June 2025 Newsletter
News & Commentaries by Ron Robins
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New June Podcasts:
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GIIN launches climate solutions investing framework. “The framework aims to align portfolios with decarbonisation, identifying investment strategies that focus on limiting global warming to 2°C while also delivering financial returns.”
[COMMENTARY] This might be a useful framework for some ethical and sustainable investors.
GIIN launches climate solutions investing framework, by Krystle Higgins, June 27, 2025, Imp[act Investor, UK.
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Trump DOL Withdraws Biden-Era ESG Rule and Crypto Guidance for ERISA Plans. “The May 28, 2025 letter said that the DOL will engage in a new rulemaking, which will appear on the DOL’s Spring Regulatory Agenda. No other details were provided. It remains to be seen whether the DOL will revert back to some variation of the ESG-skeptical/pecuniary-factors analysis that the Trump administration adopted in 2020 (or perhaps something even more explicitly antagonistic toward ESG).”
[COMMENTARY] So it still seems we are in a waiting period to see the full extent of the US Department of Labor’s ‘guidelines’ concerning fiduciaries’ handling of ESG-related assets.
Trump DOL Withdraws Biden-Era ESG Rule and Crypto Guidance for ERISA Plans, by Joshua Lichtenstein, Sharon Remmer, and Jonathan Reinstein, June 19, 2025, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, USA.
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Beyond the Corporate Culture Wars: How Companies Are Revolutionizing Decision-Making on Social Issues. “Companies are quietly recognizing a fundamental truth: business decisions and social considerations are no longer separable. From healthcare pricing to content moderation, from supply chain ethics to AI development, social dimensions are embedded in core operational choices. Rather than treating these as peripheral concerns, forward-thinking companies are investing significant resources to develop sophisticated frameworks for navigating these challenges systematically.”
[COMENTARY] The notion that social considerations are distinct from enhancing a company’s organizational and financial performance is likely inaccurate for leading corporate entities. It is noteworthy that this perspective is gaining prominence in contemporary discourse.
Beyond the Corporate Culture Wars: How Companies Are Revolutionizing Decision-Making on Social Issues, by Gadinis, June 25, 2025, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, USA.
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Banks reverse course and pour more money into fossil fuels. “Clean energy is poised to pull in double the financing as oil, gas and coal, but a new report shows that big banks, especially Canadian and U.S. entities, are still betting big on fossil fuels.”
[COMMENTARY] Banks are not driven by ethics. They are driven by profits — and political acceptability.
Banks reverse course and pour more money into fossil fuels, by Eugene Ellmen, June 19, 2025, Corporate Knights, Canada.
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Defense of Europe as a Responsible Investment. “The public’s stake in protection against war is conspicuously absent from guidance on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) parameters that have emerged in the capital market over the past two decades. Case in point: None of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, agreed in January 2016, addresses the right to secure borders or deterrence to war.”
[COMMENTARY] This article offers interesting insight and perspectives on this current subject, a significant dilemma for many investors.
Defense of Europe as a Responsible Investment, by Stephen M. Davis, June 16, 2025, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, USA.
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Exclusive: It’s not just DEI—corporate ESG initiatives are under threat in the Trump era and 80% of companies say they’re adjusting their policies. “But while the majority of companies are tweaking their ESG policies, only 6% report making significant changes. Instead, most are implementing minor (45%) or moderate (29%) adjustments, according to the report.”
[COMMENTARY] The reality is that companies are retaining most ESG initiatives. They know that many ESG factors improve operational performance and profitability!
Exclusive: It’s not just DEI—corporate ESG initiatives are under threat in the Trump era and 80% of companies say they’re adjusting their policies, by Sara Braun, May 29, 2025, FORTUNE, USA.
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Vast Majority of Investors Sticking with Sustainable Investing, But Quietly, BNP Paribas Survey Finds. Nearly nine out of ten institutional investors globally report that they are not changing their commitments to sustainable investing, despite geopolitical pressures, although many are being quieter about it, according to a new survey by financial group BNP Paribas.”
[COMMENTARY] There is a reason why the vast majority of institutional investors are sticking to sustainable investing. It’s that companies that hold dear to sustainable practices generally financially outperform those that don’t.
Vast Majority of Investors Sticking with Sustainable Investing, But Quietly, BNP Paribas Survey Finds, by Mark Segal, June 5, 2025, ESG Today, USA.
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How to Invest in Green Bonds. “Today, green bonds have a market value of around $2.9 trillion globally, up nearly sixfold since 2018, according to a March 2025 report in the Bank for International Settlements quarterly review.”
[COMMENTARY] If you haven’t considered buying green bonds for your portfolio, it’s probably wise to give it some thought. This article is a good primer on the subject.
How to Invest in Green Bonds, by
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Why sustainability data is as strategically important as financial data.“Sustainability information is no longer just a box to check; it is now a vital asset for enhancing agility, gaining a competitive advantage and building stakeholder trust.”
[COMMENTARY] Sustainability information is generally at the core of the most successful businesses. Check out the corporate rankings of the top companies lists or the biggest holdings of the largest funds.
Why sustainability data is as strategically important as financial data, by Jill Klindt and Mandi McReynolds, May 30, 2025, World Economic Forum, Switzerland.
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Featured Book
Note: Ron Robins is an Amazon Associate. He thus earns fees from qualifying book or merchandise purchases referred from this website.
Climate Capitalism: Winning the Race to Zero Emissions and Solving the Crisis of Our Age. “An important read for anyone in need of optimism about our ability to build a clean energy future.”—BILL GATES.
“Illuminating, incisive, and deeply reported.”—DAVID WALLACE-WELLS, New York Times-bestselling author of The Uninhabitable Earth.
For more information, visit Climate Capitalism: Winning the Race to Zero Emissions and Solving the Crisis of Our Age, by
