In the News

California's Leadership in Climate Change:

EPA Prepares to Roll Back Rules Requiring Cars to Be Cleaner and More Efficient
New York Times
The move — which undercuts one of President Barack Obama's signature efforts to fight climate change — would also propel the Trump administration toward a courtroom clash with California, which has vowed to stick with the stricter rules even if Washington rolls back federal standards. That fight could ...

If Trump's EPA wants a war over California fuel economy standards, war it is
The San Diego Union-Tribune
The Trump administration seeks to imperil this history by ending California's leadership on vehicle emissions and mileage standards. Next week, EPA ... Jerry Brown told a meeting of the American Geophysical Union a month after Trump's election, anticipating a conflict over climate change. “And we will ...

The Trump Administration Is Cutting Obama-Era Fuel Efficiency Regulations
Fortune
It dovetails with other steps to unwind actions aimed at combating climate change, such as President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and the EPA's repeal of a ... “The California waiver is still being reexamined by EPA under Administrator Pruitt's leadership,” the agency said. 

Sustainable Investing:

Why Women are Key to the Next Wave of Impact Investing
Real Leaders (blog)
It's a vexing question Alicia Robb is addressing. The founder and managing partner of the Next Wave US Impact Fund, an early-stage investing fund focused on bringing more women into angel investing—with a focus on social innovation and impact investing—describes her personal journey to (and ...

Is Impact Investing the Next Big Thing for Donor-Advised Funds?
Inside Philanthropy
Private foundations have been taking bolder steps towards impact investing in recent years. But with more individuals turning to donor-advised funds (DAFs) to facilitate their giving, how can those funds also be invested today to help improve the world? That's an important and intriguing question I've ...

Shenzhen investing US$17.79 bn in sustainable development
Asia Times
The Shenzhen municipal government plans to complete about 111.8 billion yuan (US$17.79 billion) in investment by 2020, with the aim of forming a systematic solution to the modernization of social governance and environmental protection, The Paper reported. On Wednesday, the government ...

Global Reporting Initiative:

Eight takeaways from the second day of Responsible Business Summit NY
Ethical Corporation Magazine
But the Matthew Welch of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, Richard Howitt of the International Integrated Reporting Council, Simon Messenger of the Carbon Disclosure Standards Board and Tim Mohin of the Global Reporting Initiative took to the stage in an effort to dispel confusion about ...
 
Getting to 2030: Tracking SDG Indicators for Evidence of Implementation Progress
IISD's SDG Knowledge Hub (press release) (blog)
For example, the Global Reporting Initiative runs the Target 12.6 Live Tracker, which shows progress on sustainability reporting around the world. In the midst of this growing number of portals and reports on specific indicators, targets and Goals, the SDG-Tracker project, which was launched in March ...

Renewable Energy Investments:

DTE plan doubles renewable energy investments
Crain's Detroit Business
DTE Energy plans to add 1,000 megawatts of solar and wind power by 2022, doubling its current capacity and investments in renewable energy. The locations of the proposed renewable power sources were not announced. If approved this year by the Michigan Public Service Commission, these new ...

Lawmaker tries to steer investments toward renewable energy
Turn to 10
Joshua Miller introduced a bill to require anyone who seeks to build a power plant that uses fossil fuel as its primary or secondary fuel to also build or invest in renewable energy generation in Rhode Island. Rhode Island aims to increase the amount of clean energy in the state tenfold by the end of 2020.

Clean Energy Investment Grows as Global CO2 Emissions Reach New Record High
IISD Reporting Services
In its 'State of Clean Energy Investment' report, Bloomberg New Energy Finance finds that global investment in renewable energy and energy-smart technologies grew 3% in 2017 to the second highest level on record, while costs for utility-scale PV systems fell 25%. At the same time, the International ... 

CDP Sustainability:

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Impact Investing:

Credentialing America: How Impact Investing Can Help
Forbes
Tom Vander Ark , Contributor I write about the future of learning, work and human development. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. The postsecondary attainment rate for adults in the U.S. is about 40%. African American attainment rates are 27%. Native American and Latino ...

Coastal Community Foundation starts $3 million impact investing program along South Carolina ...
Charleston Post Courier
The Coastal Community Foundation, a nonprofit group focused on charitable giving along the South Carolina coast, is starting a new program to bring funding to projects with positive social impact. But the strategy, known as place-based impact investing, isn't just aimed at advancing community causes.

Resource Conservation Investments:

Wendi Weber: Conservation protects trees, birds for future
Virginian-Pilot
One of our nation's largest land managers, the U.S. Department of Defense, is also seeing solid returns from its investments in fish, wildlife and natural resource conservation. U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are stationed across the nation in places where they share space with creatures that ...

Socially Responsible Investing:

Opinion: Socially conscious investing can be a money pit
MarketWatch
What's not to love about socially responsible investing? Your capital doesn't just enrich your life, it also flows only to companies that do social good. Why, if enough people did this, companies that harm society would face higher capital costs as they received less capital, and they'd die out. Socially ...

Socially Responsible Investors Back Anti-Gun Resolution
Financial Advisor Magazine
Institutional investors aligned with the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility are calling on companies to fight gun violence by amending corporate policies. A resolution asking gun manufacturers, retailers and distributors, as well as companies with financial ties to these industries, to help halt gun ...

Swedroe: Principle Over Profits
ETF.com
Socially responsible investing (SRI) has gained a lot of traction in portfolio management in recent years. In 2016, socially responsible funds managed about $9 trillion in assets from an overall investment pool of $40 trillion in the United States, according to data from US SIF. While SRI, as well as the ...

Funds for Sustainable Investing:

Is your money supporting US gun makers? Here's what you can do about it
Globalnews.ca
“There are plenty of options for retail investors to go gun-free,” Lanz said. Ocean Rock Investments, iA Clarington Investments, RBC Global Asset Management and Desjardins are some of the investment firms in Canada that manage so-called socially responsible mutual funds, which screen out ...

New fund targets sustainable institutional investors
Super Review
Natixis Investment Management has announced that its socially responsible investment affiliate Mirova will offer the Global Sustainable Equity Strategy to Australian institutional investors in response to increased demand from local investors for environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment ...

Sustainability Investing:

RobecoSAM wins sub-advisory mandate for new Daiwa SBI Global Electric Vehicle Revolution ...
Institutional Asset Manager (press release) (blog)
RobecoSAM, an investment specialist that has focused exclusively on Sustainability Investing (SI) for over 22 years, has been appointed as the sub-advisor to hat Daiwa SB Investments' new Daiwa SBI Global Electric Vehicle Revolution strategy. Daiwa Securities Co is the distribution intermediary for ...

Victoria Hoskins: Why you should invest for both social and financial benefit
Civil Society Media
You may have heard the methodology described as ethical, sustainable or impact investing. All broadly mean the same thing: employing investment capital to generate positive financial and social returns. Investors can use their assets to try to positively influence the behaviour of corporations, choosing ...

How corporate boards can accelerate sustainability
GreenBiz
"Larry Fink being a shareholder, employees ... they're all saying the same thing right now about ESG and socially responsible impact investing. So I think boards and managements are getting the message," said Darla Stuckey, executive director of the Society for Corporate Governance. Yet when it ...

Philanthropic Investing:

Philanthropic Investments in the Black Community
Memphis Daily News
As Memphis and the world marks the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., there is much to reflect on and much to look forward to. Our reflections can be a source of inspiration for what we can accomplish together moving forward into the future. We can embrace the “fierce ...

On the Same Page: An Early Childhood Education Collaborative With Some Big Backers
Inside Philanthropy
Trust for Learning's wise words of warning come at a time of growing philanthropic investment in early childhood learning. Initiatives still tend to be local with funders investing in the cities where they live, but the investments add up. In Detroit, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Kresge Foundation recently ...

Green Bond Funds:

Nigeria joins regional race on green bonds
Financial Times
In December, the government issued a N10.69bn ($29m) green bond to fund local solar and forestry projects. The fully subscribed bond's tenor is five years, and investors will receive a 13.48 per cent annual coupon, creating high expectations for the environmental projects linked to the government's ...

India's green bond market: Benefits, risks and other features
Moneycontrol.com
The introduction of Green Bonds will resolve the issue of funding, which is the reason for delay in these 'green' projects, in the evolving renewable energy sector. Green bonds are debt instruments that raise money to fund clean energy projects. Companies that raise money through these bonds have to ...

Paper Argues Green Bonds Can Help Investors Mitigate Risk Factors
Planadviser.com
Klevan adds that green bonds are particularly important to the clean energy, infrastructure, and transportation industries as they allow countries and companies to obtain funding to achieve positive and sustainable environmental and social goals. “Ultimately, we believe that an active and tactical ...

Low Carbon Funds:

The Carbon Price Is Right
Planet S
“Funds could also be invested in clean energy alternatives, energy conservation, and all those good things,” she adds. “Or we could reduce the sales tax which would provide a general economic benefit. So there are lots of ways we might want to consider using the revenue rather than just sending ...

Singapore: (Not yet) a rising green finance hub
eco-business.com
The objective of the global green finance movement is clear: to provide the full range of financial services and products to support the transition to a low-carbon world. Two distinct approaches seem to have emerged, with one focusing on fund mobilisation, and the other targeting risk management.

Opinion: Financing Africa's green energy revolution
Devex
At the same time, the world needs Africa to leapfrog to a low-carbon energy regime to help avoid catastrophic global climate change. But who will fund it? This structural transformation in Africa's energy sector will require innovative financing mechanisms to unlock the continent's vast renewable energy, ...