Blake Goud Blake Goud

The Global Stocktake offers a wake-up call for financial institutions working towards long-term climate targets

A Global Stocktake to update on the world’s progress towards goals set down in the Paris Agreement shows notable ambition, although not enough ambition or follow-through to keep on a 1.5° C trajectory. One of the upcoming milestones required to stay on track is for the world to reach peak global emissions by 2025. The nearness of this deadline highlights an important reality in addressing climate change – the world is working on mitigating an issue that will bring catastrophic consequences if unmitigated, and we will only know whether we’re back on target long after the actions we are discussing today may be completed.

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ESG & Shariah Blake Goud ESG & Shariah Blake Goud

Resetting expectations for ESG

Following the onset of Covid-19, ESG became a hot topic as the ‘next big thing’. With that growth, it attracted both pretenders and detractors. The change in the tone of reporting about ESG has led to some hand-wringing about its future. A UK-based portfolio manager broke down the issue into two parts: “When it comes to “the three-letter acronym ‘ESG’ — people don’t want to talk about it as much because of the news flow from the US. But from an investment perspective and what we do internally, it has never been more important.”

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FinTechs Blake Goud FinTechs Blake Goud

FinTech Startups Need A Responsible Finance Strategy To Help Avoid Pitfalls As They Navigate ESG

  • Bain & Company and EcoVadis, as well as IBM, each released research finding operational performance benefit for companies with strong ESG characteristics

  • Evidence is growing outside of large, listed companies, including private companies, that ESG has operational benefits, but also comes with several barriers to adoption including when companies become overwhelmed by a magnitude of issues and revert to a ‘compliance’ mindset

  • RFI’s Responsible Finance FinTech Program can help FinTechs who are being pushed to focus on ESG issues get started in the right direction to avoid ESG becoming a distraction, and rather to make sure they see benefits by doing well on the right ESG issues

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