April 2021 Newsletter
News & Commentaries by Ron Robins
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Latest Podcasts:
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Latest Podcast: Alternative Energy Picks and Surprises. Plus… “Alternative Energy Picks and Surprises. Plus… Equinor, Covanta Holdings, Evergy, Ocean Power Technologies, Torchlight Energy Resources Inc., SunHydrogen Inc., Vanguard ESG U.S. Stock ETF, Fidelity Sustainability Bond Index Fund, Calvert US Large-Cap Core Responsible Index Fund, Evoqua Water Technologies Corp., AECOM, BlackRock U.S. Carbon Transition Readiness ETF, BlackRock World ex U.S. Carbon Transition Readiness ETF.”
— By Ron Robins
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Ethical investing encourages consumers to invest more. “Latest research shows ESG finance encourages investors to leave less in cash.”
[COMMENTARY] This shows that investors get excited about ethical, ESG, and sustainable investing once they see how to do it–and particularly if it’s during a time of gains!
Ethical investing encourages consumers to invest more, by Mark Shoffman, April 27, 2021, Interactive Investor, UK.
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Sixty-eight of 77 industries significantly affected by climate risk, SASB says. “SASB released an updated Climate Risk Technical Bulletin last week to help companies better understand how they can disclose climate risk in a manner that provides investors with helpful information.”
[COMMENTARY] This is not just important reading for the affected companies, but for investors too!
Sixty-eight of 77 industries significantly affected by climate risk, SASB says, by Mike Schnitzel, April 27, 2021, CorporateSecretary, USA.
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Wall Street’s Trillion-Dollar ESG Club Comes With Huge Tax Perks. “Four banks pledge $6 trillion in sustainable finance, and the billions they’ll save in taxes is one of the benefits.”
[COMMENTARY] Hopefully, there’s some innate desire to do such investments too though!
Wall Street’s Trillion-Dollar ESG Club Comes With Huge Tax Perks, by Max Abelson and Lananh Nguyen, April 23, 2021, Bloomberg Green, USA.
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U.S. SEC review of socially responsible funds finds ‘potentially misleading’ claims. “The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday said it has found ‘potentially misleading’ claims and inadequate controls around investing environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in a review of investment advisors and funds.”
[COMMENTARY] This is good news. The industry needs some cleaning out of the greenwashing that exists.
U.S. SEC review of socially responsible funds finds ‘potentially misleading’ claims, by Reuters staff, April 12, 2021, Reuters, USA.
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BlackRock Is Pushing to Offer Sustainable Investments to 401k Plans, CEO Says. “With the Biden Administration friendly to sustainable investing, BlackRock is making a push to offer those types of investments to retirement plans, CEO Larry Fink said in an interview.”
[COMMENTARY] Employees of most firms will welcome this! As you know the number of such ESG-ethical-sustainable plans has been pathetic relative to the number of people interested.
BlackRock Is Pushing to Offer Sustainable Investments to 401k Plans, CEO Says, by Leslie P. Norton, April 16, 2021, Barron’s, USA.
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SEC will not assess merit of ESG investments: Peirce. “The agency’s role is not to determine whether any particular strategy is a good one, but to ensure investors know what they are getting, according to Securities and Exchange Commission member Hester Peirce.”
[COMMENTARY] This is what I’d expect from the SEC.
SEC will not assess merit of ESG investments: Peirce, by Mark Schoeff Jr., April 13, 2021, InvestmentNews, USA.
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(US) ESG funds beat out S&P 500 in 1st year of COVID-19; how 1 fund shot to the top. “In the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, many large investment funds with environmental, social and governance criteria outperformed the broader market. One fund went from being among the poorest performers to the top of the list following tweaks to its portfolio.”
[COMMENTARY] This is a good review of how US ESG funds performed in 2020.
(US) ESG funds beat out S&P 500 in 1st year of COVID-19; how 1 fund shot to the top, by Esther Whieldon and Robert Clark, April 6, 2021, S&P Global, USA.
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Op-Ed: Europe’s New ESG Rules Create an Opportunity for US Investors. “The regulations will have a tremendous impact on asset managers and firms operating outside the bloc. The EU might be the first to move on sustainable finance regulations, but its objectives are a harbinger of things to come around the globe.”
[COMMENTARY] This partly answers the issue raised concerning greenwashing by funds claiming ESG and sustainability credentials. Regulators — and with President Biden’s enthusiasm for ESG — greenwashing and fund integrity concerning their legitimate ESG claims will come under greater scrutiny.
Op-Ed: Europe’s New ESG Rules Create an Opportunity for US Investors, by Hari Bhambra, March 31, 2021, Chief Investment Officer, USA.
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Why all funds becoming ESG may not be a good thing. “The trouble is that as things stand, it is easy for managers to pay lip service to a sustainable investment approach in their marketing material and fund name, while in reality adopting a pretty light touch in that regard – a practice known as greenwashing.”
[COMMENTARY] The warnings about greenwashing are valid. However, it appears that governments and investment industry regulators are increasingly taking steps to ward off the problem.
Why all funds becoming ESG may not be a good thing, by Haydon Waldek, March 30, 2021, Interactive Investor, UK.
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Featured Book
The Ethical Investor…s Handbook: How to Grow Your Money Without Wrecking the Earth, by Morten Strange, Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Pte Ltd., 2019.
…Strange is articulate, has a great sense of understanding of the subject and a good turn of phrase, combined with the financial rigour, to tackle one of the key challenges facing investors who are not convinced by climate change … I would thoroughly recommend this book!…… Lawrence Gosling Editor-in-chief, WhatInvestment (UK).”
