This report by Do Harvey outlines an ethical framework for AI usage, highlighting environmental impacts, security risks, and bias concerns. It advocates for transparent, client-opt-in adoption underpinned by human oversight, and summarises five modes of AI use to guide teams in making values-aligned, informed decisions.

The 2026 State of the Sustainability Profession report by Trellis Group surveys more than 500 professionals at companies with at least $1 billion in revenue. Most large businesses are maintaining sustainability commitments despite political headwinds, though investment has slowed, communications are being scaled back and professionals report growing dissatisfaction.

This IPPR paper examines how social media platforms have shifted from user-led spaces to algorithm-driven, influencer-dominated environments through 'sticky gatekeeping'. A UK survey found only 18 per cent of feed posts were personal content. The report recommends regulatory reform, algorithmic transparency, and development of a public social media platform.

AlphaGlass is an interpretable machine-learning framework for characteristic-based portfolio construction that directly optimises the Sharpe ratio. Applied to U.S. equities from 2000 to 2021, it achieves a monthly out-of-sample Sharpe ratio of 0.47, outperforming random forests, neural networks, and EBM benchmarks, while providing transparent attribution to firm characteristics.

This Chatham House paper examines four trends — rising defence and dual-use investment, the growth of 'patriotic tech', the push for sovereign AI, and concerns over an AI valuation bubble — that could multipolarise the global AI race, and offers recommendations for private sector preparedness.

This NBER working paper quantifies the environmental costs of US data centre electricity use in 2025. Using facility-level data for approximately 2,800 data centres, it estimates gross external damages of $24.6 billion from air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, with Texas and Virginia accounting for 30% of the national total.

The EBA's final report amends the 2016 Product Oversight and Governance (POG) Guidelines to incorporate ESG features and greenwashing risks for retail banking products. Key changes include requirements for manufacturers and distributors to prevent greenwashing, extended scope to non-bank consumer credit providers, and an application date of 11 January 2027.

This BHRC report examines how top US companies are responding to mounting pressure on human rights standards. It identifies three corporate pathways: active deregulatory lobbying by Big Oil and Big Tech, quiet retreat from human rights commitments, and continued adherence. Survey data from April 2026 reveals significant reductions in human rights staffing and budgets.

The Business Breakthrough Barometer 2026 surveys over 500 companies on the climate transition, finding 92% expect sustainability to deliver competitive advantage. While investment momentum holds, 68% of leaders see rising risks of a disorderly transition, urging predictable policy strengthening from governments to unlock private capital.

This report by Shift distils insights from practitioner clinics for financial institutions on social performance measurement. It identifies key challenges and misperceptions, and provides eight practical tips for building more effective human rights due diligence measurement approaches, covering HRDD maturity assessment, theory of change, and quantification at scale.

This First Street report applies climate risk modelling to five infrastructure asset types — airports, residential developments, rail networks, transmission lines, and toll roads — demonstrating how localised physical hazards translate into material revenue losses and operational downtime, and why traditional parcel-based risk tools are inadequate for complex infrastructure.

This report analyses publicly disclosed data from 2,972 companies across 11 sectors, revealing a significant gap between AI adoption and governance maturity. Only 13 per cent align their strategy with a formal framework, and few demonstrate adequate worker protections, ethical impact assessments, or training data oversight.

This report examines how the Planetary Boundaries Framework translates nine critical global processes into material risks and value creation opportunities for investors and corporates. Seven of nine boundaries have already been breached. Tools, frameworks, and an investor engagement plan are outlined to support Earth-system-aligned capital allocation and long-term value creation.

This Shift briefing examines how financial institutions should approach human rights due diligence in relation to weapons and dual-use technologies. It identifies four key challenges, six anchors grounded in international humanitarian law, and six practical approaches to support responsible defence-related lending and investment decisions.

This Shift report reviews the financial effects of corporate engagement with Indigenous Peoples and local communities on nature-related issues. Drawing on over 1,200 cases and approximately 40 publications, it finds that engagement quality is financially material, with poor engagement linked to significant operational, legal, and reputational costs.

This NBER working paper examines the labour market effects of California's AB 1228, which raised the fast-food minimum wage to $20 per hour in April 2024. Across 32 QCEW and QWI specifications, wages rose by roughly 7 per cent with an own-wage elasticity of employment ranging from −0.29 to +0.26, indicating modest to no disemployment.