This year procured much material for our columns, the Snap and the Laundromat, dedicated to debunking funky claims and exposing ambiguous situations. In January already, whiffs of greenwashing announced the colour of the months to come, as we discovered with discomfort that Sultan Al Jaber would be the COP28’s president, while the WEF‘s top 4 risks came out all green. Also in Davos, Von der Leyen presented the EU’s response to the US’s Inflation Reduction Act, while climate activist were being dragged away by police for trying to stop the expansion of a coal mine in Germany. Three European Supervisory Authorities, meanwhile, prepared the groundwork for anti-greenwashing measures.
Just as January dawned into February, damning allegations started piling up on some of the most prominent players in the carbon credit market. At the same time, the controversial fund raising of the Adani Enterprises raised questions about the trustworthiness of some self-proclaimed sustainable investors. ESG officially became acronymus non gratus in the US, a sign that exclusions and engagement have become sufficiently effective to bother those who prefer the status quo. And in part as a reaction to the backlash on sustainable strategies, NordSIP examined the financial performance of SFDR Article 9 funds in the Nordics, starting with 2022.
March started with a positive vibe at the edie conference in London, followed by the downfall of Silicon Valley Bank which would engender a series of shakedowns at Swedish pension insurer Alecta. This was also the month of the x-rated move by Ethical Capital Partners who bought Mindgeek, the owners of Pornhub. The Laundromat then attended (virtually) the Priority Summit in Miami, which tagline read “A Roadmap for Humanity in Challenging Times”.
April saw insurers exit their Net-Zero Alliance and the EU pass a number of important legislations including the EU’s Emissions Trading System, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and a new Social Climate Fund. May marked a milestone in the NordSIP team’s life as we started publishing our weekly podcast, the ESGPresso! In Florida, meanwhile, ESG became not only non gratus but illegal and, in France, the tables turned on activists increasingly seen in the court room, as TotalEnergies sued Greenpeace. In Hiroshima, the G7 backtracked on coal and gas commitments.
In June, our minds were tragically distracted by the faith of the Titan sub crew, while another ocean-related drama unfolded, with the Norwegian’s plan to open waters for deep-sea mining. And plastic talks in Paris were mired in controversy. July was hot and saw the passing of a watered-down version of the Nature Conservation Law, unfortunately. At the beginning of August, the EU adopted the first set of European Sustainability Reporting Standards, a key to CSRD. Climate Action 100+, meanwhile, announced a re-launch. And the EU Commission adopted a set of rules to govern the implementation of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
In September, we kicked off a busy conference season with the Global Fund Search Symposium in Copenhagen. The Stockholm Resilience Centre updated its planetary boundary framework and measurements. And during New York’s Climate Week, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) published its conclusions. The first week of October attracted sustainability experts to Tokyo for the PRI in Person and impact aficionados to Copenhagen for the GIIN 2023 Impact Forum. And in Sweden, controversy surrounded Professor John Hassler‘s proposal for the future of the country’s climate policy.
In November, the PRI, the CFA Institute and the GSIA came together to finally agree on some common definitions for responsible investment approaches. The end of the month saw the beginning of the long-awaited and highly-criticised COP28 preceded by a few alarming reports on climate including the UNEP‘s and the IEA‘s. In December, the year ended in a certain COP-related greenwashing fatigue distilled in by the Laundromat in a game of weasel words. The COP did end with an agreement. In Sweden, as the bells of Christmas rang, Tesla was still confronted by the union’s discontent and the increasing pressure from Nordic pension funds.
All in all, 2023 was been a challenging year for ESG but also for sustainable investors’ short-term performance. As plenty of studies have shown and organisations have warned, climate is heating up. While there might still be time to curb the change, climate actions have undeniably slowed down. Thank goodness, there is always another year!
Happy 2024!
