Topics tagged with 'Green finance'

Corporations using misleading climate pledges to greenwash their image

3 Feb 2022

Media Release - Major global companies are avoiding meaningful climate action and are instead using false, misleading or ambiguous green claims, a new report shows.

Investors urge government to support a global climate disclosure regime

27 Jan 2022

The Investor Group on Climate Change says the government should support the creation of a global reporting regime for climate risk disclosures.

Economist proposes carbon backed currency

27 Jan 2022

With alternative coins flourishing and Central Banks designing their own digital currencies, there is a potential hard-backed currency which cannot be ignored: carbon. Using carbon to back a global currency would redistribute wealth, incentivize low carbon technology and avoid the environmental taxes which hit the world’s poor the hardest, writes Australian economist Steve Keen.

Why big central banks are becoming climate warriors

17 Dec 2021

The world’s largest central banks have been joining the fight against climate change, figuring that they can’t ignore the mounting risks of doing nothing. Melting glaciers may be a huge leap from monetary policy, but policy makers say they must respond to threats that have the potential to disrupt the global economy.

World's largest asset managers fail to back climate-action resolutions

16 Dec 2021

Many of the world's biggest money managers have pledged to make their investment portfolios reach net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by the mid-century. But they still aren't using their shareholder voting power to place more pressure on the companies whose stock they own to take action on climate change.

Green finance groups slam HSBC's carbon exit plan

15 Dec 2021

British banking giant HSBC has published a plan to stop financing thermal coal activities but it is being criticised by environmentalists for not going far enough.

Germany approves billions for climate, modernisation fund

14 Dec 2021

The German government on Monday approved 60 billion euros (NZ$114 billion) in funding to be used for combating climate change and modernizing the country, a move that the new finance minister described as a “booster” for Europe's biggest economy.

The politics of climate change and ESG are about to get ugly

14 Dec 2021

2022 will bring another election in the United States, a blessing bestowed upon Americans every 24 months. We’ll hear about the economy, jobs, immigration, wages, vaccines, health care, housing, guns, abortions and — wait for it — climate change and ESG.

Boost for Tuvalu's economic, social and climate resilience

10 Dec 2021

Tuvalu will receive a significant boost with the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approving a US$17.5 million commitment to support its ongoing climate adaptation efforts.

Government incentives for green bonds may be necessary: Reserve Bank

3 Dec 2021

The Reserve Bank has suggested incentives such as tax breaks may be necessary to grow New Zealand’s green bond market at the pace required to combat climate change.

$22-trillion time bomb’ ahead unless banks drop high-carbon investments: Moody’s

30 Nov 2021

Financial institutions are facing a US$22-trillion time bomb due to their investments in carbon-intensive industries, Bloomberg News reports, citing a study last week by Moody’s Investment Services.

Asset owners have little impact in reducing carbon footprints of companies: report

30 Nov 2021

The world’s largest stewards of capital are struggling to move the needle on companies’ carbon footprints and emissions reduction efforts, according to research conducted by EDHEC-Risk Institute.

Housing group takes out top prize at Sustainable Business Awards

26 Nov 2021

Community Finance – a collaboration between philanthropic foundations, financial institutions, community housing provides and the Ministry for Housing – received the supreme award at the Sustainable Business Awards last night.

How a new global carbon market could exaggerate climate progress

25 Nov 2021

Nations are poised to begin building an international carbon market, after finally adopting the relevant rules at the UN climate conference in Glasgow earlier this month.

What's next for the Fed on climate change

24 Nov 2021

The Federal Reserve is poised to increase its climate focus even as President Biden's nomination of Chairman Jerome Powell to a second term disappointed advocates of policies to tilt the economy away from fossil fuels.

ECB warns most EU banks have no 'Paris' climate plan

24 Nov 2021

The European Central Bank (ECB) has warned that most commercial banks it supervises do not have concrete plans to start preparing for climate change.

Big climate change job awaits WTO

24 Nov 2021

From laying down the law on fossil fuel subsidies to promoting low-carbon supply chains, there is no shortage of ways in which the World Trade Organisation could be at the forefront of the global fight against climate change.

$1 million in innovation funding up for grabs

17 Nov 2021

The Westpac NZ Government Innovation Fund has announced a $1 million funding pool to drive innovation around financing and incentivising the decarbonisation of Aotearoa.

NZGIF pumps $40 million into solar

16 Nov 2021

The government-owned New Zealand Green Investment Finance bank is investing up to $40 million in commercial-scale solar installations.

Fixing climate finance: Jeffrey Sachs

16 Nov 2021

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) fell far short of what is needed for a safe planet, owing mainly to the same lack of trust that has burdened global climate negotiations for almost three decades.

Cook Islands calls for new class of climate debt

11 Nov 2021

Cook Islands prime minister Mark Brown has called for climate related debt to be treated differently from national debt.

Climate is the ‘biggest single opportunity’ the insurance industry has ever seen: Lloyd's

10 Nov 2021

CLIMATE is the “ultimate systemic risk” and represents “the biggest single opportunity the insurance industry has ever seen,” according to the CEO of the centuries-old insurance market Lloyd’s.

London Stock Exchange aims to bring firms’ carbon claims ‘out into daylight’

10 Nov 2021

The London Stock Exchange is aiming to make funding for carbon reduction projects more transparent, introducing a new market that it says will help the industry to scale.

Glasgow Conversations: Day 8

9 Nov 2021

On day 8 of COP26, Alastair Thompson attends a Barak Obama talk, a briefing by climate change minister James Shaw, and delves into the important but mind numbingly complicated world of climate finance.

African nations seek talks on $700bn climate finance deal

9 Nov 2021

African nations want Cop26 to open discussions this week on a mega-financing deal that would channel US$700bn every year from 2025 to help developing nations adapt to the climate crisis.

The Warehouse and Westpac NZ Sign $70m sustainability-linked loan

9 Nov 2021

Media Release - The Warehouse Group will have to meet five sustainability performance goals including sustainable packaging, carbon emissions and gender targets to receive discounted rates, under a trailblazing Sustainability-Linked Loan agreed with Westpac NZ.

A $130T climate promise is greeted with suspicion

5 Nov 2021

Political leaders are showering financial titans with praise at global climate talks. But their show of pageantry and back-patting is masking a deeper concern: that the banking industry’s pledges to help fight global warming are vague and unenforceable.

Al Gore warns of a $22 trillion ‘subprime carbon bubble’

4 Nov 2021

Al Gore, the former vice president of the U.S. and the chairman of Generation Investment Management LLP, said the world is witnessing a sustainability revolution and warned that investors caught on the wrong side of history will face losses.

Current carbon market a problem: Mark Carney

4 Nov 2021

The current voluntary carbon offset market is "part of the problem", former governor of the Bank of England and UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance Mark Carney said today at the UN Cop 26 climate summit.

More than $100bn in public investments to be climate friendly

29 Oct 2021

The government has announced a new “responsible investment framework” that will see the more than $100bn managed by Crown Financial Institutions required to be aligned with the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.

733 investors with more than US$52 trillion call for end of fossil fuel subsidies

28 Oct 2021

Climate change most significant risk ever faced by financial system: Adrian Orr

27 Oct 2021

CLIMATE CHANGE poses the most significant risk ever confronted by the financial system - both locally and internationally, Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr told a media briefing yesterday.

Look beyond carbon credits to put a price on nature’s services: experts

5 Oct 2021

Putting a value on nature could be the key to getting the trillions of dollars in investments nature-based solutions need to successfully tackle the climate crisis, experts said at a recent sustainability conference in Singapore.

Stronger NSW 2030 emissions reduction goal signals increased investment opportunity

29 Sep 2021

Media Release - The NSW Government has announced it will halve emissions from 2005 levels by 2030.

Legal experts define a new global crime: ‘ecocide’

27 Sep 2021

A panel of 12 legal experts from around the world have released a proposed definition for a new international crime called “ecocide” covering “severe” and “widespread or long-term environmental damage” that would be prosecuted before the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

KiwiRail obtains climate certified loan for ferries

23 Sep 2021

KiwiRail is the first company in the world to have a shipping loan certified under the Climate Bonds Initiative Framework – despite having come in for criticism for opting for a hybrid diesel system over a bio-methanol one with lower emissions.

Climate change ETFs found to be undermining war on global warming

21 Sep 2021

Climate-focused investment funds are undermining the fight against global warming by routinely engaging in greenwashing, academic research has claimed.

Climate change and price stability mandates at central banks

14 Sep 2021

Traditionally, financial market actors and monetary authorities have considered environmental matters as outside of the scope of monetary policymakers. This stance may change now that central banks are beginning to recognize that climate change could present real threats to price stability.

Investors want climate change information

14 Sep 2021

Media Release - More than four in every five (81%) retail investors think climate related information is important to their investment decision making, with half saying companies have a responsibility to address climate change.

Harmonizing green incentives

10 Sep 2021

Thomas Pogge is an academic philosopher with a practical bent. His idea of a health impact fund was a practical solution to incentivise the development of drugs that would benefit those in poor countries. Now he's proposing a scheme tackle the problems of banks investing in fossil fuels in the developing world.

Five things to know about carbon pricing

3 Sep 2021

The IMF's principal environmental fiscal policy expert, Ian Parry, outlines five things you should know about carbon pricing.

A faster, fairer way to retire carbon-emitting assets

2 Sep 2021

New financial instruments are being designed and brought into the fight against climate change. One such potential instrument is the 'carbon retirement portfolio' (CRP).

Global carbon tax could turbocharge ‘green shorting’

26 Aug 2021

Australia's largest ethical super fund says the opportunity for investors to profit from ‘green shorting’ will grow as global leaders take greater action on climate change, which could act as a catalyst for sliding sharemarket valuations for fossil fuel producers.

Central banks failing on climate action

25 Aug 2021

Released in advance of the Federal Reserve’s annual Jackson Hole meeting, a study assessing twelve of the world’s largest central banks against ten climate-related policy criteria has found all failing to align their lending, asset purchases and regulatory activities with the Paris Agreement target.

KiwiSaver funds slowly divesting from fossil fuels

24 Aug 2021

KiwiSaver funds’ investments in fossil fuel companies fell by $331 million in the six months to March, according to data released by ethical investment charity Mindful Money.

Insurance industry seeks to limit fossil fuel exposure

23 Aug 2021

With global climate change threatening to wreak havoc on their industry, insurance companies are increasingly looking to limit their exposure to the fossil fuel sector.

Climate Change investors group throws weight behind mandatory reporting

19 Aug 2021

The Investor Group on Climate Change – which includes Australian and New Zealand funds with more than $3.2 trillion under management – says the number of investors making climate-related disclosures remains too low and mandatory reporting is required.

Rise of the 'carbon capitalist'

18 Aug 2021

Matthew Roling, an adjunct professor of finance at Wayne State University, argues that carbon markets will become 'the largest commodity markets in history.'

NZ's only climate venture fund makes first investment ...in Australia

5 Aug 2021

Media Release - Climate Venture Capital Fund, New Zealand’s only dedicated climate-change venture capital fund, has made its first investment.

Climate change business conference announced

4 Aug 2021

Media Release - The Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and the Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) have joined forces with the Environmental Defence Society (EDS) to take the 2021 Climate Change and Business Conference - Now to Net Zero, to a new level.