Does pollution pay? It might do unless we develop legal remedies for greenwashing June 24, 2022 Greenwashing has become prevalent as sustainability shot to popularity. But there's few ways to deal with it.
Better regulations, not more, are the answer to greenwashing controversies January 7, 2022 Last year, we talked a lot about climate action and what the financial industry could do to make a difference. At Cop26, the former governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney unveiled his brainchild for combating climate change: the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero. At the time, Carney boasted $130tn mobilised in pursuit [...]
City impact investment chief Jim Roth on greenwashing: ‘If you can’t measure it, you cannot manage it’ August 31, 2022 So-called “green” investment claims, and the substance behind them, are dominating the agenda of many City firms and the wider UK business community. ESG disclosure regimes aim to counter “greenwashing” by requiring financial firms who have marketed their investment products as “green” to disclose data relevant to their investments’ sustainability. However, the relatively new City [...]
Leaked ASA report: Regulator to order HSBC to end greenwashing and stop misleading UK customers April 29, 2022 City A.M. understands that a preliminary, unpublished decision by the advertising regulator rules that a number of HSBC’s climate-focused ads are misleading, and that the watchdog demands that future marketing must not omit significant information about its contribution to rising emissions. The ASA’s draft recommendations, seen by this paper, focus on two of HSBC’s ads, [...]
Cop 26 group sets out sustainability standards as concerns grow over greenwashing March 31, 2022 An international body set up to standardise company environmental reporting has set out a first set of draft guidelines today, as fears grow over the veracity of investment opportunities labelled as green.
Weekend chat: Many companies and investors fear greenwashing claims, says sustainability guru February 6, 2022 Increasing biodiversity and expanding nature-based solutions to solve the climate crisis through so-called voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) are currently a hot topic. VCMs, which encompass all transactions of carbon offsets that are not purchased with the intention to surrender into an active regulated carbon market, do include offsets that are purchased with the intent to re-sell [...]
McDonald’s net zero carbon restaurant prompts greenwashing backlash December 10, 2021 McDonald’s has opened its first net zero restaurant, but the move has been branded as “McGreenwash” by critics of the fast food giant. The restaurant, based in Shropshire, is powered through solar panels and wind turbines, and insulated with sheep’s wool. The building’s cladding is made from recycled IT equipment and household hood while signage [...]
PwC shaped DWS sustainability credentials while probing greenwashing claims September 26, 2021 PwC was providing guidance to DWS on its sustainability credentials while investigating greenwashing at the German asset manager. DWS’s former head of sustainability, Desiree Fixler, accused her former employers of using botched environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics, according to the Financial Times. The concerns were raised in March to chairman of DWS Karl von [...]
DWS rejects greenwashing allegations after probes launched in US and Germany August 27, 2021 German asset manager DWS has rebuffed claims that it misled clients by overstating its sustainable investing activities, after the news of probes by US and German regulators into the allegations sent shares plummeting. Shares in the €859bn group plunged by as much as 14.2 per cent yesterday, after reports emerged that the German regulator BaFin [...]
ESG investing now mainstream, but who’s holding ‘greenwashed’ portfolios to account? August 24, 2021 Environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns are rising up the agenda of investors, who are increasingly more attentive to the impact of their investments. Beyond financial performance, investors are looking at their portfolios in relation to ESG factors, but how can they assess the ESG credentials of companies and funds when the data is scattered [...]