Daily ESG Briefing: State Street mulls CA100+ membership

State Street Global Advisors is in talks with Climate Action 100+ about joining, according to Carlo Funk, Head of ESG Investment Strategy. “We are very supportive of them and are having a positive/ongoing dialogue,” he told RI, adding that “joining would align to our stated goals around reducing carbon emissions and driving cleaner energy”.      

Green bonds did not outperform conventional bonds during March and April, when markets were subject to an exceptionally high period of volatility, according to a report from Insight Investment. However, companies with better ESG ratings did prove generally more resilient, and sustainability-focused strategies were beneficial to investment performance over the period, concluded the study, which focuses on European credit investors.  

Moscow Exchange published its first sustainability report, covering 2019, which is based on guidance from the Global Reporting Initiative. For more details, see here. 

New Zealand has confirmed that its Emissions Trading System will have a hard cap for allowances, in a bid to strengthen pricing in the country. A bill is being passed to introduce the cap, which has been absent from the scheme so far, and will set out an initial budget of 354m tonnes of CO2 or other greenhouse gas between 2021 and 2025, capping the number of carbon credits at 160m over five years. 43m will be allocated to heavy emitters, while another 90m will be auctioned. 

Women on average achieve greater stock market returns than men and have 56% fewer trades, according to research from Kryptoszene.de, a cryptocurrency and investment platform. On average, female investors achieved profits of 24.1%, while their male counterparts brought in 23.5%. 

Saffron Building Society has launched a green mortgage product in the UK, which encourages borrowers to make energy efficient improvements to their home. If a property’s efficiency rating improves by one “band” on the scale (A-E), the mortgage interest rate reduces by 0.10% for the remaining time of the two-year fixed rate. 

Investors should utilise both divestment and engagement when concerned about a company’s ESG behaviour, according to a new publication by Scientific Beta entitled ESG Engagement and Divestment: Mutually Exclusive or Mutually Reinforcing?