The United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) releases the Due Diligence Questionnaire (DDQ) for fixed income investors, aiming to provide investors with an application template for responsible investment based on the fixed income perspective and provide supplement information for the overall PRI reporting framework
S&P Dow Jones Indices launches the world’s first commodity-based climate index S&P GSCI Climate Aware Index, which aims to maintain the inflation sensitivity of commodities and diversification gains while providing a lower climate footprint than the benchmark S&P GSCI Index
The European Sustainable Investment Fora (Eurosif) issues a document giving comments on the guidelines of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on the naming of ESG funds
Morningstar launches the Global Sustainable Activities Involvement Indexes, which combines the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the revenue of listed companies to help investors choose investment targets that have more impact on the environment, society, and governance
The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) issues a report expressing its opinion on the ESG funds naming rules issued by the European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA)
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) recently announced that Hong Kong’s first tokenized government green bonds were successfully issued. The green bond is based on the government’s green bond plan and is also the first officially issued tokenized green bond in the world
Pensions for Purpose is committed to promoting impact investment action of pension funds. This study shows the progress of pension funds in climate-related financial disclosure and their actions towards governance, strategy, risk management, metrics and targets of the TCFD framework
The French regulator AMF issued a document recommending that the minimum environmental standards be included in the classification of ESG funds under SFDR to reduce the possibility of greenwashing
Since United Nations Global Compact put forward the concept of Environmental, Social and Governance, the financial industry has always been an important driver of the development of ESG, and various types of ESG products have emerged in an endless stream. These products serve as a bridge between investors and companies, helping funds to be efficiently allocated to long-term assets.
Common ESG financial products include ESG bonds (such as green bonds, blue bonds, transition bonds, sustainable bonds, sustainable linked bonds), ESG funds and ESG indexes. Although these financial products are still facing problems such as greenwashing, they have indeed contributed to the development. Regulators are also trying to reduce the negative impact of these products.
ESG focuses on the improvement of long-term value, and ESG products are attracting long-term funds. In the current situation, balancing risk and return is an important topic, and ESG products will become an important choice for investors to allocate assets.
