Euromoney
In the final episode in this series, Marjella Lecourt-Alma, of ESG risk management specialist Datamaran, explains why she gave COP26 a miss, what she expects to be the main drivers of climate action next year, and why the quest for perfect data is a distraction from the transition challenges ahead.
As COP26 winds up, Euromoney looks at how a big reduction in fossil-fuel consumption might impact the currencies of the world’s leading coal and oil exporters.
James Close, head of climate change at NatWest, looks at how the endgame might play out in Glasgow, what promises of a net-zero finance centre in London will mean in practice and the opportunities from creating credible carbon markets.
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Under its ambitious president, the five-year-old Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has developed into an outfit with its own distinct personality and ambitions. Jin Liqun sits down with Euromoney to discuss climate financing, private-sector capital and why a post-Covid 'normal' is least two years away. -
Marisa Drew, Credit Suisse's chief sustainability officer, had a busy week ahead at the UN Climate Change conference in Glasgow. But she found time to tell Euromoney about her hopes for COP26, how banks and corporates can change, and the benefits of sticky capital.
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Standard Chartered’s CEO discusses COP26, climate finance in emerging markets, the need for consistent ESG data, and the challenges of creating high-integrity carbon markets.
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The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) is one of the most closely watched developments in climate standards to have been announced at COP26. Although its launch was the culmination of an ambitious project, its work is only just beginning.
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Harry Boyd-Carpenter, head of the EBRD's green economy and climate action team, discusses the latest developments at COP26, how they will affect emerging markets, and what multilateral banks can do to bridge the climate gap.
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Val Smith, Citi's chief sustainability officer, and Constance Chalchat of BNP Paribas share their thoughts on the latest announcements from Glasgow and the implications for the banking sector.
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A programme revealed at COP26 plans to speed up progress away from coal-fired power in Indonesia and the Philippines
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Henry Fernandez, chief executive of MSCI, talks greenwashing, what to expect from Finance Day, and why ESG ratings should never be regulated.
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James Gifford, Credit Suisse's head of sustainable & impact advisory and thought leadership, and one of the team who created the UN's Principles for Responsible Investment in 2006, discusses sticky capital, industries of the future and his 'light-bulb moment' on ESG.
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Intense competition for assets means that risk is being mispriced.
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Kate Levick of environmental policy think tank E3G looks ahead to Finance Day and reflects on what the climate conference will mean for the private sector
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The COP26 summit requires serious and inspired leadership, which its host looks ill-suited to provide.
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COP veteran and climate finance expert Abyd Karmali of Bank of America shares insights on what to watch for in the next two weeks and how Glasgow might stack up against previous climate conferences
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The hard truth is that in much of the developing world, climate change still ranks well below more immediate concerns such as unemployment, disease, poverty and political unrest for households and businesses.
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Policymakers in Moscow are finally promising to tackle climate change. Will the Russian private sector follow suit?
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Most of the world’s biggest banks have pledged to reach net zero by 2050 – but are they ready for the tough decisions required to get there? Daniel Klier, former head of global sustainable finance at HSBC and now CEO of Arabesque S-Ray, discusses the challenges facing the sector, the drive for consensus and the importance of data.
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Mike Meredith, head of the Polar Oceans division at the British Antarctic Survey, discusses what the financial sector can learn from scientists, how soon flats in Brighton will be underwater – and, of course, Boaty McBoatface.
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As the UN biodiversity conference gets under way in Kunming, Fabian Huwyler of Posaidon Capital talks about nature finance’s potential for alpha generation, why banks still aren’t doing enough in the sector, the rise of transformative technology – and why COPs are like Valentine’s Day.
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Carbon market veteran Anna Lehmann discusses the development of a complex sector, what to expect from the climate conference and why she is walking to Glasgow.
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The president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank tells Euromoney the multilateral is intent on being ESG friendly, and crowding more private-sector capital into infrastructure projects.
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There has always been great overlap between Shariah-compliant finance and ESG principles. Malaysia is trying to harness the potential that arises from this confluence.
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A new poll by the data-room technology provider finds that worries over the potential for post-deal value destruction because of climate change have added to a risk environment already heightened by the coronavirus pandemic.
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President Xi Jinping has set out bold plans to decarbonize China’s economy. But most companies and banks, hampered by a lack of top-down regulation, have little idea what ESG is, let alone how to measure and report it. It is a mess – and one that China needs to clear up fast.
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China unveiled a plan for its first national parks on Friday, the final day of the COP15 conference in Kunming. It reveals the weight of Party concerns about pollution and biodiversity fragmentation, and their impact on political stability.
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Before long, investors will pay as close attention to an issuer’s green framework as to its credit rating.
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The US president’s prompt action in rejoining the Paris Agreement has given encouragement to environmentalists at home and abroad. What should be next on his green hit list?
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Supervisors attending this year’s meeting of the Institute of International Finance were at pains to show they would not be rushing to impose capital penalties on banks based on climate stress tests. But the issue is at the heart of a debate over what the limits to regulatory scope should be.
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The banking sector will never pick its way through the climate change jungle without harmonized regulations. To meet global risks, a global sector needs global standards. It is time for Basel V.
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The BlackRock chief executive sees a big gap opening up between the commitments of large public companies and banks and the rest of society as inflation hits.
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Sustainable agriculture holds the key to reducing emissions and transforming the global food system, says Rabo Carbon Bank’s chief executive.
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Green bonds are still a tiny percentage of total market outstandings, so maybe borrowers making net-zero pledges should tie all their liabilities to them.
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Amazonia Impact Ventures says that financing sustainable agricultural production can reduce deforestation rates.
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The issuance of green bonds is that rare thing: a strategy on which the EU and UK agree. That is a good thing as achieving net zero will require the participation of enormous volumes of private capital.
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Bank of America’s Abyd Karmali is on the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures. Ahead of the nature-based COP15 and climate-based COP26, he tells Euromoney what is at stake.
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Want to know what banks will be doing at COP26? Give them a minute and they’ll get back to you…
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Climate change cannot be tackled in isolation. Biodiversity is an equally important challenge, and the two must be considered in tandem. A new report backed by Singapore’s Temasek spells out the challenge and the opportunity.
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Credit Suisse’s chief sustainability officer is full of good cheer but is no ESG ideologue. She fills the room with warmth and energy but is at heart at hard-nosed investment banker who sees a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to guide clients to a more sustainable future.
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South African banks’ sustainable finance challenges reflect the nation’s difficult but vital transition away from coal.
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Macquarie Group chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake has laid out her bank’s ambitions in green energy, as its Green Investment Group reports a record portfolio.
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Annual stress tests of bank balance sheets were one of the last decade’s most obvious supervisory responses to the global financial crisis. With a wave of new bottom-up assessments now getting under way, regulators hope to do something similar with climate risks. Can they do it or will this simply result in a toothless box-ticking exercise?
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A year after launch, the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets is close to setting standards for a murky market. Board member Chris Leeds discusses the journey so far, the challenges ahead and the opportunities that standardization could create for banks.
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The world has been pressuring Brazil about the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest within its borders for decades. New ESG-style initiatives are being adopted by Brazilian banks and businesses, but it could be the climate impact closer to home that’s creating the impetus for real change.
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Gas price volatility is delivering profits to speculators. It is a reminder that carbon trading markets could face PR problems if energy dealers are viewed as big beneficiaries.
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The rising price of oil and gas in this recovery underlines the need for much greater investment in clean energy.
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Many initiatives have promised to crowd in private capital through the catalytic effect of their own seed investment. Will this one work?
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James Gifford’s life changed when he hopped aboard a flight from Sydney in 2003. The team he joined in Geneva framed the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment, created the concept of ‘ESG’ and changed the world.
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Derivatives could turbocharge environmental, social and governance markets, with a related boost to bank revenues. However, they could also make it harder to monitor exposure.
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Investors must understand the limits of regulatory efforts to measure climate stress at banks.
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Gustavo Montezano has been president of BNDES since July 2019. He is on a mission to get Brazil’s state development bank to adapt to the new financial reality of ESG. How the resultant tensions play out will be crucial to the development of Brazil and the world.
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Can multilateral development banks fight climate change while still promoting economic development in emerging markets? The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is the first to set out concrete plans on how to do this.
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China faces tough choices in the months ahead. Make the right decisions and it can become the global leader in ESG, a country determined to shed its industrial past and embrace a cleaner, greener future.
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