May 2020 Newsletter
News & Commentaries by Ron Robins
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Latest Podcasts:
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Latest Podcast: Pandemic…s ESG Stock Market Leaders “ESG Stock Market Leaders in pandemic. See the individual stocks and ETFs! Singapore…s pandemic success offers potential sustainable investing profits. Energy stocks to buy? McCormick & Company and Northland Power are ESG stocks that benefit whilst pandemic continues, says Tim Nash. Analyst recommendations from Zacks, The Motley Fool, InvestorPlace, Singapore Business, Corporate Knights and ccmarkets.”
By Ron Robins
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Just How Good An Investment Is Renewable Energy? New Study Reveals All. “Renewable energy investments are delivering massively better returns than fossil fuels in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe, but despite this the total volume of investment is still nowhere near that required to mitigate climate change.
Those are some of the findings of new research released today by Imperial College London and the International Energy Agency, which analyzed stock market data to determine the rate of return on energy investments over a five- and 10-year period.”
[COMMENTARY] As the prices of renewable energy continue to fall, many renewable energy producers could continue to outperform their fossil fuel competitors.
Just How Good An Investment Is Renewable Energy? New Study Reveals All, by David Vetter, May 28, 2020, Forbes, USA.
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It’s time for our financial statements to reflect the vital value of nature. “Most companies are in the dark when it comes to accounting for their impacts and dependencies on the environment, and investors struggle to compare what little disclosure there is in a meaningful way.”
[COMMENTARY] In due course, all companies will have to account for their use and depletion of natural capital in their financial statements. How can the costs of natural capital be agreeably designated if there aren’t markets to determine them?
It’s time for our financial statements to reflect the vital value of nature, May 22, 2020, Corporate Knights. Canada.
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S&P Launches ESG Scores Based on 20 Years of Corporate Sustainability Data. “S&P Global has announced the launch of its S&P Global environmental, social, and governance (ESG) Scores with coverage of more than 7,300 companies, representing 95% of global market capitalization.”
[COMMENTARY] The competition in ESG ratings continues to heat up — thus mirroring the global interest in ESG!
S&P Launches ESG Scores Based on 20 Years of Corporate Sustainability Data, by Emily Holbrook, May 18, 2020, Environmental Leader, USA.
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‘Generic and hugely mismatched’: why ESG data remains insufficient. “[Peregrine Communications] research, which is entitled ‘Making a Difference, Marketing a Difference’, found a 67% global increase in ESG-related content from asset managers across top national media in the last 12 months. However, 34% of topics disproportionately focus on generic topics.”
[COMMENTARY] Company reports need to get to the specifics that are material to their company when providing investor ESG information! Too many companies think they can take the easy route by talking in generalities, which incidentally, usually adds nothing to their stock values.
‘Generic and hugely mismatched’: why ESG data remains insufficient, by Victoire Barbin Perron, May 12, 2020, Citywire Selector, UK.
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Revealed: the top ESG funds and managers from around the globe. “Citywire research discovered that ESG mirrors of existing funds outperformed their peers during the worst of the March market downturn and the momentum for sustainability-minded funds remains strong. Citywire Selector looked more closely at the strategies of outperforming funds considered sustainable by Morningstar last month, with many offering a tech leaning or an emphasis on specific sub-sectors of the market.”
[COMMENTARY] This is a good review that most ethical and sustainable investors will want to read.
Revealed: the top ESG funds and managers from around the globe, by Citywire, May 12, 2020, UK.
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T. Rowe Price Report Says ESG Disclosure Issues was #1 Topic Among Worldwide Companies in 2019. “The company said that the rising risks associated with climate change will impact virtually its entire universe of portfolio holdings to varying degrees. Because of this, climate change alongside other ESG factors is being increasingly factored into analysts’ evaluation of company fundamentals.”
[COMMENTARY] Many analysts also believe that the COVID-19 pandemic is making companies even more aware of the climate and environmental issues.
T. Rowe Price Report Says ESG Disclosure Issues was #1 Topic Among Worldwide Companies in 2019, by Emily Holbrook, May 11, 2020, Environmental Leader, USA.
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Featured Book
Investing for Good: Increasing your personal well-being while changing the world, by Mark Mobius, Carlos von Hardenberg, and Greg Konieczny. Bloomsbury Business 2019.
“But how do individuals–rather than institutional investors–invest using ESG criteria? And just how complex are the procedures? This new book, written by investment guru Mark Mobius and his expert team, is full of entertaining and informative anecdotes from the authors… day-to-day experiences in the world of sustainable investment.”
