2021 Forecast, APAC Regulators, ESG ETF Records, and Arctic Oil
Start 2021 with 5 ESG insights you might have missed this week:
Here are 10 Ways Investors are Riding the Sustainability Wave into 2021-
ImpactAlpha lists 10 sustainability calls for 2021, investors are looking forward to a feast of opportunities, starting with pandemic relief and moving on to climate action, racial justice, inclusive prosperity and more.
1. Financial institutions are optimizing for sustainability, 2. Declining costs and cheap capital are propelling climate solutions to scale, 3. Climate competition is heating up, 4. Institutional and retail investors are shifting public markets toward ESG, 5. Tech leaders are on the hook for diversity investments, 6. Emerging-market companies are emerging as sustainability leaders, 7. Global development is going local, 8. Investors are recognizing that gender is material, 9. Accountability for impact could trip up some ESG darlings, and 10. As investors go ‘impact on,’ they are going to ImpactAlpha.
Source (Registration required): https://impactalpha.com/here-are-10-ways-investors-are-riding-the-sustainability-wave-into-2021
Regulators in Asia-Pacific Issue ESG Guidelines-
Both the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) have increased their focus on ESG by issuing guidelines on how Financial Institutions (FIs) could establish and implement the ESG framework effectively and how ESG risk management practices could be enhanced.
The MAS has recently published guidelines for banks on Environmental Risk Management, with an 18-month transition period. MAS plans to start engaging key banks on their implementation progress from Q2 of 2021.
The HKMA also published a white paper last year on Green and Sustainable Banking. The white paper outlined HKMA’s approach to promoting green and sustainable banking and their guiding principles for building climate resilience in the face of the impending impacts of climate change on Hong Kong’s banking industry.
Source: https://www.mas.gov.sg/-/media/MAS/Regulations-and-Financial-Stability/Regulations-Guidance-and-Licensing/Commercial-Banks/Regulations-Guidance-and-Licensing/Guidelines/Guidelines-on-Environmental-Risk---Banks/Guidelines-on-Environmental-Risk-Management-for-Banks.pdf & https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/key-functions/banking/banking-regulatory-and-supervisory-regime/green-and-sustainable-banking/
Farming Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis-
Project Drawdown analyses how changing land uses, agricultural practices, and food system offers numerous opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, sequester atmospheric carbon, and help address climate change.
The report provides valuable data and infographics to explain why reducing emissions and enhancing carbon sinks in pour food system address climate change.
"First, climate-altering CO2 emissions are released from land use practices, especially clearing forests and other landscapes to create new agricultural land. Second, humans release other greenhouse gases — not just carbon dioxide — that affect our climate. Most important of these are the emissions of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Methane emissions come largely from industry and agriculture, including from livestock and rice fields. And most of our nitrous oxide emissions also stem from agriculture, especially from fertilizers, manure, and burning crop residues".
Source: https://www.drawdown.org/
Fourth Quarter 2020 Sets New Records for Sustainable ETF Launches-
According to Sustainable Investing Research and Analysis, a record 18 new sustainable exchange-traded funds launched in the fourth quarter of last year (matching the total for the first nine months of the year).
Sale of Drilling Leases in Arctic Refuge Fails to Yield a Windfall-
Just half of the 22 available tracts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge got bids, and big oil companies stayed away.
In a blow to efforts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to fossil fuel development, only half of the oil and gas leases offered for sale Wednesday received bids, and all but two of those came from the state of Alaska itself.
Only two companies, neither of them major oil producers, made bids to acquire 10-year rights to explore and drill for oil on two tracts totaling about 75,000 acres. A state-owned economic development corporation, offering the minimum of $25 an acre, was the sole bidder on the other tracts, totaling about half a million acres. The rights to another 400,000 acres remained unsold.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/climate/arctic-refuge-drilling-lease-sales.html
One more thing: Also from Project Drawdown, an update of "The Drawdown Review". In April 2017, Project Drawdown released its inaugural body of work on climate solutions with the publication of the best-selling book Drawdown and a suite of open-source resources on Drawdown.org.
Find the latest update of the report here- https://www.drawdown.org/drawdown-review
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