Global PE Firms, Merging Standards, Pension Funds, and Food
Here are 5 things you might have missed this week:
PE Firms Unite to Fight Climate Change-
Five global private equity firms have come together to launch the One Planet Private Equity Funds (OPPEF) initiative.
The formal announcement of the initiative was made during a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron. The French leader met 33 chief executive officers from the world’s largest institutional investors, who manage an aggregate $30tn in assets.
The founding members of OPPEF include Ardian, Carlyle, Global Infrastructure Partners Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) and SoftBank Investment Advisers.
The initiative aims to accelerate the fight against climate change and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Source: https://pe-insights.com/news/2020/11/21/pe-firms-unite-to-fight-climate-change/
IIRC and SASB Announce Intent to Merge to Simplify Corporate Reporting-
The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) announced their intention to merge into a unified organization, the Value Reporting Foundation.
The new organization will provide investors and corporates with a comprehensive corporate reporting framework across the full range of enterprise value drivers and standards to drive global sustainability performance.
The merger will advance the work of CDP, CDSB, GRI, IIRC and SASB in the Statement of Intent To Work Together Towards Comprehensive Corporate Reporting, which outlines a vision for a comprehensive corporate reporting system.
Canadian Pension Plan Managers Call to Drive Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Growth-
CEOs of eight leading Canadian pension plan investment managers call on companies and investors to help drive sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
The asset owners, representing approximately $1.6 trillion in assets under management, jointly called on companies to provide financially relevant, comparable and decision-useful information, leveraging the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework to further standardize ESG-related reporting.
The joint statement declares, “How companies identify and address issues such as diversity & inclusion, human capital, and climate change can significantly contribute to value creation or erosion. Companies have an obligation to disclose their key business risks and opportunities to financial markets and should provide financially relevant, comparable and decision-useful information.”
Better Finance, Better Food: Case Study Catalogue-
A report from the Blended Finance Taskforce showcases over 50 new business models and financial solutions which are mobilising capital for sustainable food and land use assets.
According to the whitepaper, investing in more regenerative food and land-use systems could unlock $4.5 trillion in new business opportunities each year by 2030.
The report and case study catalogue demonstrate how finance can transform global food and land use systems to deliver more equitable and sustainable outcomes.
Source: http://www.blendedfinance.earth/better-finance-better-food
Global Award for Research in Sustainable Finance-
The Moskowitz Prize is the premier global prize for research in sustainable finance and is awarded each year.
This year’s recipients of the prize are Lakshmi Naaraayanan (London Business School), Kunal Sachdeva (Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business) and Varun Sharma (London Business School) for their paper “The Real Effects of Environmental Activist Investing.”
The winners study the real effects of environmental activist investing and set out to provide evidence-based research on whether typical tools used by investors to engage with firms could be used successfully for environmental activism.
Results found that targeted firms reduce their toxic releases, greenhouse gas emissions, and cancer-causing pollution. Overall, the study suggests that engagements are an effective tool for long-term shareholders to address climate change risks.
Source: https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2020/11/the-moskowitz-prize-moves-to-kellogg/
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