The Covid pandemic and racial injustice protests have thrust social investing into the spotlight this year. However, using this to achieve long-term change on the ground will be a tough job.

One intriguing sub-plot of a wild year in bank capital has been the advent of green AT1 and tier-2 deals.

Environmental, social and governance investors can lend out their securities, but greater communication and transparency is needed for it to work.

Demand for investments with a positive social or environmental impact is increasing. For portfolio managers this means navigating a complex world of terminologies, data and reporting

The finance sector has woken up to its impact and dependence on nature. So, it needs to prioritize the development of investable projects.

Environmental, social and governance factors are financially material and the time for debate is over – unless you’re Trump.

While banks have made progress on integrating environmental considerations into areas such as project finance and corporate lending, investment bankers have so far faced few – if any – sustainability-related restrictions on their activities.

Mark Carney has put his weight behind a new taskforce to speed up the development of voluntary carbon markets. The aim is to build infrastructure that will create liquid and investable carbon offset markets.

The bank’s new Development Finance Institution could move the needle in helping developing economies meet the UN’s sustainable development goals. Euromoney talks to managing director Faheen Allibhoy and chair of the governing board Daniel Zelikow.

Across every sector and region HSBC stands out for its commitment to developing partnerships and products that will bring finance at scale to create a more sustainable and resilient planet.

With its unique model of direct lending to microfinance institutions and bringing large investors to the table, BNP Paribas has put financial inclusion at the heart of its agenda.

Using its balance sheet to help the transition to net zero emissions, racial equality and economic mobility, while supporting employees through Covid-19 and assisting communities in all markets it operates in, Bank of America has put corporate responsibility at its core.

The breadth and ambition of Santander’s diversity and inclusion programmes set it apart from its peers globally.

The trend towards social debt issuance at the expense of green bonds poses a conundrum for firms looking to appoint credible leaders for a push into sustainable financing.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing is moving beyond a compliance-focused cancel culture, giving US banks an undeserved chance to win market share from European firms.

Governments need to step up to take a more proactive and innovative role in creating new markets.

Environmental, social and governance ratings are far from perfect – but criticism of the industry too often misses the mark.

By clinging to the rhetoric of protecting fossil fuel jobs, Trump is helping no one.

The $40 trillion environmental, social and governance investment industry is built on a bedrock of data from an ever-widening range of sources. Is that data fit for purpose?

The Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) has cited 64 specific recommendations in a report calling for greater public-sector engagement in supporting the financing of the Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Agreement.

Income, racial and gender inequality have been at the top of the news agenda for months. The financial sector now needs to go beyond programmes, initiatives and box-ticking and embed diversity and inclusion into all it does.

It was a year of milestones for Morgan Stanley in sustainability, a journey that began in 2013 with the establishment of the Sustainable Investing Institute under Audrey Choi, the bank’s chief sustainability officer.

When a big US bank joins its peers around the world under an umbrella of responsible banking, it lifts the entire responsibility agenda – and this is exactly what Citi has done as an early signatory to the Principles of Responsible Banking (PRB) of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative.

Social distancing and government payments are turbo-charging digital bank’s growth.

The country is losing the war on the coronavirus, as well as wasting the ensuing digital payments opportunity eagerly grasped by others in Latin America.

The saga of ESG data looks promising, but the questions about its usefulness for investors drag on.

Virtual meetings have afforded women greater visibility during the Covid-19 crisis, but little to nothing has happened. Will things finally start to change in the financial sector?

The sustainable finance movement needs to manage the risk to its reputation, as Jeff Gibbs highlights in his documentary.

The momentum for environmental finance had been growing, but Covid-19 has forced a pause. Can environmental finance help economies to ‘build back better’? And how can that movement boost environmental finance?

The United Nations Special Envoy for financing the 2030 Agenda tells Euromoney how the Sustainable Development Goals can help us ‘build back better’.