All Things Sustainable

In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast we ' re continuing our exploration of the sustainable t axonomies developing in countries around the world.    Today we're turning to Mexico, which announced a new sustainable taxonomy in Ma rch 2023. According to the Mexican government, the taxonomy is the first in the world to consider social objectives . Achieving gender equality is one of its maj or g...

In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast , we explore how I ndigenous communities are engaging with companies, financial institutions and investors to ensure a just transition to a low - carbon economy. We speak to K ate Finn , E xecutive D irector of First Peoples Worldwide, a n Indigenous -led organization that aims to increase corporate accountability to Indigenous p eoples at the intersectio...

In March 2023 , the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a synthesis report warn ing that the world needs to act fast to reduce emissions. The synthesis report is likely to be the go-to document for many stakeholders setting their climate policies and plans over the next several years .     In this episode of ESG Insider, we hear from two authors of the IPCC report : Dr....

The low-carbon transition will require some major innovations, a rapid buildout of existing technologies, and significantly more financing, the recently released synthesis report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states.   In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we sit down for an interview with BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila to learn how one of the largest banks in Spain...

March is Women's History Month . T o mark the occasion, we've been interviewing women CEOs and executives from across industries and around the globe . In our final episode in this special series of the ESG Insider podcast , we hear from three women leaders from very different backgrounds .   We talk with Dr. Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy of the African Union Commissi...

  T hroughout Women ' s History Month, we ' re bringing you a special series of the ESG Insider podcast focused on women in leadership. We ' re speaking to women CEOs and executives from across industries and around the globe.   In this episode, we interview Laura Lane , E xecutive V ice P resident and C hief C orporate A ffairs and S ustainability O fficer at UPS , a multinational shipping & rece...

This week the ESG Insider podcast is on the ground in Houston, Texas for a special episode covering key themes from one of the world's largest energy conferences — the annual CERAWeek event h osted by S&P Global. The event brings to gether big names from across the oil and gas, finance, government and technology sectors, and provides an opportunity to take the pulse of the global energy industry o...

To mark Women ' s History Month, we ' re bringing you a special series of the ESG Insider podcast focused on women in leadership. We ' re speaking to women CEOs and executives from across industries and around the globe.   In this episode, we interview Shameela Soobramoney , C hief S ustainability O ffice r at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange . She explains how the JSE  approaches gender equality i...

To mark Women's History Month and International Women's Day, we're bringing you a special series of the ESG Insider podcast focused on women in leadership , featuring interviews with women CEOs and executives from across industries and around the globe.   In this episode, we 're speaking to Jackie van Niekerk, CEO of South African real estate investment trust Attacq , which is listed on the Johann...

In t he latest episode of our special Women in Leadership series of the ESG Insider podcast, we're speaking with Priscilla Sims Brown, CEO of New York-based Amalgamated Bank — a company she describes as "a little bit unusual" in the financial services world in that it is a socially responsible bank focused on ESG and sustainability.      Priscilla ' s path to the CEO role has span ned continents a...

Today, March 8, is International Women's Day, and to mark the occasion we're bringing you the latest in our special series of the ESG Insider podcast focused on women in leadership. W e're talking to Marita Zuraitis , CEO of Horace Mann, a financial services and insurance company that serves U.S. public educators.   Marita tells us how she handles the unconscious bias she has encountered o n her p...

To mark Women's History Month and International Women's Day March 8, we're bringing you a special series of the ESG Insider podcast focused on women in leadership. We'll be speaking to women CEOs and executives from across industries and around the globe.   In our second interview of the series we interview Alison Whritenour , CEO of Seventh Generation, a U.S. producer of eco-friendly cleaning, pa...

March is Women's History Month and March 8 is International Women's Day. To mark the occasion, we 're bringing you a special series of the ESG Insider podcast focus ed on women in leadership. We'll be speaking to women CEOs and executives from across industries and around the globe.   In our first interview of the series, we speak to Hilde Aasheim, CEO of Norsk Hydro, a large Norwegian aluminum an...

Last week, a few thousand sustainability professionals gathered for the annual GreenBiz conference hosted by GreenBiz Group. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we're on the ground talking with panelists and attendees about the biggest challenges and opportunities facing the space —  from regulation, disclosure requirements and supply chains to environmental justice, employee wellbeing and...

After more than 16 years leading the US Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, CEO Lisa Woll is stepping down. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, she reflects on how sustainable investing has changed during that time, and where she sees the field going next following US SIF's latest biennial report on sustainable investing.   That report identified $8.4 trillion in total US sus...

Taxonom ies : This is a topic that has dominated many conversations in the sustainability world in recent years . In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast , we explore the growing number of taxonomies around the world. In simple terms, a taxonomy is a kind of dictionary of sustainable activities designed to provide clarity on which economic activities are sustainable and to support investment fl...

In the past few years, hundreds of financial institutions have made big announcements about becoming net zero or carbon neutral by 2050.   But S&P Global Sustainable1 data indicates that many of these pledges don't address Scope 3 financed emissions, which come from the investments financial institutions make or the loans they finance. These account for the bulk of the industry's emissions.   In t...

The annual Davos summit just ended, and one of the topics of discussion at this World Economic Forum event was stakeholder capitalism. In simple terms, stakeholder capitalism is the idea that companies are responsible to a wide range of stakeholders, including their customers, employees, suppliers and communities, as well as their shareholders. A few years ago, this was a big topic at Davos as the...

In 2022, the world experienced major climate-related disasters ranging from flooding and hurricanes to drought and extreme heatwaves. Moreover, 2022 was the sixth-warmest year on record, according to scientists at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.   NOAA just issued its annual report on climate trends in the U.S. for 2022, which includes a review of the major clima...

In late December 2022, nearly 200 countries at the U.N. biodiversity conference known as COP15 reached a landmark agreement for protecting and restoring nature by 2030. Deforestation was a big topic of conversation at COP15 given the importance of forests for both biodiversity and climate change.    In this episode of ESG Insider, we look at how some asset managers are addressing one of the larges...

In this episode of ESG Insider, we're looking ahead to sustainability themes that will drive 2023 by revisiting our most popular episodes and some of our favorite interviews from the past year.     We'll hear from one of the world's largest banks; the Chair of the Network for Greening the Financial System, or NGFS; the Co-Chair of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, or TNFD; som...

The U.N. biodiversity conference known as COP15 ended earlier this week with a landmark agreement for nature, the Global Biodiversity Framework.     In this episode of ESG Insider, we unpack the big takeaways from the conference through several on-the-ground interviews in Montreal. We speak to Laurence Pessez, Global Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at the big French bank BNP Paribas. We si...

Mining exploration around the world is picking up as companies seek new deposits of elements like lithium and copper to support the energy transition. Research by S&P Global Sustainable1 finds there is overlap between existing mines and exploration sites and some of the world's most important areas for biodiversity.   In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we explore what the mining industry...

We just hosted our inaugural ESG Insider Live podcast event, bringing our show on the road to host interviews in front of an audience. In today's episode, we bring you the highlights of those interviews on the topics of climate, nature and the evolving ESG landscape.    We talk to Amy Hepburn, CEO of the Investor Leadership Network, a coalition of institutional investors representing more than $10...

The second part of the U.N.'s Convention on Biological Diversity, known as COP15, kicks off in Montreal on Dec. 7. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we tell you what to expect.   We speak to Elizabeth Mrema, COP15 Executive Secretary and Co-Chair of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, or TNFD. She talks to us about themes that will be covered during COP15 and what will...