Climate Week 2019

Investment managers are coming under increasing pressure to measure environmental, social and governance criteria in their portfolios. In recent days, a large number of banks, pension funds and insurers have committed to promoting climate-friendly investment at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York. But a lack of data is making it hard for banks to assess long-term risks and rewards, putting a brake on the market.

AI, whereby computers perform tasks traditionally done by humans, will act as a catalyst for sustainable investment because it will filter essential data that investors currently lack, according to the CEO of one ESG data and analytics firm.

Despite the fact that the US government pulled out of the 2015 Paris Agreement, the organizers of the UN event credited, in part, US corporations with taking the threats of climate change "seriously" and see assertions by US utilities that they are actively pursuing zero carbon emission programs into the future, as a justification for holding the summit.

An EU classification system for sustainable investments will reduce confusion in the rapidly growing sustainability industry and will likely be adopted on a global scale, according to the head of a United Nations investor network.

A push from some U.S. lawmakers and presidential candidates to transition the U.S. entirely to renewable or zero-emission electric power poses a bigger challenge for some states than others. But proposals in Congress for utilities to gradually raise sales from renewable or carbon-free sources may offer a more measured path for states to boost clean generation, supporters say.

Trading tags guaranteeing renewable or low-carbon properties could be a key way to secure the EU gas industry’s long-term future in a decarbonized energy system.

The EU will soon consider enshrining a 2050 netzero emissions goal into law, after the European Commission’s president-elect, Ursula von der Leyen, promised to propose this by early 2020.

A net-zero commitment is a step up from the current EU goal to cut emissions by at least 80% on 1990 levels. Von der Leyen promised to focus on decarbonizing energy demand from transport and buildings – both sectors where renewable and decarbonized gases could contribute to emission cuts.

In July 2018, an energy lobbyist emailed three New Mexico state lawmakers to urge them not to give utility companies a free pass to recoup their investments in abandoned coal-fired power plants.

Environmentalists were drafting a bill to shield utility shareholders from the cost of closing coal plants in the state, and Bruce Throne, a lawyer and, at the time, a lobbyist for power producer Southwest Generation Operating Company LLC, warned that ratepayers could pay a steep price if regulators were stripped of their authority to "balance the interests of [utility] customers and investors." Unswayed, lawmakers cleared the way for utilities to recover their coal investments by selling bonds that are paid off by ratepayers, a process known as securitization.

At least 28 countries have seen lawsuits relating to climate change action as campaigners and investors try to force states to step up their battle against global warming and put pressure on big corporate greenhouse gas emitters, new research shows.

Climate-related litigation continued to expand across the globe over the past year, including in Europe, although more than three-quarters of the more than 1,300 cases recorded since 1990 have been filed in the United States, according to an analysis by researchers at the London School of Economics and Political Science, or LSE.

The green bond market will get a boost from new EU proposals to set standards for the fledgling debt instrument, but do not expect a sudden flurry of issuances just yet.

The proposed EU Green Bond Standard aims to provide investors with a framework for issuing green bonds — debt that finances environmentally friendly projects such as wind farms or solar power — and could make the market more mainstream, experts say.