Daily ESG Briefing: Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs partner on emerging markets clean energy

Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs have announced a partnership aiming to drive clean energy investment in emerging markets. The partnership will set up an emerging markets clean energy fund, especially focusing on south and southeast Asia and working alongside the Asian Development Bank to drive investment into high emitting industries. To support the effort, Bloomberg will develop tools aiming to help investors align their portfolios with the net zero transition.

Fidelity International will target net zero by 2050 in the default strategy for its £3bn workplace pension scheme, with an interim target of a 50% reduction by 2030. Fidelity has already committed to reducing its operational emissions to zero by 2040, and has said it will start incorporating carbon metrics and ESG scores for funds into its investment platform.

Schroders and Artemis have announced an investment in the Big Exchange, an actively-managed social and environmental impact investment platform founded by non-profit the Big Issue and a number of financial institutions including Aberdeen Standard Investments, Columbia Threadneedle and Alliance Bernstein. The platform offers retail investors a choice of 46 ESG funds and aims to raise this number to 100 by the end of the year.

Scope Group has expanded its operations to offer second party opinions on labelled ESG bonds, as well as green bond certification. Its subsidiary, Scope ESG Analysis, will issue SPOs using a five-point scoring model ranging from “one brown leaf” to “three green leaves”. 

73 groups including Urgewald, Greenpeace US and several indigenous people’s organisations have written to the CEO of AIG calling on the firm to stop insuring new fossil fuel projects. It is also urging AIG to phase out insurance for existing projects and companies that are not aligned with the Paris agreement. The campaigners also called on AIG to commit to not insuring the Trans Mountain pipeline in Canada ahead of its renewal date in August. The letter says that the pipeline, which has had 85 spills so far, causes significant harm to indigenous communities and the natural environment.

HSBC’s coal phase-out pledge does not include its asset management wing, so the organisation will continue to hold ownership stakes in companies planning 73 new coal plants generating 99GW, according to new research from Market Forces. The campaign group claims that the planned plants, including a number in Vietnam, India and Indonesia, will emit 15bn tonnes of CO2 over their lifetimes.