Coinciding with today’s RI Europe 2016 event in London today has been a series of industry developments, including news from Ceres, the Portfolio Decarbonisation Coalition and Thomson Reuters. Here’s our round-up of the top events.
Ceres writes to SEC
A group of institutional investors lead by Ceres has urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to encourage listed companies to disclose how climate change and carbon asset risk are affecting their business.
In a letter addressed to the SEC’s chair, Mary Jo White, 41 investors have banded together to ask the Commission to “develop and provide guidance” for companies on how to assess qualitative factors surrounding climate issues. They also ask that the regulator’s Division of Corporation Finance should examine filings made by energy, utility and insurance companies in particular, and issue comment letters when disclosures fail to discuss the material risks of climate change.
The group of investors, which includes Arjuna Capital’s Natasha Lamb, CalSTRS’ CEO Jack Ehnes and New York City Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, praises the SEC’s work in forcing companies to face shareholder proposals concerning climate change reporting but points out that “very little action” has been taken outside of this.Thomson Reuters & TruValue Labs
Real-time ESG data from analytics firm TruValue Labs – the ESG “big data” firm where leading Harvard Professor Robert Eccles is a board director – is to be made available on news and data giant Thomson Reuters’ Eikon Platform, a financial data and analytics tool, it has been announced today.
TruValue Lab’s Insight360 extracts “unstructured data” in real time on a number of ESG issues including regulatory concerns, social/cultural backlash, product liabilities, intellectual property portfolios and development, employee actions and political risk. From today, subscribers to Thomson Reuters’ Eikon can access this data.
Commenting on the move, Susan Lundquist, head of product strategy, asset management, Thomson Reuters, said: “The integration of TruValue Labs’ Insight360 on Eikon provides current, comprehensive, user-directed ESG information about a wide universe of companies, information that is critical to our subscribers.
Portfolio Decarbonisation Coalition
The Portfolio Decarbonisation Coalition has created an award for studies into aligning investment portfolios with a low-carbon economy. The PDC, which is backed by 26 asset owners and managers, is seeking to get behind research projects related to climate change “with potential applications in the field of investment management”.
The UNEP FI-led initiative is calling for applications for the award, and will provide two years access to the academic platform of data provider Trucost and a €12,500 grant to the winner. The deadline for applications is August 31, with the awards being announced at UNEP FI’s global roundtable in October 25.
The PDC was launched in 2014 in collaboration with AP4, Amundi and the CDP, to encourage investors to decarbonise their portfolios. Its members, which include RobecoSAM, Allianz, Hermes and BNP Paribas Investment Partners, have so far committed more than $230 billion to decarbonisation under the pledge.
If you do not receive this within five minutes, please try to sign in again. If the problem persists, please email: