Malaysia’s Employment Provident Fund (EPF) is ready to engage and guide companies towards stronger ESG compliance, but they must be transparent and take progressive action, says Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan, who heads the EPF.
Five new commitments were made by financial firms with over US$10 billion in assets, against 31 in 2021 and 35 in 2020. More Asian financiers are coming on board in recent years.
Despite being less affected than North American investors by the politicisation of ESG, more than half of Asia Pacific investors expect intensified political pressure against ESG investing in their domestic markets down the road, a Robeco survey found.
Exclusive
EXCLUSIVE: This revision – which comes as banks face increasing scrutiny over their fossil fuel decarbonisation targets – will better reflect the UK lender's progress in reducing financed emissions, as the long-used revenue-based carbon intensity model “can be very misleading,” StanChart's chief sustainability officer Marisa Drew told Eco-Business.
It could be more effective as a strategy, as compared to divestment. Southeast Asia is already feeling the effects of climate change and needs strategic and effective action by investors.
By
Mark Konyn
In Asian universities, students often have little say about what happens on campus. As student divestment groups in the region gain momentum, it’s time for universities to listen to what their students have to say about issues that will affect their future.
By
Sonia Sambhi
Despite the increasing urgency of the climate crisis, many of the world’s most powerful financial actors have continued to invest in the fossil-fuel industry. But a new trend in the law is forcing institutional investors to decarbonise their portfolios – or be held legally accountable.
By
Bevis Longstreth and
Connor Chung
With the urgency of the climate crisis becoming clearer by the day, governments and multilateral lenders must end public financing for fossil fuels and increase their support for renewables as soon as possible. This year's United Nations climate-change conference offers the perfect opportunity to lock in such commitments.
By
Werner Hoyer
and John Murton
Pension funds are some of the world's largest investors—holding trillions in assets—billions of which are pumped into fossil fuel companies like Shell, BP, and Total.
In the video, environmental law group ClientEarth compares the oil and gas giant's advertisements on its low-carbon investments to a burger chain claiming that they’re vegan because they’ve got salad on the menu.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas assistant governor tells the Eco-Business Podcast about the regulator’s maiden sustainability report that features an empirical study of climate impacts on banks as well as the nation’s first taxonomy.
Exclusive
The world's largest asset manager says it has put sustainability at the core of its investment approach. Eco-Business speaks to Shinbo Won, BlackRock's investment stewardship director in Singapore about what this means for investors, and how companies are responding to increased ESG pressure.
Fossil fuels, tobacco, weapons—our banks could be spending our money on things we don't want them to. Eco-Business talks to finance expert Mayur Singh about why consumers in Asia should asking banks how they spend their money.