The European Commission took a major step towards including investments in gas and nuclear-based energy in the list of sustainable activities under the new EU taxonomy classification system, with the publication and presentation today of a Taxonomy Complementary Climate Delegated Act proposing criteria and disclosure rules for their inclusion.The EU Taxonomy is part of the EU Action Plan on Sustainable Finance, established by the EU Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (EU TEG). The taxonomy is a classification system enabling the categorization of economic activities that play key roles in contributing to at least one of six defined environmental objectives, starting with climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation, and no significant harm done to the other objectives...

Jamie McDonald: Arne, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us this afternoon.Arne Staal: Of course. Thanks for spending the time with me.Jamie: The main issue I want to chat with you about is really around how the world of finance can affect the world of the environment and climate change. And with the rise of passive investing, are indices now playing the most important role when it comes to affecting ESG and issues in and around climate change?Arne: There is so much that needs to happen through finance to support sustainability and climate goals in particular. Financial markets have a huge role to play there because this is all about reallocating capital to support a transition to a much lower carbon economy globally, not just for individual countries. A...

The recently launched Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) announced a series of organizations that are participating as knowledge partners supporting its initiative to develop an integrated risk management and disclosure framework for nature-related risks.The multi-disciplinary knowledge partner group encompasses a broad range of leading international sustainability-focused standard-setting, corporate reporting, and sustainable finance organizations, including: Agence Française de Développement (AFD), CDP, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), the SASB Standards Research Team, the Science Based Targets Networ...

State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), one of the world’s largest investment managers, announced the focus areas for its asset stewardship program for 2022, with climate change and diversity issues at the top of its priority list. In a letter to portfolio company CEOs, SSGA President and CEO Cyrus Taraporevala details outlined the investment manager’s expectations for boards on these issues, along with the firm’s expected engagement approach for the upcoming year. 

Global news and business information provider Dow Jones announced today the launch of its sustainability data, including sustainability scores and sentiment on thousands of publicly traded companies, aimed at enabling investors and asset managers to understand company ESG performance and impact, and make sustainable investment decisions.Components of the new data set include ESG scores and sentiment for over 6,000 companies rated across 26 sustainability categories, along with industry, category and country scoring. The scoring model is aligned with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards, and uses a uniquely news-driven methodology, combining company-disclosed data with news from thousands of global sources.