September 2025 Newsletter
News & Commentaries by Ron Robins
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New September Podcast:
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Building confidence in ESG data: The role of assurance processes. “ESG assurance is now vital for corporate credibility—and by 2028, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) will make reasonable assurance mandatory (in the EU and some other countries).
[COMMENTARY] I’ve advocated for about fifty years that such requirements be part of the regular corporate financial auditing process. Finally, it’s beginning to happen. However, regulatory requirements need to be sensitive to a company’s size and type of activities, among other factors. Current and proposed regulatory frameworks may already be having negative effects on corporate growth and profits.
Building confidence in ESG data: The role of assurance processes, by Thomson Reuters, September 25, 2025, USA.
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The Quiet Force Imperiling Our Booming Stock Market. “Investors are sinking more and more money into the stock market. Indexes are reaching record highs. But a growing number of American companies are refusing to participate in public markets at all.”
[COMMENTARY] In terms of companies participating in public markets and the number of shares available for trading, they are all declining from years past. Inappropriate regulations and stock buybacks, to me, are two of the big culprits.
The Quiet Force Imperiling Our Booming Stock Market, by Bryce C. Tingle, September 15, 2025, The New York Times, USA.
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Sustainable finance in 2025: These are the key sectors redefining global markets. “Nature and industry transitions are unlocking investable opportunities, from regenerative agriculture to fossil-free steel; investable pipelines are growing across sectors.”
[COMMENTARY] Some useful ideas are presented for investors in this article.
Sustainable finance in 2025: These are the key sectors redefining global markets, by Derek Baraldi and Priyanka Ramchurn, September 24, 2025, World Economic Forum, Switzerland.
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Alternative Energy Stocks Continue to Lead Big Oil in 2025. “A set of ETFs shows that the alternative energy shares are leading Big Oil by a wide margin this year. Based on the average for the five biggest alt-energy ETFs, this benchmark is up nearly 25% year to date through Sep. 10.”
[COMMENTARY] I guess this might be upsetting to many on the right of the political spectrum. However, alternative energy investors are smiling!
Alternative Energy Stocks Continue to Lead Big Oil in 2025, by James Picerno, September 11, 2025, Investing.com, USA
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World’s Best Companies of 2025. “Nvidia, which this summer became the first public company to hit $4 trillion in market value, tops TIME and Statista’s 2025 statistical ranking of the World’s Best Companies. The ranking measures employee satisfaction, revenue growth, and sustainability transparency. Nvidia rose through the ranks on a wave of growing AI demand and a well-performing gaming division.”
[COMMENTARY] No surprises here, all the usual top firms make the cut. Unfortunately, in this ranking, no attempt is made to judge the relevance of a firm’s sustainable revenue to total revenues.
World’s Best Companies of 2025, by Charlotte Hu, September 10, 2025, TIME Magazine, USA.
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The transatlantic rift over sustainable investing just got deeper. “A Dutch pension manager’s decision to pull its investments from BlackRock highlights the growing gap between the U.S. and Europe.”
[COMMENTARY] For BlackRock, will the funds gained in the US ‘red states’ by bad-mouthing climate change offset the asset losses from elsewhere? Previously, a major backer of ESG-based investing, BlackRock has made a clear decision to downplay it to stem fund withdrawals in red states and elsewhere.
The transatlantic rift over sustainable investing just got deeper, by Mark Mann, September 5, 2025, Corporate Knights, Canada.
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Apple, Unilever & Amazon Implementing the Triple Bottom Line. “The triple bottom line is a framework that helps companies like Apple and Amazon reach sustainability goals whilst continuing to make profit.”
[COMMENTARY] The triple bottom line is a focus on people, profit and planet. It’s an expansive view of the bottom line that suggests a company must focus on all three variables to succeed over the long term.
Apple, Unilever & Amazon Implementing the Triple Bottom Line, by Georgia Sweet, September 3, 2025, Sustainability Magazine, USA.
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Here We Go Again: Red States Continue to Focus on ESG. “Writing in the Harvard Business Review over two years ago, we said ESG should be returned to its “original and narrow intention — as a means for helping companies identify and communicate to investors the material long-term risks they face from ESG-related issues.” Instead, this recent letter shows that ESG has continued to get pulled into political messaging efforts between both parties rather than rightfully being considered as financially material long-term risk factors.”
[COMMENTARY] I fully agree with the concerns of this article that ESG is really about “helping companies identify and communicate to investors the material long-term risks they face from ESG-related issues.” Anything else is nonsense!
Here We Go Again: Red States Continue to Focus on ESG, by Robert Eccles (Oxford University) and Daniel F.C. Crowley (K&L Gates LLP), September 4, 2025, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, USA.
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How Are Shareholder Meetings Changing and What Does It Mean for Corporate Governance. “The practices discussed in the report can provide guidance on different approaches, including areas in which some level of harmonisation already exists, and others where more convergence may be desirable.”
[COMMENTARY] This study provides insight into the current state of shareholder meetings globally. It is worthwhile reading for concerned investors.
How Are Shareholder Meetings Changing and What Does It Mean for Corporate Governance, by Tiziana Londero and Daniel Blume, OECD, September 2, 2025, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, USA.
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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.
Unsustainable: Measurement, Reporting, and the Limits of Corporate Sustainability “Engagingly written and featuring an impressive breadth of research, Unsustainable offers a critical ethnography of corporate sustainability practices, challenging businesses (and the rest of us) to reckon with what we mean by `sustainability’ and how we think we can measure and manage it.” — Andrew Orta, Author of Making Global MBAs: The Culture of Business and the Business of Culture.
For more information, visit: Unsustainable: Measurement, Reporting, and the Limits of Corporate Sustainability, by .
