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    Women & Covid – Challenge or Opportunity?

    This year for March 8, International Women’s Day, the UN has chosen to focus on women, leadership in times of Covid-19. We asked a selected group of women in the Nordics and beyond to tell us how they experienced this ‘new normal’ and how they believe it has impacted gender equality.

    As it turns out, it’s not all bad after all!

    On this week’s gender equality theme, we covered a virtual event proposed by the Swedish House of Finance and Nasdaq on the theme of diversity. The Swedes on the panel seemed to agree that the image of the Nordics as a paragon of diversity is somewhat outdated and exaggerated. Our weekly ‘Snap‘ followed another virtual event that took place in Canada and stresses the importance of letting men into the ESG club.

    In the Nordic news, Arabesque Asset Management announced the appointment of Ulrika Hasselgren as the group’s new Head of Nordics as well as Head of Europe for Corporates and Sovereigns, with immediate effect. Länsförsäkringarannual “Sustainable fund performance of the year” competition is now open for votesCarnegie, Spiltan, DNB, East Capital, Länsförsäkringar, Robeco and Wellington manage the shortlisted listed funds.

    NordSIP caught up with Emilie Westholm, Head of Responsible Investments at Folksam, which partners with Ilmarinenand PFA to engage with Nordic companies. This year, the focus is on local water management.

    Elsewhere, according to research conducted by Robeco’s  Wilma de Groot and Jan de Koning, together with Sebastian van Winkel of the Erasmus School of Economics, asset managers continue to predominantly vote against social and environmental proposals. Even PRI signatories appear not to be supporting ESG proposals when the time comes to vote at AGMs.

    Also in the news this week: Impact Cubed study warns against ESG funds’ negative impactTrønderEnergi enters green bond market, CME Group  launches emissions offset futures marketplaceClimate Action 100+ focuses on GHG laggards,  Qontigo finds Chinese ESG partner and Schroders wins most innovative ESG Product Award.

    Picture by twenty20photos 

    Aline Reichenberg Gustafsson, CFA
    Aline Reichenberg Gustafsson, CFA
    Aline Reichenberg Gustafsson, CFA is Editor-in-Chief for NordSIP and Managing Director for Big Green Tree Media. She has 18 years of experience in the asset management industry in Stockholm, London and Geneva, including as a long/short equity hedge fund portfolio manager, and buy-side analyst, but also as CFO and COO in several asset management firms. Aline holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a License in Economic Sciences from the University of Geneva.

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