Amid public sector initiatives to reach the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there has been a sharp growth in investors’ use of ESG approaches, including the incorporation of climate transition factors into investment decisions. In turn, ESG investing has become a leading form of sustainable finance for long-term value and alignment with societal values, and has evolved from its early stages of development to mainstream investing in a number of OECD jurisdictions. The environmental ‘E’ pillar score of ESG rating is being increasingly used as a tool to align investments with a low-carbon transition, and could in principle help unlock valuable forward-looking information on firms’ climate transition risks and opportunitie...

 South Korea was one of the first countries in the region to introduce legislation to clamp down on greenwashing (Photo: Leungchopan/Envato) A new task force is being created to develop ESG fund disclosure standards and prevent greenwashing in South Korea’s securities market.South Korea’s integrated financial regulator, the Financial Supervisory Service, has launched a capital market task force to devise new environmental, social and governance fund disclosure standards.The body, which was unveiled on April 11, aims to develop a framework for ESG investment targets and strategies and create benchmarks associated with fund manager capabilities and conduct. The task force comprises seven Korean asset management groups, selected according to the volume of ESG fund...

While blockchain initiatives are still at an early stage of development across most sectors, Morningstar Sustainalytics has developed a framework to help identify companies that are well positioned to integrate this technology into their ESG strategies, in its thematic research report entitled “An ESG Lens on Blockchain and Public Equities.”The research created a model fund of funds (FOF) based on 10 blockchain-themed ETFs and compare its ESG risk profile with that of a global equities index.

Christian DiClementi: Patrick, many investors say that ESG—environmental, social and governance—concerns, are too specialized, too difficult to quantify, especially in emerging markets. What’s AllianceBernstein’s view?Patrick O’Connell: We do feel that ESG risks are difficult to quantify, but all investing is a difficult activity. We think that ESG considerations can be done in emerging markets through the opacity in the sector by using a 360-degree view. Talking and engaging with multiple stakeholders, creating a very holistic viewpoint and then quantifying that very challenging ESG information using a proprietary framework. Even though ESG has only become topical recently, we’ve got a track record of doing this for the last six years.

Pension funds should face legal obligations to bring their investments in line with the net zero greenhouse gas emissions goal, the film-maker Richard Curtis has said.Curtis, a co-founder of the Make My Money Matter campaigning group, urged ministers to follow up the UK’s legal commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050 by making it mandatory for pension schemes to align their portfolios with the target.