ESG Currents

Corporate deliberations on ESG often revolve not only around shareholders, but also the relationships with employees, customers, governments, the local community and even the planet. But sometimes tensions can arise between these various groups, and one stakeholder can be vital to helping corporate managers navigate these challenges: the lawyers. On this episode of ESG Currents, senior ESG Analyst...

Over the past three years, Starbucks has become a notable battleground for the resurgence of the American labor union. Amid continuous pushback from management, the unions are now leveraging a new tool in the fight -- corporate governance.  The Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), a coalition of labor unions, recently began its first activist campaign, seeking three seats on the Starbucks board at t...

Investor action is foundational to ESG, and Ceres has long been at the forefront of working with capital markets to address sustainability challenges. The Ceres Investor Network includes more than 220 institutional investors with more than $45 trillion in assets, and focuses on climate, water and biodiversity. On this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, the Rev. Kirsten Snow Spalding, Ceres’ Vice...

Of working Americans, 65% say they live paycheck to paycheck, with 30% saying they run out of money at the end of every month, according to a Harris Poll. Join BI Senior ESG Analyst Andy Stevenson and his guest, MIT Professor of Economic Geography and Regional Planning and founder of the Living Wage Calculator Amy Glasmeier, as they discuss what it means to earn a living wage, what percentage of A...

COP28 wrapped up with some noteworthy outcomes. For the first time, the summit called for a transition away from fossil fuels, which was viewed as historic by some but as insufficient by others. BI had a chance to speak about the event’s successes and shortcomings with numerous experts, including Jeff Sternberg, technical director for the office of the CTO at Google Cloud; Linda-Eling Lee, foundin...

Carbon markets can be an important component of the CO2-reduction tool kit as emissions goals and regulations continue to evolve. KraneShares Head of Climate Investments Luke Olivier joins Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Shaheen Contractor and Eric Kane on this episode of ESG Currents to discuss ways of investing in climate, along with a deep dive into the workings of carbon markets. This episode...

2023 saw a record number of shareholder proposals pushing companies to bring environmental and social issues more into focus, and one of the most active in the space has been As You Sow. Founded in 1992, the group bills itself as the nation’s non-profit leader in shareholder advocacy. They have an extensive track record of putting forward resolutions on issues such as energy & climate, social...

The ISSB seeks to bring the rigor of financial accounting to investor-focused sustainability reporting and is proactively involved in consolidating the ESG disclosure landscape, but board members Verity Chegar and Jeff Hales caution that, even with improvements, a complicated world will remain complicated. Jeff and Verity join Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Gail Glazerman and Eric Kane on this ep...

Sustainable fixed-income markets continue to develop with new products, regulations and uses of financing. Bruce Ronbeck, who focuses on sustainable finance in debt capital at Natixis CIB Americas, joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s senior ESG credit analyst Chris Ratti on this episode of the ESG Currents podcast to discuss recent trends, the evolution of the greenium and uses of financing along with...

Financed emissions and the role banks play in financing carbon-intensive industries have become a focal point of climate discussions. Citigroup has emerged as a leader in this conversation with its approach to transition planning and transparency. On this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Val Smith, Citi’s chief sustainability officer, joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s director of ESG research, Er...

 "Carbon markets are a critical tool for decarbonization, and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) provides a great case study. By 2030, the market is poised to eliminate 66% of CO2 emissions from utilities in Northeastern states, while already generating roughly $4.2 billion for participating states to invest in decarbonization. On this episode of the ESG Currents podcast Andrew McKeon,...

Given the wide swath of ESG and sustainability topics, breaking into the industry and navigating a career in the field and finding a niche often leaves people with many unanswered questions. On this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Nikita Singhal, co-head of sustainable investment & ESG at Lazard Asset Management, joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Shaheen Contractor to discuss key requi...

Corporate America has increasingly leaned in on ESG issues, but not everyone thinks business should get involved, including several prominent presidential candidates and our guest this week, Scott Shepard, director of the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project, which bills itself as the “original and premier opponent of the woke takeover of America.” Shepard joins BI...

A portfolio manager of an ESG and sustainable fund is an increasingly complex job, given the wide swath of data and themes. On this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Bruce Kahn joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Shaheen Contractor to discuss how he uses ESG data and metrics to analyze company performance and drive selection in his portfolio. The conversation focuses on the metrics that impact...

Many companies approach ESG as a box-checking exercise, but Tensie Whelan, director of NYU’s Center for Sustainable Business believes managements that do this could be missing out. Her work has found that companies that fail to track returns on their sustainable investments can make poor decisions and allocate capital suboptimally. On this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Whelan joins Bloomber...

ESG regulation remains divisive in the US, yet other regions have gone full steam ahead in setting the rules of the road for sustainable finance. Chief among them is the EU, which has rolled out a broad set of new and enhanced regulations for companies and investors. Nathan Fabian, chief sustainable systems officer at the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment and former chair of the Euro...

Sean Kidney, cofounder and CEO of Climate Bonds Initiative joins Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Christopher Ratti on this episode of the ESG Currents podcast to talk about Green Financing. Kidney discusses how CBI was formed and the impacts it’s had on green financing along with recent trends, policy initiatives and market developments. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Washington, DC has become an interesting place for investors between the climate incentives of the Inflation Reduction Act, the SEC’s disclosure rules and a growing pushback from House Republicans. Representative Sean Casten, co-chair of the Congressional Sustainable Investment Caucus, joins Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Rob Du Boff and Nathan Dean on this episode of the ESG Currents podcast to...

“Over the past 18 months to two years, we have probably seen the largest transformation globally in terms of expectations on [ESG] disclosures,” EY’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services leader Matthew Bell says. On this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Bell joins Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Eric Kane and Gail Glazerman to discuss the evolution and how companies and investors can lev...

National security begins with food and water security. Erin Sikorsky, Director of the Center for Climate & Security, joins BI analysts Eric Kane and Andy Stevenson to explain how climate is changing how the US military looks at national security and their role in aiding disaster recovery efforts. Sikorsky also discusses how climate change is shaping the role of the military in China, Pakistan,...

Most companies are tremendously reliant on their talent, with most saying it’s their biggest asset not even on the balance sheet, and therefore understanding how they’re engaging, retaining, rewarding and developing their people is important to the core of running a business, Marc Siegel, previous SASB and FASB member, explains to Bloomberg Intelligence. Siegel joins BI analyst Gail Glazerman on t...

Welcome to ESG Currents, hosted by Bloomberg Intelligence Analyst, Andy Stevenson who is joined by guest Debbie Gordon, Oil and Gas expert at RMI, to discuss the how methane emissions from US upstream oil and gas wells generate far more emissions than solar and wind prevent and how its not the big oil companies you know but the small oil companies you don’t that are keeping us back from reaching o...

Welcome to ESG Currents, hosted by Bloomberg Intelligence Analysts, Rob Du Boff, Senior ESG Analyst and Christopher Ratti, Senior ESG Credit Analyst, as they discuss the ‘G’ in ESG and why its critical for all stakeholders to understand governance practices, whether its avoiding run of the mill corporate wrongdoing or keeping a company on track to meeting environmental or social goals. Recorded as...

Welcome to ESG Currents, hosted by Bloomberg Intelligence Analysts, Shaheen Contractor, Senior ESG Strategist and Gail Glazerman, Senior ESG Integration Analyst, as they discuss the ‘S’ in ESG and why markets may be underappreciating the potential associated financial impacts from social issues. Recorded as of 7/14/2023. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ESG has become established as a key business theme as companies and investors seek to navigate the climate crisis, energy transition, social megatrends, mounting regulatory attention and pressure from other stakeholders. The rapidly evolving landscape has become inundated with acronyms and we aim to break them down with industry experts. Welcome to the first episode of ESG Currents, hosted by Bloo...