News

• City of London sets Green Finance Institute launch date

  29 March 2019

  The City of London Corporation’s Green Finance Institute will be launched on 2 July, it has been revealed.

• Sustainability taxonomy passes through EU Parliament

  28 March 2019

  The EU’s taxonomy of sustainable activities has been approved by the European Parliament, paving the way for its adoption into regulation later this year.

• London and Amsterdam top index of world’s green financial centres

  28 March 2019

  European cities dominated an index of the world’s top green financial centres, with London and Amsterdam outperforming their peers.

• Green bonds round-up: IBRD, Folksam Group, Electrolux, Interstate Power & Light, Pace Funding Group, EBRD

  27 March 2019

  The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), part of the World Bank Group, has tapped the €600 million ($675 million) green bond it issued in November to raise a further €250 million.

• Australia launches HLEG-style sustainable finance initiative

  27 March 2019

  A group of leaders and senior executives at Australia’s major banks, superannuation funds and insurance companies has been assembled to devise a sustainable finance ‘roadmap’.

• Dutch pension fund allocates €5.8bn to SDG index

  27 March 2019

  A Netherlands-based pension fund has allocated €5.8 billion ($6.5 billion) – more than a quarter of its entire portfolio – to a newly-created ‘sustainable’ benchmark index.

• Natixis poaches Pictet water fund managers to create thematics arm

  26 March 2019

  Natixis Investment Managers has made two hires from rival Pictet to co-manage a newly-created water fund.

• €100m African 'new tech' impact fund launched

  26 March 2019

  An impact fund with a target size of €100 million ($113 million), which will invest in companies using new technologies such as blockchain, has been launched at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda.

• Poor ESG data hinders investment decisions, says SSgA

  26 March 2019

  The opaqueness of data around environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing is acting as an impediment to institutional investors, such as insurers, who want to commit more to their programmes, according to State Street Global Advisors' (SSgA) head of ESG Rakhi Kuma.

• Dai-Ichi Life makes JPY1bn impact investment

  26 March 2019

  Japanese insurer Dai-Ichi Life Insurance has invested JPY1billion ($90 million) in an energy venture fund as part of its environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment programme.