Verity Snow

Climate is on the agenda this week as investors in catastrophe bonds gird themselves for substantial losses following Hurricane Milton. As COP29 approaches, business leaders rally for support ahead of this year’s conference, despite many global companies backtracking on climate commitments.

Many of the technologies needed to decarbonise industry already exist says McKinsey. If they were deployed at scale, they could reduce up to 90% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Difficulties in defining carbon credits could hinder their rollout, as lawyers push for a legal definition to be agreed.

California files a lawsuit against ExxonMobil, making it the first major state to hold an oil major accountable for plastic pollution. As Climate Week in New York draws to a close, conversations at this year’s event were tainted by growing sentiment that current net zero goals are near impossible to achieve.

ESG as it stands will not combat climate change, reported the FT this week. Researchers suggested a new approach that places execution - not intention - at its core. Meanwhile, industry leaders reiterate they will only consider energy transition investments if profitable.

This week it emerged that Morgan Stanley had quietly shelved a central pillar of its sustainability strategy, and more scandals are uncovered in the carbon credit market as more projects are shown to have exaggerated green claims. Elsewhere, left-leaning activists are wringing their hands over the slide in corporate efforts to tackle ESG issues.

This week’s top ESG story was the lawsuit filed against Texas officials over the state’s anti-ESG legislation introduced in recent years. Elsewhere, EU sustainable investment funds have more than doubled their defence holdings since the start of the Ukraine war while increasing climate-related disaster costs are forcing insurers to take on more risk.

Fund managers are increasingly including oil, gas, and mining stocks in ESG portfolios, reflecting a broader ESG strategy rethink. Meanwhile, biodiversity-focused financial strategies are lagging behind those focussed on cutting greenhouse gas emissions and impact investment is once again under the spotlight as investors are encouraged to rethink their expectations.

This week more concerns were raised about the use of carbon credits by big tech as a decarbonisation strategy. As climate standards expand, sectors such as oil and gas and tech have come under fire for swerving climate commitments. Elsewhere, Blackrock’s support for proposals on environmental and social issues fell considerably this year to just 4%.

New legislation for ESG ratings agencies has been announced by the Chancellor in a bid to curb greenwashing within the sustainable investment sector. In the US, Goldman Sachs Asset Management becomes the latest to walk away from the world’s biggest climate alliance for investors, illustrating the continued and growing anti-ESG movement currently sweeping the States.