David Vickers’ Post

When it comes to implementation of nature-related disclosures for pension funds, it is a question of ‘when’, not ‘if’. There are lessons to be learned with implementing TNFD reporting. The first is to lean on the experience from TCFD. More importantly, however, is the discussions we are hearing trustee boards having today. They want to go further, faster, and deploy their capital in a meaningful way that ensures their members are retiring into a world worth living in. I’ve seen so many new ideas, developments and innovations in the past few months. If you’re not already having these conversations, you soon will – so why not start today? Read my full article in InvestESG https://lnkd.in/evNXQYbR #ESG #climate #nature #naturalcapital #investing mallowstreet

It's encouraging to see the President & CEO of University Pension Plan Ontario advocate strongly and publicly for globally-aligned sustainability disclosure standards to guide the way companies disclose their climate-related risks and opportunities. If pension funds want better policies and standards to manage climate-related financial risks, they have to push back against the polluters and industry associations fighting tooth and nail to undermine climate policy and delay the energy transition. Canada's largest pension funds are world-leading and influential, but there's no retirement security for their members without a safe climate to retire into. We need more of this from our public pension managers. https://lnkd.in/gua9FDmD

Calstrs is only one of the many #institutionalinvestors and #assetowners to be tripped up by #Carbon #Footprint based on the #FCE (The #Financed #Carbon #Emissions) calculations, which provide a mechanism for attributing the overall #GHG emissions of a company "financed" by the investor - the issue is the undue reliance on the share price values or #enterprisevalue including cash (#EVIC) as a means of ownership and attribution of #emissions (and other #esg attributes). As emission figures provided might be as of a different date (or reporting period) from the (generally Year end) calculation of ownership, market volatility can cause material differences in results. And this is just public corporates, #privateequity, #privatedebt, #infrastructure and #realasset investments have even bigger issues in terms of availability of #climate and #ESG #metrics. A standardised regulatory approach (from the #SEC, #FCA, #ESMA and other regulators) for such #emissions/esg disclosures for public and private companies (and #sovereigns), would greatly help in reducing uncertainty and errors in #assetmanager and #assetowner ESG disclosures. #TCFD #SFDR #USESG #sustainability Pico Analytics Emily Robinson Kate Martin

Measuring how much climate harm financial institutions enable This is a great read from Josephine Cumbo on how experts eg. at John Greenwood 's Corporate Adviser are scrutinising the actual performance of financial institutions on how much climate harm they finance. As we said in our report 'The Devil is in the policy detail', we need hard foundational data on the carbon footprint in portfolios to allow for truly objective, independent ratings. https://lnkd.in/erxdR6rs That is the only real way to assess financial institutional behaviours including progress against targets. The current approach is dominated by narrative reporting on transition plans and 'stewardship' and subjective assessments. This just allows financial institutions to deflect attention away from their actual performance now. Ratings agencies are unregulated and reference benchmarks use inconsistent which means firms can shop around for 'validation'. Worryingly, the FCA's sustainable investment label regime will not enable objective ratings of investment managers' performance. It is a voluntary regime and for those funds that do use a label it is to all intents and purposes a self-regulatory system. The FCA's regime actually risks providing 'official' validation of greenwashing. See: https://lnkd.in/ectcqVNU #ESG #climatefinance #financialregulation #greenwashing

🌿 Calstrs' Carbon Crunch: The Case for Standardized Timestamping 🌿 Calstrs, the California Teachers Retirement Fund, overseeing a $331 billion portfolio, has delayed its 2023 climate report to 2025 due to significant data inconsistencies in their carbon calculations. This highlights a pivotal challenge across the finance sector: the critical need for standardized, reliable emissions data. 🕒 A key challenge? Standardized timestamping. Aligning data reporting times can prevent the mismatches that skewed Calstrs’ carbon figures, ensuring more accurate sustainability assessments. 🌐 Without reliable data timestamps, the transparency needed to make the carbon economy credible will remain on shaky ground. 💡 How can standardized practices enhance transparency and trust in environmental reporting? https://lnkd.in/e_hab_wC

Ten of Canada’s largest pension funds have written a joint letter formally expressing their support for Canadian climate and sustainability disclosure standards to align with the global baseline standard. Alberta’s public pension fund manager, Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), was conspicuously absent from the list of signatories. The letter shows that these ten funds fully understand that disclosure of scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions is “critical for investors to understand an entity’s exposure to climate-related risks and opportunities within its value chain,” that “entities taking steps to disclose and reduce their Scope 3 emissions provide evidence of transition risk management to investors,” and that “disclosures of Scope 3 emissions can also help companies prioritize emission reduction strategies, encourage product innovation, and identify leaders and laggards in their value chain.” (Despite this acknowledgement, letter signatory CPP Investments | Investissements RPC, along with laggard AIMCo, voted against a shareholder resolution in May calling on Enbridge to fully disclose its scope 3 emissions.) Our pension funds can and must engage on strengthening climate policy, including disclosure standards, as part of their own climate obligations, and to ensure Canada keeps up with the rest of the world as the energy transition accelerates. But let’s not stop at basic disclosure standards. We also need pension funds’ influential voices to support (1) a Paris-aligned emissions cap for Canada’s oil and gas sector, (2) strengthened methane regulations, and (3) a credible sustainable finance taxonomy that rules out fossil fuel financing as part of a “transition” label.

Yesterday's Fall Economic Statement included several noteworthy updates in the world of sustainable finance, climate change and pensions, including: -Canada's green and transition finance taxonomy -Climate risk disclosure by private companies -The $15-billion Canada Growth Fund, managed by PSP Investments -Carbon contracts for difference -Canadian pension fund investment in Canada -Governance of the Public Sector Pension Investment Board Read our media statement for our updates and analysis. #cdnpoli #sustainablefinance #pensions #climaterisk

EU regulators call for increased action to address growing greenwashing risk in financial sector European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) European Banking Authority (EBA) European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) #greenwashing #sustainablefinance #greenclaims #banks #sustainability

European regulators are calling for increased supervisory actions and improved access to data to tackle growing greenwashing risks in banks, investment firms, and insurance companies, according to final reports by the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs). Check out ESG Today's take on the matter! 📚 #ESG #Greenwashing

Prudent words from CalSTRS regarding its approach to #carbonaccounting of its $366B portfolio noting the issue with discrepancies in data from different data providers. The pension fund determined not to rush into disclosure given concerns with #datareliability and #Scope3measurement. Notably CalSTRS will use #absoluteemissions and decided against normalizing emissions to market value. The fund is considering using normalization to revenue instead. https://lnkd.in/efmGXy42