Category: CN_BUSINESSES_TA ECO_INVEST_MN Technology_MN

Alphabet, Microsoft, and Salesforce today pledged $500 million to new climate tech that’s supposed to pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere to keep it from heating up the planet. It’s the latest move by Big Tech to propel the emerging technology forward while painting themselves as global leaders when it comes to taking action on climate change.

ESG ratings agencies typically rate companies against others within their industry, so oil and gas companies are rated separately from automotive companies or technology companies. Exxon stacks up fairly well relative to others in the oil and gas category on many measures. But if you compared Exxon to, say, Apple, Exxon would look terrible on its total greenhouse gas emissions.

At Stanford University, the question is ringing loud. This month, hundreds of students, faculty members and alumni, in an open letter, called on the university’s new climate school to decline funding from fossil fuel companies.

Inaction on climate change could cost the economy $178 trillion over the next 50 years, or a 7.6 percent cut to gross domestic product (GDP) in 2070, a research report from Deloitte Center for Sustainable Progress (DCSP) said…

HSBC has suspended a senior banker after he referred to climate crisis warnings as “unsubstantiated” and “shrill” during a conference speech that has since been denounced by the lender’s chief executive.
Stuart Kirk, who has been HSBC’s head of responsible investing since last July, will remain suspended until the bank completes an internal investigation into the matter.

While speaking about energy policy in Texas yesterday, former Vice President Mike Pence, a potential 2024 Republican presidential contender, said he wanted to “rein in” E.S.G., or investing based on environmental, social and governance principles. He is not alone.

Regulators and other standard-setters worldwide are building a consensus behind uniform rules for gauging sustainability that could help CFOs generate credible ESG reports.

Republican state and federal lawmakers, their campaign coffers filled with fossil fuel donations, are quietly building a nationwide effort to pass anti-divestment bills that would punish financial institutions that consider the climate crisis in their business deals or try to do something about it by not working with fossil fuel companies.

A growing tidal wave hitting businesses can be summarized in three letters – ESG. The environmental, social and governance investing movement may not have fully grabbed the public’s attention – yet – but it is rapidly growing on national and international business radars. In fact, ESG assets are expected to exceed $50 trillion globally by 2025.

The chief executive of a Portland area-based battery company believes his products could play a critical role in fighting climate change, storing the energy produced by wind and solar for hours instead of having it dumped whenever consumer demand dips.