Welcome to Sustainable Views’ knowledge hub: the section of the site where we archive useful research we’ve read over the past weeks, so you can improve your knowledge and easily refer back to your favourite resources
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Financial sector struggling on ESG integration
This week, forum and think-tank New Financial found that while environmental, social and governance conerns have exploded into public discourse and achieved impressive growth in some sectors, sustainability has still achieved limited overall penetration of banking and finance
Globally, sustainable investment funds now hold almost four times the assets they did in 2016, with annual inflows up tenfold. Bond issuance has followed a similar pattern.
But despite this rapid growth, ESG activity still languishes at less than 6 per cent of global activity. New Financial also found that the financial sector is finding full ESG integration particularly difficult, with a higher proportion of these companies with medium to high or severe ESG risk ratings.
To read the full report, click this link.
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Trust in business hangs in balance over climate change
Consumer faith in governments and businesses to tackle climate change is at a nadir, a report from public relations consultancy Edelman has found.
A special edition of the firm’s trust barometer found that climate change now outstrips a host of common worries such as contracting Covid-19 and losing personal freedoms, coming second only to fear of losing one’s job.
But almost half of the 14,000 people surveyed now believe it is too late to reverse the effects of climate change. On average, they are now looking to NGOs and governments to make the changes necessary to limit global warming, with trust in business far lower than usual on this issue.
Read the full report here.
Just transition eludes key sectors
Energy, utility and automative companies are failing to mitigate negative social impacts of the transition to a low-carbon future, according to the World Benchmarking Alliance.
The group, formed of NGOs and companies focused on delivering the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, assessed the public disclosures of 180 companies, finding “a striking and systemic lack of action by companies to identify, prepare for and mitigate the social impacts of their low-carbon strategies”. It calculated that this puts 11 million workers at risk of unemployment.
The report encourages companies to reskill, or upskill workers that could be stranded, with specific recommendations by sector. Read it here.
CFOs can gain competitive advantage with better ESG disclosure
Corporate finance teams that lead the way on new disclosure standards can gain a competitive advantage through access to new sustainable finance, according to environmental consultancy ERM.
The firm’s SustainAbility Institute interviewed CFOs, lenders and investors to develop a list of tips for companies looking to access financing predicated on green credentials.