Written by Anthony Walters – Clever‘s Head of ESG, ESG in 5 is a roundup of 5 key pieces of ESG news and performance, from the past week.
Breaking the glass ceiling not only brings equality but also profits
Corporate titans unite for clean energy revolution
Growing greener: USDA’s Forest Service takes a stand for carbon capture in America’s backyard!
DOE’s solar initiative lights up resilience for vulnerable communities
Markets rallied last week with the MSCI ACWI ESG Focus Index beating the ACWI Index, with each returning 2.58% and 2.57% respectively. Returns were bolstered by gains in ESG friendly tech leaders, which form a significant part of the ESG Focus Index.
BlackRock study finds gender-balanced companies outperform peers
Companies with more gender-balanced workforces outperformed their least-balanced peers by as much as 2 percentage points annually between 2013 and 2022, a BlackRock study of the MSCI World index has found. The higher return on assets held true within countries and within sectors and was especially marked for companies where gender parity was greatest in revenue producing, engineering and top-paying jobs, researchers at the $9.1tn money manager said in a report released on Thursday.
Clean Energy Procurement Academy launched by Apple, Amazon, Meta, Nike, PepsiCo, and REI Co-op
In an industry first, leading corporate energy customers have come together to launch the Clean Energy Procurement Academy to equip companies with the technical readiness to explore and adopt clean energy, an essential factor in global decarbonisation.Supply chain emissions account for more than half of global greenhouse gas emissions and can represent the majority of a company’s total carbon footprint. Apple and Nike initiated the project through the Clean Energy Buyers Institute (CEBI) and were joined by Amazon, Meta, PepsiCo, and REI Co-op as founding members.
USDA proposes to allow carbon capture projects on national forests
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would allow the agency to consider proposals for potential carbon capture and sequestration projects on national forests and grasslands. Carbon dioxide emissions can be mitigated by capturing and sequestering these emissions into suitable deep underground geologic formations. These efforts are important to combat climate change and to meet President Biden’s domestic climate goal of net-zero emissions economy-wide by 2050.
DOE Announces $440 Million Solar Rooftop Installation in Puerto Rico’s Most Vulnerable Communities
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a slate of solar companies and nonprofits selected to install rooftop solar and battery storage systems for vulnerable households in Puerto Rico through the Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund (PR-ERF). The first tranche of PR-ERF funding, up to $440 million, will help lower energy bills for 30,000–40,000 single-family households in Puerto Rico, improve household energy resilience, and keep the lights on during extreme weather events.
Sources.
Anthony Walters – Head of ESG at Clever Adviser Technology Ltd (Clever)
Data sourced from FE FundInfo & Koyfin (quoted in Pounds Sterling).
BlackRock study finds gender-balanced companies outperform peers by Brooke Masters, MSN.com and Financial Times, 02/11/23
Clean Energy Procurement Academy launched by Apple, Amazon, Meta, Nike, PepsiCo, and REI Co-op, By ESG News, 03/11/23
USDA Forest Service Proposes to Allow Carbon Capture Projects on National Forests, by ESG News, 06/11/23
DOE Announces $440 Million Solar Rooftop Installation in Puerto Rico’s Most Vulnerable Communities, by ESG News 03/11/23
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