WednesdayApr 17, 2024 2:31 pm

Europe Resists US-Driven Backlash Against ESG

The finance industry in Europe is withstanding pressures to backtrack on its environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) investments, with some help from regulations and steady investor demand. In the United States, GOP legislators have successfully diluted regulations that promote ESG, reduced ESG product marketing and discouraged financial companies from working with others to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Thus far, Europe has resisted the anti-ESG movement due to consumer support for greener products and regulations supporting operations of companies in the economy, particularly in the finance industry. Some politicians have also helped ease environmental legislations and rules, with investors in Europe injecting…

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MondayApr 15, 2024 10:00 am

AI, ESG Helping to Tackle Climate Change

A growing number of corporations in the United States and other nations are using artificial intelligence (“AI”) technology to enhance their environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) reporting and tackle the increasingly dire issue of climate change. Despite being in its infancy, the nascent AI industry has attracted significant attention due to its potential to disrupt several industries significantly. Generative AI-powered tools such as ChatGPT have been especially popular in corporations in recent years as the AI can help companies supercharge their ESG reporting and enhance their climate-change mitigation efforts to meet increasingly stringent corporate sustainability requirements. Josh Hatch from Brightworks…

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MondayApr 15, 2024 9:00 am

Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSX.V: BAY) (OTCQB: ATBHF) Starts Exploration Program as Growth Is Forecast for Copper Sector

Experts project demand for copper is set to rise in coming years Increased demand from power generation, EVs and electronic devices may push the copper supply deficit to 6.5 million MT “We are excited about this significant exploration program at Storm,” said Aston Bay CEO Thomas Ullrich In a space projected to see significant growth and demand in the coming decade, Canadian minerals exploration company Aston Bay Holdings (TSX.V: BAY) (OTCQB: ATBHF) is focused on establishing a strong foothold. As an explorer of high-grade copper and gold deposits in North America, the company is beginning an aggressive exploration program focused on immediate resource…

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FridayApr 12, 2024 10:00 am

European Bankers Push Back Against ESG Requirements by ECB

European bankers are pushing back against the increasingly strict environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) reporting requirements being passed in the European Union, yet their competitors in America aren’t required to adhere to those requirements. The European Banking Federation (“EBF”) recently said that as long as Wall Street continues to ignore ESG rules, European lenders who adhere to American ESG rules will find it impossible to compete with their U.S. counterparts. ESG has been one of the largest trends in the financial sector for the past several years, partly due to being pushed by major investment companies, such as BlackRock, and…

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WednesdayApr 10, 2024 10:00 am

AI Could Help Companies in Their ESG-Linked Workflows

Businesses could take advantage of the nascent artificial intelligence (“AI”) sector to improve their environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) reporting. Both ESG and AI are currently among the largest trends in the financial world, and some players in the sector are already considering the benefits of combining the two. Artificial intelligence especially has drawn a lot of attention in recent months due to generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, which can generate incredibly impressive results from simple user prompts. Although a lot of the focus on these tools has been around their potential impact on the creative industries, the financial…

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MondayApr 08, 2024 2:00 pm

Deloitte Survey Finds 8 in 10 Investors Have ESG Guidelines

New research has found that most investors have established ESG investment policies in the last couple of years in a bid to capitalize on opportunities and minimize sustainability-related risks. For the research, the Fletcher school at Tufts University and Deloitte conducted a survey of more than 1,000 asset managers, asset owners and investment advisers, including heads of strategy, CIOs, CEOs and other senior executives across regions in Asia, North America and Europe. Once this was done, interviews with sustainability and investment leaders were carried out between January to December last year. The researchers observed considerable growth in the share of…

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FridayApr 05, 2024 10:00 am

Saba Capital Boosts Holdings in BlackRock ESG Trust by $5.4m

According to recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Saba Capital Management recently made significant purchases of BlackRock ESG Capital Allocation Term Trust’s common stock. The trust, which trades under the ECAT ticker on NYSE, is part of BlackRock's suite of sustainable investment products that are focused on environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) criteria. The credit-relative, value-focused hedge fund purchased a total of 314,036 shares via two different transactions on March 27, 2024, and March 28, 2024, with a combined value of more than $5.4 million. The first transaction saw the hedge fund purchase 110,651 shares at a $17.23…

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WednesdayApr 03, 2024 10:00 am

Mississippi Slaps BlackRock with Cease & Desist Order Over ESG Investments

Last week, the office of the secretary of state in Mississippi via the Securities Division issued BlackRock with a cease-and-desist order arising from statements it made on both its non-ESG and ESG funds. ESG funds are those that integrate environmental, social and governance factors in their decision-making when it comes to investments. In its cease-and-desist order, the division reprimanded the multinational investment company for deceptively marketing its ESG funds and explained that claims about ESG funds bringing in better financial returns were untrue. The securities division then revealed that the company’s non-ESG funds weren’t managed without regard for ESG criteria,…

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MondayApr 01, 2024 10:00 am

Legislation Reintroduced in Congress to Block Retirement Plan ESG Investing

Earlier this month, Representative Greg Murphy reintroduced an amended measure in Congress that would prevent retirement plan trustees from investing in environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) on behalf of participants and beneficiaries. The measure, which was advanced to the House Ways & Means Committee, was cosponsored by Reps. Beth Van Duyne, Claudia Tenney and Mike Kelly. In a statement, Murphy explained that tax-advantaged retirement plans helped people save for their retirement and therefore needed to be managed in a way that would bring in the most returns instead of investing in risky ventures. He noted that unstable investments could be…

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WednesdayMar 27, 2024 10:00 am

‘Greenhushing’ Is Adversely Impacting ESG Activity in Private Markets

A report outlining the state of Environmental, Social & Governance (“ESG”) investing in private markets has suggested that a phenomenon called “greenhushing’” is causing some asset managers to retreat from their public environment, social, and governance reporting commitments. Greenhushing refers to the practice of retaining information on climate-change mitigation strategies due to the fear that releasing this information could potentially risk a company’s reputation. Companies will either do this through avoidance or outright refusal to divulge any climate-action-related information, meaning they won’t provide any information if nobody asks and will decline to answer any queries that they do receive. For…

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