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This session looked at green stimulus measures and the ingredients of success that will generate economic growth, create jobs and bring about environmental benefits. It studied the lessons of the GFC and the opportunity for greening the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
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As of early June, almost USD$10 trillion had been committed by governments worldwide to combat COVID-19 in the form of loans, stimulus and bailouts. This figure included up to 1 trillion in green related packages.
Our preliminary assessment is that the stimulus response so far has been more brown than green and that should be a big concern to all of us.
Large, timely and well-designed green stimulus can generate economic growth.
To build back greener, we should resist the urge to cut and paste the response measures put in place during the Global Financial Crisis.
More work is needed to ensure the ESG ratings are fit for purpose. We need to make sure the E component continues to get adequate attention and adequate weight.
A more precise common understanding of the criteria for ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ would help facilitate a green recovery.
One of the most important, upcoming challenges at CalSTRS is how the fund should evaluate Chinese investments from a human capital and environmental standpoint, says Chris Ailman, chief investment officer at the giant pension fund.
Last week BlackRock’s Larry Fink announced the company would put climate change centre-stage across its $7 trillion portfolio after what critics have called years of prevarication. Sarah Rundell looks behind what the statement could mean in practice.
At the international business of Federated Hermes, we believe that the investment management industry could be a potent force in building a better world; but today that potential is largely unfulfilled.
Impact investment and its combination of financial returns and social or environmental purpose is beginning to move from fringe to the financial mainstream in part because the long-held concept that investment should only maximise shareholder value is beginning to fade.
As concerns about climate change reach fever pitch, Harvard Business School has published a report that shows investment strategies that “aggressively’ reduce carbon emissions can significantly boost fund performance.
Ben Caldecott from The Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme at the University of Oxford explains how emerging technologies, changing client preferences, new regulatory landscapes, and evolving economic geographies create new opportunities for more effective engagement and forms of active ownership.
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