Daily ESG Briefing: CA100+ launches food and beverage strategy

Shareholder engagement network Climate Action 100+ has released its sector strategy for the food and beverage sector. The strategy, which follows similar publications for the steel and airline industries, sets out the necessary actions for the sector to take in order to achieve Net Zero and includes recommendations for investor engagement with companies. Key expectations include aligning capital expenditure, product development and R&D with a 1.5℃ scenario; incentivising agricultural producers to reduce the climate impact of crop and livestock production; and transitioning to renewable energy use across the supply chain.

The Principles for Responsible Investment has announced the shortlisted projects for its 2021 awards. More than 100 nominations from 25 countries were made for the five categories, with the winners due to be announced at the PRI Digital Conference in October.

Real estate lender RNHB has joined the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials. The Dutch lender said that it had already incorporated the Sustainable Development Goals in its key policies, and that becoming a PCAF signatory will allow it to “measure and disclose emissions in a standardised and comparable manner”.

Ogier Global has launched a new online ESG product, which aims to help asset managers keep up with ESG themes, terminology and regulatory requirements. The ESG Align tool also includes a training module for Hong Kong licensed fund managers to check their compliance with ESG regulations.

Central bank activity on climate mitigation has been mostly limited to “tinkering at the edges”, with meaningful measures taken in “isolated exceptions”, according to a report by Oil Change International. The report assesses 12 central banks, including the Federal Reserve, Bank of England and European Central Bank, against 10 criteria relating to fossil fuel financing – including the exclusion of fossil fuels from asset purchases and requiring climate-related risk disclosures. The actions of all of the assessed banks are rated as “insufficient” or “grossly insufficient” apart from the ECB, Banque de France, Bank of England and the Bundesbank, which are assessed as “partially aligned” with some of the criteria. The ECB performs strongest, receiving a partial alignment score on four of the criteria.