaq tool means even that argument no longer holds much water.

Green “Minsky moment” cannot come soon enough

9 Dec 2019

Regulators have already flagged the risks of a sudden repricing of asset values when climate policies kick in. New United Nations-supported research attempts to quantify the impact. If politicians wait until 2025 to grasp the nettle, the hit to equity markets will be more severe.

London-Shanghai bridge leads back to Hong Kong

5 Dec 2019

SDIC Power postponed a plan to raise some $800 mln using a link between Chinese and British bourses. In rejecting a $34 bln takeover bid from HKEX, the LSE argued its partnership was a better route to the mainland. But the protest-hit financial hub can feel secure on this point.

TCI plays outrider to Mark Carney’s climate drive

2 Dec 2019

Chris Hohn’s hedge fund plans to penalise directors at companies who don’t publish climate change data. If others follow suit, it could boost the Bank of England governor’s push for transparency. What’s less clear is whether greater disclosure delivers investment rewards.