The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) plans to carry out an ESG supervision on asset management companies. The supervision is under the charge of the Buy-Side Directorate of FCA, which includes the corporate governance content that asset management companies are most likely to have a negative impact on consumers and the market in their business activities
The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) replied to the draft Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) issued by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and advised on the three types of sustainable investment labels. ICMA believes that the proposal of SDR can help the financial industry to make greater contributions in the transformation of low-carbon economy, and the establishment of investment labels can facilitate the sustainable product development of asset management companies and help investors to select appropriate financial products
The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) recently released the 2022 Global Impact Bond Report, which analyzes the issuance and certification of impact bonds. ICE defines impact bonds as green bonds, social bonds and sustainable development bonds
NRF (Norton Rose Fulbright), an international law firm, issued a report to statistically analyze the ESG loans involved during last year. NRF divided these ESG loans into sustainable-linked loans and social loans, and collected information about 50 loan projects from Asia and Europe
Recently, Euronext announced the launch of a new ESG index, named CAC SBT 1.5 °. CAC SBF is an index of 120 stocks prepared by the Paris Stock Exchange. 1.5 ° is the company in line with the emission reduction plan of the Paris Agreement
Singapore Exchange believes that when the bonds meet the criteria of green bonds, social bonds, or sustainable bonds, they can be considered as Sustainable Fixed Income. Specifically, both bonds for institutional investors and retail bonds
In 2018, Hong Kong launched the government green bond program for the first time, with an initial borrowing ceiling of HK $100 billion (about $12.8 billion). This borrowing limit was increased to HK $200 billion ($25.6 billion) in 2021. The funds raised by green bonds are mainly
Recently, the European Union said that it would consider setting up a social climate fund to establish a new carbon emission trading system and provide funds for member countries to improve carbon emissions. The EU’s goal is to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050
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.
