On Wednesday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a regulation to establish standardized requirements for funds marketed as featuring environmental, social, and governance (ESG) characteristics.
Texas Passes Anti-ESG Law in Sign of Changing Times
So Begins the Era of ESG Regulation
Report Finds BlackRock Still Deeply Invested in Coal, Sustainability Push "Superficial"
In its recent report One Year On: BlackRock still addicted to fossil fuels, French sustainable finance organization Reclaim Finance details how American financial giant BlackRock’s public declaration to make sustainability its new investing standard has, one year later, yielded only “half-hearted” and “superficial” results.
Australian Pension Fund Avoids Trial, Settles Climate Risk Lawsuit
As part of the settlement, the fund will “ensure that investment managers take active steps to consider, measure and manage financial risks posed by climate change and other relevant ESG risks…[and disclose] to members...those risks, as well as the systems, policies and procedures...to address those risks.” The fund will also commit to achieving a net zero carbon footprint by 2050.
US Dept. of Labor Proposes Rules to Hinder ESG Investment
On June 23, 2020, the US Department of Labor proposed regulations to prohibit private industry pension plans, governed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), from investing in ESG investment vehicles if doing so would prioritize non-financial objectives over purely financial ones (i.e., increasing returns for plan beneficiaries).