Breaking Rules, and Building New Regimes
NordSIP Insights breaks new ground: a unique report, drawing on expert deliberation, tackling what’s lacking in ESG analysis, differentiation in terms of action and analysis, and evaluating how to pass from soft theory to hard practice. Who provides these lessons? Denmark’s government, together with six of the country’s pension funds, launched the DKK 4.1 billion Danish SDG Investment Fund, which will invest primarily in sustainable projects in developing countries, and is forecast to attract a total of DKK 30 billion and a 10-12 per cent rate of return. In the meanwhile, all of Denmark’s pension funds are being challenged on the veracity of their sustainability efforts.
The European Commission announced a Technical Expert Group to follow up on its sustainable finance action plan announced earlier this year, which will include representatives from SEB and Nordea, marking two out of four of the positions in the group. The application process wasn’t easy. KLP, the largest life insurance company in Norway, excluded a further four companies from its investment portfolio, following its semi-annual Responsible Investment guideline review. Canadian Natural Resources, MEG Energy Corp and Athabasca Oil Corp, all Canadian oil and gas companies, were excluded on the basis of oil activities, while U.S. based Innophos Holdings was excluded for the acquisition of phosphate from Western Sahara.
Swiss investment boutique responsAbility launched a private debt fund focusing on sustainable agriculture in developing and emerging market countries to provide financing to sustainable companies, with the objective of improving the economic livelihoods of rural populations. The capital will be used for short-term export and working capital financing as well as medium-term investment financing. NordSIP’s own Jijgyi Zhang takes a look at the evolving ESG market in China. It’s both exploding and intransparent to foreign investors at the same time. What’s actually going on? (NordSIP)
Heard on E-Street
Ossiam, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers, hired Antonio Celeste as sales director and head of ESG business development. Celeste is a veteran of Sustainalytics, where he worked as EMEA institutional relations director (Investment Europe). Obvion Mortgages, a subsidiary of Rabobank, cited the green nature of its third green residential mortgage-backed securities issue as among the reasons a €550 million senior tranche achieved tight pricing against a widening backdrop (Sustainabonds)
Recommended Read
Author Paul Hackenos suggests how the Nordics seized global leadership on clean energy innovation through a combination of climate cognisance and an entrepreneurial long-term thinking and ambition to capture global markets for clean tech (CNN).
Question of the Week
On climate issues, what scares Donald Trump the most?
Famous Last Words
“Civilisation requires energy but energy use must not destroy civilisation… We know that the challenges facing us are interconnected… Our desire to ensure energy for all must not lead to the undesired effect of a spiral of extreme climate changes due to a catastrophic rise in global temperatures, harsher environments and increased levels of poverty” – Pope Francis, addressing top oil company executives at a closed-door conference in the Vatican and warning of a challenge of “epochal proportions” that can be met only by an ‘energy mix’ that combats pollution, eliminates poverty and promotes social justice (Reuters).
Well, that should suffice – for this moment. Happy weekend,
Your NordSIP team
