ESGN News and Press, Columbia Sustainable International Equity Income From 04/05/22

Stock markets fell in the first quarter as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine destabilized the growth outlook, amplified concerns about rising interest rates and unleashed geopolitical risks. While the conflict has created many uncertainties, we believe the impact of persistent infla...

SEC's proposed ESG disclosures will help the marketplace to least differentiate between various players through a wider assessment of carbon footprints and carbon shadows. The US and EU have agreed a deal, where the US will supply at least an additional 15bcm of LNG to the EU in 2022....

Pick any barometer of costs these days, and the story is the same: Prices are up - and in a dramatic fashion. The first thing that jumps out is the dismal performance of most asset classes during periods of low growth and high inflation - otherwise known as stagflation. A solid fo...

There are different ways to quantify a carbon handprint for each solution group. In this paper, we present case studies that show how to apply a carbon handprint analysis. Establishing a clear carbon handprint metric allows investors to assess how a company is contributing to the ...

Our Federal Reserve has a trajectory of rate hikes but remains cautiously “data driven.”. The financial war is unfolding every day with new information, so outcomes are difficult to predict, and unintended consequences loom as a risk every day. Bloomberg reports that...

I believe that ESG is, at its core, a feel-good scam that is enriching consultants, measurement services and fund managers, while doing close to nothing for the businesses and investors it claims to help, and even less for society. If you remain a true believer, I will leave it up to ...

The SEC’s draft climate disclosure rules require public companies to report on Scope 1-3 emissions, carbon offsets, and climate-related risks. Scope 3 emissions made its way to the proposed rules. Carbon offsets will need to be specified. Assurance requirements to come in p...

In recognition of International Women's Day this month, here are some of the things we are doing in Fixed Income to encourage change. On the equity side, we have been working with a major insurance company to improve disclosure on pay equity and overall diversity efforts. By worki...

Once dominated by exclusions-based strategies, ESG criteria are now more robustly applied with the use of company operational information to both reduce risk and seek additional upside performance. The inequalities laid bare by COVID-19 and the groundswell of support for social justic...

According to a recent report released by the OECD, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, if prolonged, could knock 1.1 percentage points off the global GDP for 2021, while increasing global inflation by 2.5 percentage points over an already lofty inflation level. The damage won’t be...