As we look back at the year that just passed, we can’t help but admit that the Snap column’s prediction came true. We were surprised: sometimes positively, sometimes less. But journalism doesn’t thrive on good news. January provided us with an opportunity to question the choices of Sweden’s AP7, which considers itself a universal owner and thereby favours engagement over divestments. A big question mark hovered over its holing in Saudi Aramco, where active ownership seems to have a negligible effect. A little further north, fossil-free steel was also under fire. Then in Davos, global risks were revealed and investors embraced the new TNFD.
In February, we entered the year of the dragon, while the UNEP FI gathered experts and urged financial institutions to sign a common statement calling for an end to plastic pollution. A related report published the same month uncovered the fraud of plastic recycling. March saw the bankruptcy of the much hyped textile recycling company Re:NewCell. The EU also finally tackled a new piece of regulation regarding packaging and waste.
In April, we questioned the sustainability of SHEIN and its impending IPO and meat company JBS was sued by New York’s attorney general for misleading consumers. The European Parliament also finally approved the long-awaited and delayed CSDDD. Ahead of the AGM season in May, initiatives abounded on climate (NBIM on Exxon for instance) and social concerns (Nordic investors joined others on Amazon employees’ unionisation rights).
AP7 finally divested from Saudi Aramco in June. And the same month, the EU approved the new Nature Restauration Law and the European Supervisory Authorities published their final report on green washing. In July, Swedes gathered at the traditional political rally in Gotland where they talked about climate transition, among other things and we noticed another recycling-related bankruptcy, albeit a small one. And with a few months to spare, the Laundromat started to get seriously annoyed by the upcoming COP29 hypocrisy. August, meanwhile, saw the PRI launch its new strategy. And while all hopes weren’t lost yet at Northvolt, the Snap took a detour by Skellefteå and imagined a noir scenario.
Like every year after summer, NY climate week took place in September. And back in Stockholm, a court sentenced former Swedbank CEO Birgitte Bonnesen to 15 months jail time for providing misleading answers during a money laundering enquiry. We also attended Global Fund Search’s conference in Copenhagen not without surprises. October was full of conferences and travel, even for our humble team, as we attended the PRI in Person in Toronto and the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) Forum in Amsterdam. The COP16 on biodiversity, which we attended virtually, took place in Colombia.
In November, two more conferences kept us busy: the COP29 which ended in a near fiasco as well as the INC-5 which struggled to finalise a the long-awaited plastic treaty. And as the holidays approached, the EU wanted to provide us with a reason to cheer perhaps by offering a glimpse at the upcoming changes in fund classifications. In our columns we continued to ask hard questions such as whether to kill or not to kill ESG or to take big or small steps to save the planet, but we reserved the best for last with farting cows and naked ducks.
