ESG

The $6.5 trillion US ETF industry boomed in 2022 as innovative product debuts and market volatility fueled a near-record number of launches. But the fanfare revealed a major flaw in the space: the lack of women helming the funds.

The asset management arm of BNP Paribas SA said using a different interpretation of “sustainable investment” than some of its peers has allowed it to keep the European Union’s top ESG tag attached to about $20 billion worth of funds.

Crypto is squarely in the cross hairs of Washington regulators, with fresh calls for stricter controls before the industry can get big enough to affect the broader financial system.

Implementing technology that comprehensively supports every business objective is about a consultative, hands-on relationship with the vendor.

As the world economy prepares for a true transition to decarbonization, interest in renewable energy has re-emerged as an important topic for investors. This interview features Rene Reyna, who is head of thematic and specialty product strategy for the ETFs and Indexed Strategies teams at Invesco.

The following article provides an important perspective on Gen Z’s entrance into the workforce.

At a recent climate-finance meeting attended by Wall Street giants including BlackRock Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., no one spoke until a lawyer had finished reading out a disclaimer stating the group was not a cartel.

As climate change moved higher on the Wall Street agenda, there had been fewer indications that financial giants took similar interest in the biodiversity crisis.

The US market for ESG-related products is less than half the size previously reported, according to the main umbrella organization for sustainable investing.

President Joe Biden’s administration outlined a new rule in October whereby the Department of Energy could buy oil for future delivery — most likely 2024 — at fixed prices to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Asset managers are trying to digest new regulatory proposals that have the potential to upend Europe’s biggest ESG fund category.

We’ve broken down nine of the best 529 plans.

As the debate heats up over ESG investing, fixed-income professionals say they need more data than what’s currently out there.

A rush of regulation and investor pressure is forcing companies to do a better job of tallying up the environmental impact of their operations and the products they sell. That’s stirring demand for software that helps businesses measure carbon emissions.

At Microsoft’s annual meeting on Dec. 13, shareholders will vote for the first time on whether to support an analysis of the climate risk posed by the company’s 401(k) retirement options.

If a crushing bear market, inflation-fueled volatility and slump in inflows was meant to cool the booming US exchange-traded fund industry, issuers never got the message.

Emerging-market central banks face a Catch-22 where plunging economic growth means they can’t keep monetary conditions tight, but elevated inflation doesn’t allow them to halt rate hikes either.

After months of planning and negotiations, the biggest tranche of sanctions on Russian oil to date are about to take effect -- how big their impact will remain uncertain.

The asset management unit of BNP Paribas SA is stripping Europe’s top ESG designation from $16 billion worth of funds, adding to a tidal wave of reclassifications that the industry is blaming on unclear rules amid growing signs of anger from investors.

Ethical debt deals are set to become the majority in Europe’s market for corporate loans for the first time next year.

The top bosses of US oil and gas companies are speaking less and less about climate and carbon emissions, a signal that the industry’s public focus on ESG over the past couple of years may be fading.

A lack of reliable ESG data in emerging markets is proving a boon for some of the heavyweights of global finance.

Amundi SA is removing the European Union’s highest ESG designation from virtually all funds that once carried it, as it joins a growing list of investment firms that have been wrong-footed by a change in regulatory guidelines in the bloc.

In the race to build a North American hub to support the electric-vehicle industry and challenge China’s dominance, one tiny Quebec community is charging ahead.

Socially responsible firms pay more for the external audits of their financial statements, thereby lowering risks to investors. But those lower risks also mean lower returns for investors.

The amount of time between aircraft as they land at Toronto Pearson International Airport might seem prosaic to the untrained eye, but there’s a lot more going on than pilots negotiating the gentle return to earth of hundreds of tons of metal.

Financial market participants are asking for more regulations and better supervision to help rein in exaggerated ESG claims.

It’s official: the supply chain for electric vehicle batteries is coming to America.

Elaine Weir’s home doesn’t sit on a volcano. Nor is it surrounded by natural geysers. But that hasn’t stopped the 69-year-old retiree in Scarsdale, New York from heating her house with geothermal energy.

The US, Japan and other countries will offer a climate finance deal worth as much as $20 billion to help Indonesia shift its coal-dominated power grid away from the polluting fossil fuel.

There is a long history that proves ESG’s viability and more than 2,000 empirical studies that show little absolute difference in performance by adopting it as a criterion for analysis.

JPMorgan Asset Management, Invesco Ltd. and Dimensional Fund Advisors are among large money managers pushing back against proposals by US regulators to crack down on misleading fund names.

Europe’s top ESG fund class may be close to reaching a tipping point.

How could the poor world in the global south become as rich as the rich nations of the north?

Aligning your stated values and your spending (a core tenet of ESG investing) is something I encourage as part of financial wellness. But it isn’t always easy to do.

Few would disagree that the period from 1870-2010 saw immense technological advancements that improved our quality of life. But, according to Bradford DeLong, far fewer advances lie ahead, and societies should adapt by “slouching” away from a free-market system. He’s wrong on both counts.

So-called low-volatility portfolios are an apparent anomaly – they appear to offer higher returns with less risk (volatility). New research shows that they are indeed uncorrelated to sources of macroeconomic risk. But their popularity has driven up valuations, dampening the prospects for future returns.

Assets have flowed mightily into ESG funds, and new research shows that many corporations have changed their behavior, with benefits accruing to society at large.

Brent oil has dropped more than 30% from this year’s high, but you wouldn’t know it if you live in Paris, Mumbai or Accra.

Efforts to stockpile fuel mean Europe and Asia are approaching winter with healthy inventories as governments seek to counter shrinking supplies from Russia.

Here are a few ideas to find the perfect gift to show you care.

Some of the world’s biggest financial firms including BlackRock Inc. and Vanguard Group Inc. have told the UK they have no plans to halt the financing of new fossil-fuel supplies, in response to a list of questions sent by British lawmakers tasked with figuring out how the country can meet its own net-zero obligations.

Bank of America has positioned itself as one of the leading lenders in the green credit space, while peer Goldman Sachs is facing questions from the Securities and Exchange Commission over greenwashing claims.

For some bankers, net-zero is like a new year’s resolution—a pledge one makes and often breaks before a year has passed.

A well-established problem facing investors with an environmental, social and governance (ESG) mandate is the wide divergence of ratings assigned to companies by different vendors. New research shows that those stocks with the greatest divergence had higher performance.

The world’s largest beef producer joined a chorus of Cassandras this week signaling the end of alternative meats.

Democracy is under attack, yet many Americans fail to see the threat, according to Seth Klarman. Leadership must come from the business community to respond to this challenge.