Impact investing can align with fiduciary duty
A frequent debate is the one around impact investing and fiduciary duty. More specifically, does impact focused investing deliver financial returns that are similar to those of a meaningful benchmark? A recent Pensions for Purpose report helps with this question. At the risk of ruining the surprise - listed global
Green buildings offer good financial value as well?
We know we need greener buildings, but the 'how' is often less clear. And we need to better understand the financial implications. A recent report from the engineering consultancy ARUP, for the World Building Council for Sustainable Development, highlighted the important role that making buildings greener will play
Politicians change their minds
If we are to make regulatory changes permanent, a greater focus is needed on the costs of sustainability related regulation. Yes, we understand the longer term benefits, but every change will create financial losers, and we need to get better at funding the transition periods.
Sunday Brunch: is failure on climate change really financially harmless ?
We talk a lot about climate models and how GHG emissions impact temperature, but not so much about climate damage function models. And yet this second set of models have a massive impact on financial decision making.
Is the real issue with nuclear different from what you think?
If you talk to most sustainability professionals about nuclear, the most common concern is safety (Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and perhaps most importantly Fukushima), followed by build cost (ie OL3 in Finland and others). But as well as these issues, should we also be thinking more about decommissioning costs? According
What caught our eye - three key stories: week 48.
EU reverses pesticide phase out; green buildings also offer financial gains; impact investing generates financial returns.
Why are we not cutting fossil fuel use?
A recent podcast from Rachel Donald (interviewing Ketan Joshi in an episode entitled Climate Delay and the Fossil Fuel industry) contained the following answer to the question - why is fossil fuel usage not falling? "The answer is complex, of course. One part, though, is that governments are the
Artisanal Mining – No Longer Invisible (a round up)
Artisanal mining deserves more attention. In the last of his series, Rob Karpati summarises why it's important, and the practical steps being taken to solve the challenges.
Sunday Brunch: can the real sustainable investor please stand up?
The big sustainability questions we all face suggest we need to move to a different relationship between the providers of capital (the asset owners), and the organisation's that invest it on their behalf. One based on a better alignment of interest.
New milk fridges could help farmers cut carbon and costs
Dairy farmers need to chill their milk to below 6oC within hours of carrying out milking. As we highlighted in a recent blog, there are some sustainability issues with fridges, freezers and chillers. Link to blog 👇🏾 Cooling food - regular, salty and constant volume.Modern fridges and freezers do a
Minimising cost overruns - part 3
Cost over runs not only destroy project economics, they also taint future similar projects with the cost 'blow out' brush. A technique known as Reference Classes can help, but we need to work together to make it useful.
The evolving role of a Chief Sustainability Officer
As a prospective CSO perhaps one of the first questions you should ask of your new employer is 'who will I report to'. The closer we are to the financial and strategy decision makers, the more influence we can have.