Tokyo (NordSIP) – “My favourite session so far was the one organised by PRI Academic Network on Climate Risk and Investing,” says Viktoria Voskressenskaia, sustainability analyst at Öhman Fonder. “Their research indicates that the most popular sustainability strategy today – investing in green firms and divesting from or underweighting brown ones – might be counterproductive. Raising the companies’ cost of capital pushes them to continue brown production that generates cash now rather than investing in costly green production. We need to challenge our sustainability strategies. If we want brown firms to care about the future, we can’t continue raising their discount rates.”
Her colleague, Erik Durhan, Head of Corporate Governance and Sustainability at Öhman Fonder, shares his impressions from another break-out session focusing on collaborative engagements and the potential anti-trust implications in the current political environment in the US.. “It’s imperative that collaborative engagements on sustainability issues are not hindered by politically motivated counteraction,” says Durhan.
