Global climate change stimulus could fuel a green investment bubble May 6, 2021 Hundreds of years of history shows us that investment bubbles are a regular feature of the financial markets. For as long as humans have been trading investments, there have been periods of time when the prices of assets have become disconnected from their underlying value. Although bubbles typically are identified after they have popped, there [...]
Does an emissions scandal await the real estate sector? May 6, 2021 | City Talk In September 2015, news broke that Volkswagen (VW) had been selling cars in the US that had a so-called “defeat device” installed in diesel engines. It could detect when they were being tested and change performance to improve results. The German carmaker admitted to cheating emissions tests and it soon became clear that this was [...]
Exclusive: Chartered IIA calls on government to extend mandatory climate reporting to smaller businesses May 5, 2021 The Chartered IIA is calling on the government to further its demands on climate reporting, including widening out mandatory climate reporting to include small and medium-sized organisations. In March the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) launched a consultation to require mandatory climate disclosures from large companies. Companies that would be affected by [...]
Barclays to offer climate vote to investors next year May 5, 2021 Barclays will offer investors a vote on its climate policy at next year’s investor meeting after pressure from activists and shareholders to become greener. The bank will devise extra climate targets in consultation with shareholders, its chairman Nigel Higgins told a webcast investor meeting today. Barclays set itself a target in March 2020 to reach [...]
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 [...]