ESG Currents

What does putting $100 billion toward climate solutions entail? On this week’s episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Peter Cashion, head of sustainable investing at CalPERS, joins Shaheen Contractor, senior ESG analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, to unpack how one of the world’s largest pension funds is translating climate ambition into investment decisions. Learn more about the practica...

Japan’s ESG and sustainable investing are entering a new stage – impact investing, which seeks to generate measurable social impact alongside financial returns. Government-led initiatives and working groups involving investors, asset managers, corporations and academia are working to establish the framework of new investing schemes and increase its scale in Japan. In this episode of ES...

PepsiCo’s food and beverage products depend on reliable access to agricultural commodities and water, driving the company’s sustainability strategy. On this episode of ESG Currents, BI senior ESG analyst Gail Glazerman is joined by Jim Andrew, PepsiCo’s chief sustainability officer. They discuss how sustainability intersects with PepsiCo’s business strategy, the company&rsq...

Japan is emerging as a potential leader in carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) — and is developing another next-generation decarbonization technology: CO2-absorbing concrete. In this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Yasutake Homma speaks with Junichiro Miura, deputy director at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, about the curr...

As carbon “super sponges” and vital climate-resilience tools, mangroves highlight how nature underpins economic stability. With more than half of global GDP reliant on healthy ecosystems, nature loss poses substantial risks and opportunities. In this episode of ESG Currents, BI ESG analysts Grace Osborne and Chris Ratti speak with the WWF’s Global Lead of the Carbon Finance &...

Green bonds may have transformed the world by volume, but blue bonds are poised to change it by depth. In this episode of ESG Currents, BI EMEA ESG Integration Analyst Grace Osborne speaks with Shargiil Bashir , chief sustainability officer and executive Vice president at First Abu Dhabi Bank, discuss how blue bonds are mobilizing capital toward protection of critical marine ecosystems. They explo...

According to the IEA’s 2025 Global Methane Tracker, methane is responsible for around 30% of the current rise in global temperature. Mitigating methane, which has more than 80x the warming potential of CO2 over a 20-year period, is critical to addressing climate change. In this episode of ESG Currents, Bloomberg Intelligence’s director of ESG research Eric Kane speaks with Olya Irzak,...

Shareholders aren’t financial investors, but actual owners of a company. They have several tools at their disposal to push corporate leaders to focus on long-term sustainability of the business: electing the board of directors, voting on routine matters, or even submitting proposals for other shareholders to vote on. But are these shareholder rights a strength of capitalism, or are executive...

Stronger ecosystems that bolster investor confidence have become essential to global carbon markets' growth. "Carbon markets can only scale at the speed of trust," says Oi-Yee Choo, CEO of Singapore-based Climate Impact X (CIX), tells Conrad Tan, Bloomberg Intelligence ESG integration analyst. Choo explains what's needed to build this trust, why the gap between compliance and voluntary carbon mark...

Weather drives nearly $1 trillion in annual spending-pattern shifts — boosting long john sales in Miami on a 60-degree day while slowing them in Minnesota. In this episode of ESG Currents, Bloomberg Intelligence senior climate analyst Andrew Stevenson speaks with Planalytics CEO Fred Fox about how companies such as Lowe’s are using weather insights to improve bottom-line results. See o...

Modern portfolio theory tells us that company-specific risks can be reduced through the magic of diversification. But what about market-wide risks, like climate change and income inequality? On this week’s episode of the ESG Currents podcast, BI Senior ESG Analyst Rob Du Boff speaks with Jon Lukomnik, managing partner of Sinclair Capital and a pioneer in corporate governance. They discuss ho...

Extreme weather is taking toll on farm output worldwide, with record droughts and wildfires driving up prices in markets for cocoa, cattle and coffee. In this episode of ESG Currents, Bloomberg Intelligence senior climate analyst Andrew Stevenson is joined by Dave Farnham, chief data scientist at ClimateAi, to discuss how better data can help minimize climate costs. See omnystudio.com/listener for...

The IMO's draft net zero framework's implications for new marine fuels and technologies as well as the top challenges for shipowners and fuel producers are explored in the latest ESG Currents episode. Strong demand will develop for hydrogen-derived fuels, with ammonia likely to be the "scalable solution," Tristan Smith, Professor of Energy and Transport at UCL Energy Institute tells Conrad Tan, Bl...

As government support for climate solutions wanes, attracting private capital becomes even more critical. On this episode of ESG Currents, BI senior analysts Gail Glazerman and Rob Du Boff speak with the Green Impact Exchange’s co-founders Daniel Labovitz (CEO) and Charles Dolan (president) about their new equity-trading platform designed to connect sustainability-minded companies and invest...

Amid the backlash against ESG, it’s essential that investors and other market participants be able to separate the signal from noise. In this episode of ESG Currents, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Director of ESG Research Eric Kane is joined by the entire BI ESG team to discuss the key issues shaping ESG in the second half of 2025. Chris Ratti, Conrad Tan, Gail Glazerman, Andy Stevenson, Ya...

Climate-related disasters have caused $18.5 trillion in damages since 2000, and the risks keep growing. In this episode of ESG Currents, Bloomberg Intelligence’s director of ESG research Eric Kane speaks with Ron Dembo, founder and CEO of Riskthinking. AI, about the radical uncertainty of climate change, how his firm models physical climate risk, how investors can use the data and why the bi...

Patagonia is known for putting the planet before profit, including a landmark decision to make Earth “our only shareholder.” Learn more about Patagonia’s unique ownership structure as CEO Ryan Gellert joins Shaheen Contractor, senior ESG analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, on this week’s episode of ESG Currents. They discuss unique challenges and opportunities in leading a m...

Debt-for-nature swaps are gaining traction as a way to restructure sovereign debt in exchange for conservation commitments. In this episode of ESG Currents, Bloomberg Intelligence director of ESG research Eric Kane and senior ESG associate Melanie Rua speak with Slav Gatchev, who leads The Nature Conservancy’s Sustainable Debt team, and Jake Harper, senior investment manager for Alternative...

The climate transition is expected to require significant capital expenditures, with private equity being an important vehicle. In this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Vikram Raju, head of Private Equity Climate Investing for Morgan Stanley Investment Management, joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s senior ESG analyst Shaheen Contractor. They discuss the financial viability and risks of clima...

Natural gas is often referred to as a bridge fuel. Though some see it as a lower-carbon alternative to coal and oil for reliable electricity, others regard it as a methane-loaded detour to a zero-carbon future. In this week’s episode of ESG Currents, Bloomberg Intelligence Senior ESG Analyst Rob Du Boff sits down with Danny Rice, co-founder of Rice Energy and CEO of Net Power, a company that...

How can AI help navigate the complex, varied and piecemeal world of ESG regulations? In this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Irena Vodenska, professor of finance and director of finance programs at Boston University’s Metropolitan College, joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s senior ESG analysts Shaheen Contractor and Rob Du Boff. They discuss a study that uses the power of AI to help d...

"Exiting or reducing financing for palm oil is something we're absolutely not trying to do. Instead we're trying to support sustainable palm oil, without deforestation and planting on peat or exploitation," says Luanne Sieh, group chief sustainability officer at Malaysia's CIMB Group. On this ESG Currents episode, Sieh and Conrad Tan, Bloomberg Intelligence ESG integration analyst for APAC, explor...

California has long led the US in tackling air emissions, but Congress recently voted to block a key tool employed by the state to accomplish its goals. In this episode of ESG Currents, BI senior ESG analysts Gail Glazerman and Rob Du Boff are joined by Mary Nichols, distinguished counsel for the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA, who previously served as chair of the...

How can we prepare tomorrow’s leaders for today’s climate risks? In this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, the University of Maryland’s Dr. Cliff Rossi, academic director and professor, and Tim Canty, associate professor, join Bloomberg Intelligence’s Andy Stevenson, senior ESG analyst, to discuss their interdisciplinary approach to teaching sustainability. Together they...

Discussions around climate change have become deeply politicized, but global warming’s impacts have no political affiliation, whether it’s hurricanes in deep red Texas or wildfires in deep blue California. On this episode of ESG Currents, BI senior ESG analyst Rob Du Boff is joined by Bob Inglis, executive director of republicEn.org and former US Congressman from South Carolina’s...