Javier Rodríguez Soler, BBVA’s global head of sustainability and corporate and investment banking, says an acquisition of Banco Sabadell would boost his division’s international standing. But BBVA is already eyeing a leading role in banking decarbonisation around the world, especially in the US. Partnerships with private equity companies, and investments in cleantech funds, are among the ways it is pursuing that goal.

As banks focus more on climate adaptation across their businesses, are they conceding that mitigation efforts are futile?

Corporate and development banks want their capital to reach the smallest and most impactful of SMEs in frontier markets. Traditional credit ratings and risk assessments can get in the way.

A securitization of pay-as-you-go electricity bills to fund wider access to electricity in Côte d’Ivoire could spark copycat social bonds for affordable housing, telecoms, electricity access and more.

The global clubs charged with defining what pace of transition is both scientifically and politically acceptable are only as good-willed as their members.

Failure to mobilize the finance needed to meet the Paris Agreement will be devastating. As those flows to overleveraged countries and companies now stall, radical steps are needed.

The 28th Conference of the Parties starts in Dubai tomorrow. Dubbed the finance COP, conflicting priorities could turn it into a fossil fuel investor roadshow.

Social bonds could help deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals by driving private capital into essential services. But impact looks different from one place to the next, so how can issuers report it in a way that makes sense?

The green transition is boosting demand for key metals and Africa’s commodity markets are under pressure to increase extraction. But buyer awareness of Scope 3 emissions means that processes need to be cleaned up and fast.

Asset managers are spooked by mandatory disclosure regulations coming into force in January. This is good news for the anti-greenwashing campaign, not so much for biodiversity lovers.

With anti-ESG sentiment on the rise amid a global financial tightening, is it time for investors to listen to the anti-woke agenda or double down on social responsibility?

Vocal members of the US political right are not happy, creating new laws that ban state investors from backing companies with an ESG agenda. Several fund managers have been quick to take up their cause.

Anti-ESG boycotts are unlikely to cross the Atlantic.

With more than 220 million homes to renovate, banks must provide the necessary funding to avoid being left with non-compliant housing assets. But a lack of standardized data on energy performance certificates makes it difficult to justify lending to some homeowners.

Wealth managers are keen to engage with clients on biodiversity, but concerns over liquidity and access pose challenges to retail and private clients.

The banking industry has become frustrated by slow regulatory progress as it waits for necessary standardization of climate risk assessments and disclosure policies to meet net-zero targets.

If the French company cuts greenhouse gas emissions, it will use savings on loan margin to finance sustainability projects: if it doesn’t, its banks will fund them.

War in Europe has completely upended the narrative around energy transition. Corporates and their banks are now engaged in a more complex conversation around the production – and financing – of oil and gas to replace Russian supplies. This could translate into more aggressive shareholder action as ESG investors fight to keep their near-term green agenda on track.

China’s approach to ESG is a jumble of grandiose and contradictory state planning alongside often marvellously successful bottom-up plans by banks and fintechs to instil in consumers a more sustainable lifestyle.

Last year, social was top of the ESG agenda. Today, it barely merits a mention.

The scrutiny of sustainable finance is expected to intensify over the year as stakeholders look for market participants to deliver on environmental promises.

The controversy around voluntary carbon markets has deterred banks from getting involved. They need to worry less about reputational risk and more about the planet.

Rabobank CEO Wiebe Draijer says that private finance must have a role in financing the transition to a more sustainable, equitable and healthy way of feeding the planet.

Governments have been slow to impose compulsory cap and trade schemes, but if voluntary markets nudge them along, a new asset class could flourish.

A new programme announced at COP26 plans to speed up progress away from coal-fired power in Indonesia and the Philippines by buying out plants, shutting them down, and helping to provide a cleaner alternative.

Investors fear that many Asian governments aren’t doing enough to transition to net zero. They are therefore engaging with the region’s largest utilities hoping for better results. CLP may be an example for others to follow.

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.

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.

President Xi Jinping has set out ambitious 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.

Before long, investors will pay as close attention to an issuer’s green framework as to its credit rating.