All Opinion Pieces articles – Page 35
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Opinion PiecesGreenwish: wishful thinking in the ESG world
Every so often I come across a paper which I think is a ‘must read’ and Duncan Austin’s ‘Greenwish: the wishful thinking undermining the ambition of sustainable business’* is one.
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Opinion PiecesGuest viewpoint: Adam Matthews and John Howchin
“The Brumadinho dam tragedy causes us to question if we have created the conditions for a set of disasters”
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Opinion PiecesAnimal welfare: Probing the global meat complex
Everyone knows about ‘big oil’ and how much influence the global agribusiness sector has. But there is less awareness about the negative impacts of meat producers – the ‘global meat complex’.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from the US: On a secure retirement path
The most significant changes to US retirement plans in more than a decade look set to be approved by Congress. On 23 May, the House of Representatives passed the Secure Act – Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement – by 417-3, and the Senate is also likely to approve it, with President Donald Trump unopposed.
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Opinion PiecesLong-term matters: Exxon’s AGM – can investors learn from the slave trade?
English evangelical protestants allied with the Quakers initiated the campaign to abolish the UK slave trade in the early nineteenth century. Two centuries later, the Vatican has said that climate change is a “moral and religious imperative for humanity”. Will the fate of fossil fuel companies be defined by public, sovereign and religious investors? And can other investors watch from the sidelines?
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Opinion PiecesGuest viewpoint: Beat Zaugg
A striking indication of ESG’s importance in Switzerland is that Ueli Maurer, the country’s president, will be the keynote speaker at the Swiss Sustainable Finance annual conference in Bern
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Opinion PiecesLetter from the US: Practitioners defend ESG from executive threat
The proxy season was different in the US this time around. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) resolutions – as well as the use of those criteria for investing – are under scrutiny by the Trump administration and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
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Opinion PiecesIPE Perspective: Two sides to the MMT premise
Is there any merit in functional finance versus classical economic theory?
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Opinion PiecesDon’t panic (yet) about populism
When I called for investor engagement with Facebook and the social media giants, I did not expect to see a sovereign wealth fund leading such an initiative just three months later
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Opinion PiecesGuest Viewpoint: Christin ter Braak-Forstinger
Impact investing has undergone a rapid evolution over the past decade. What originally started with investments in countries at the bottom of the pyramid has become a valid investment approach in developed countries as well.
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Opinion Pieces
Personalised TDFs on the rise
The newest trend in 401(k) plans is launching personalised versions of target-date funds (TDFs)
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Opinion PiecesLong-term matters: Lessons for Climate Action 100+
Fund management is a pretty opaque profession, and no aspect more so than the way investors hold the management of investee companies accountable
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Opinion PiecesLetter from the US: The $20bn club shifts strategy
The funded status of US corporate defined benefit (DB) plans is getting better, thanks to investment gains and higher corporate bond interest rates that decrease liabilities.
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Opinion PiecesGuest Viewpoint: Manuel Adamini, Sean Flannery, Toby Heaps and Eloy Lindeijer
“Time to invite brown corporates to the green bond party”
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Opinion PiecesBrussels People: Europe’s conservatives eye Africa
Describing himself as “the most senior elected Brit in Brussels” and speaking ahead of 29 March when he and the UK’s 72 other MEPs were set to relinquish their mandate in the European Parliament, Syed Kamall is keen to speak about matters other than Europe.
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Opinion PiecesLong Term Matters: BlackRock – time to pull your finger out!
Donald Trump is not the only US leader to ignore the climate emergency. BlackRock’s 2019 letter to companies, timed to coincide with Davos, it was equally silent on the crisis
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Opinion PiecesGuest viewpoint: David Kavanagh
The deadline for national implementation of the IORP II directive passed this January
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Opinion PiecesFirebrand targets supervision
One of the knottier issues in Brussels at the moment is the future of the European supervisory authorities
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Opinion Pieces
Hedge funds under scrutiny
Last year was good for hedge funds in terms of raising new money. But at the same time the industry suffered its biggest annual loss since 2011
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Opinion Pieces
Leading viewpoint: 2019's green investment picture
Lack of standards is not hindering green bond issuance. Pressure on corporates to finance the energy transition will intensify
