Our monthly round-up of news, ideas and initiatives related to transforming the UK financial system for people and planet, compiled by the Lab’s CEO, Jesse Griffiths.
Climate concerns
Almost 600 companies are still developing coal assets. And only four out of 160 top banks have plans to restrict financing for coal use in steelmaking. Meanwhile, big insurers continue to cover dirty coal mining projects, despite their pledges not to. Lloyds of London has warned the insurance industry that climate-related impacts will get a lot worse and is calling for urgent investment in climate risk modelling.
Climate change is the ‘most common’ reason for portfolio exclusion by investors. Here’s a new database of companies that have been blacklisted by global investors and banks for sustainability reasons. And a new tracker to see how the world’s top 60 banks’ climate commitments stack up.
New US regulatory principles on how big financial institutions should integrate climate risk have been called a ‘solid start’. Meanwhile, the EU’s overhaul of capital requirements for banks includes some integration of ESG risks. In the UK, the Transition Plan Taskforce has launched its framework to address climate change – but is it a half-hearted measure?
The 30 ‘worst’ fossil fuel companies will need $46 billion in bond refinancing in 2023 and 2024.
Care about the climate? Here are five reasons you should care about debt, too.
Rules and rule breakers
The UK government’s longstanding reforms of audit and corporate governance are in disarray – here’s why audit reform is ‘circling the drain’.
US regulators are warning that AI poses serious financial crisis risks. And in the UK, crypto currencies are playing an ‘endemic’ role in organised crime, according to the Met Police.
The City fights back against the regulator’s diversity drive. Meanwhile, sexual harassment and misogyny in the City go unchecked. And there is a huge pensions ‘ethnicity gap’.
The AI summit is excluding crucial voices.
And finally…
A Nobel laureate on why economics has lost its way.
UNCTAD’s annual report on trade and development is a brilliant place to learn about how the world economy is faring.