EU urged to bring in tougher climate finance rules May 5, 2021 European Union policymakers today faced a call to break a ‘climate-finance doom loop’ by making banks hold up to three times more capital to cover risks from fossil fuel activities. Finance Watch, which campaigns to improve how finance works for society, has written to EU President Ursula von der Leyen, urging the union to toughen [...]
BlackRock bears down on environmental concerns as investor goes green May 5, 2021 Asset management giant BlackRock have increased their green engagements by more than 50 per cent in the past year, the firm said this morning. BlackRock Investment Stewardship’s (BIS) quarterly update suggests the trend towards more of a green push from major shareholders will continue. The giant’s stewardship team held almost 1,000 “engagements” with firms it [...]
UK banks provided over $50bn in financing for coal-exposed firms from 2018 to 2020 May 4, 2021 The UK’s biggest banks provided $56bn worth of financing for firms involved in the coal industry between 2018 and 2020, new research today has found. Of the top five banks exposed to the sector, Barclays provided by far the most financing to firms on the Global Coal Exit list, with $27bn. HSBC and Standard Chartered [...]
Joachim Klement, CFA: Three Geo-Economics trends to watch May 4, 2021 | City Talk “Today’s investors need to understand geopolitical trends as a main driving force of markets.” Joachim Klement, CFA Joachim Klement, CFA, has emerged over the last decade as one of the more insightful and compelling voices in finance. Well-reasoned, rigorous, humorous, and occasionally iconoclastic, his perspective, featured either on the Enterprising Investor Blog or on his [...]
Now is the time to fight against climate change May 4, 2021 | City Talk 2021 is being billed as a pivotal moment in terms of our fight against climate change, with the global climate change conference, COP 26, due to take place in Glasgow in November of this year. At the moment, there is some uncertainty around the format of the conference, and it is likely that it may [...]
COP26: What are the UK’s goals for the landmark summit? May 1, 2021 It’s six months until the UN’s flagship climate conference, COP26, kicks off in Glasgow. As the host of this year’s conference, the UK has a unique job: to corral the world’s biggest economies into updating their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) – formal targets to reduce emissions – in line with the demands of the 2015 [...]
Barclays faces shareholder revolt over fossil fuel investments as AGM approaches April 29, 2021 Barclays is facing a second consecutive shareholder resolution concerning its position as Europe’s largest fossil fuel financier. Investors are increasingly drawing attention to the shareholder resolution due to be voted on at the bank’s Annual General Meeting next week, on Wednesday 5 May. A letter from investors with more than $4 trillion of funds urged [...]
Exclusive: Scrapping paper documents could boost UK trade by £25bn April 29, 2021 Digitising business and removing tens of millions of paper documents would boost small British businesses’ overseas trade by £25bn over the next four years, according to new research. A report by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), seen by Morning Wire, argued that UK firms were trapped in the “bureaucracies of the 16th century” and [...]
Ryanair to power 12.5 per cent of flights with sustainable fuels by 2030 April 29, 2021 Ryanair plans to power 12.5 per cent of its flights with sustainable aviation fuels by 2030, the airline said this morning. The announcement comes days after its rival British Airways committed to using the fuels to power 10 per cent of its flights. Group Chief Executive Michael O’Leary had said earlier this month that the [...]
London remains one of the world’s leading green finance centres April 29, 2021 London has held on to one of the top spots for green finance quality in Z/Yen’s latest index, but Western Europe’s overall dominance is starting to slip. In its Global Green Finance Index (GGFI), Canada think tank ranked 78 financial centres across the world for their public, private and nonprofit investment in [...]