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We summarise credible research and reports on sustainable finance and ESG issues. Our summaries, along with our AI ChatBot saves members time reading large reports, to focus on knowledge building and action.
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A director’s guide to mandatory climate reporting
This guide covers Australia’s mandatory climate reporting, requiring large entities to disclose climate risks and opportunities from January 2025. It provides directors with practical steps for compliance, focusing on governance, strategy, and risk management, and encourages proactive engagement to build long-term organisational resilience.
Blended finance and the gender-energy nexus: A stocktaking report
The report explores how gender-responsive financing can be integrated into the energy sector through blended finance. It highlights market trends, key players, case studies, and challenges in promoting gender equality within climate action. The report underscores the need for technical assistance and innovative financial structures to close gender gaps in the sector, enhancing both climate resilience and economic opportunities for women.
Securing minerals for the energy transition: Unlocking the value chain through policy, investment and innovation
The report highlights the need for collaboration and innovation to secure a stable supply of critical minerals. These minerals are essential for the energy transition but face supply-demand imbalances. The report discusses financial and regulatory barriers and outlines solutions involving policy initiatives, stakeholder partnerships, and investment to ensure a sustainable, affordable, and available supply of critical minerals for clean energy technologies.
Spotlight on nature: Case studies for business transformation towards a nature-positive future
This report highlights six case studies of businesses transforming towards a nature-positive future. It showcases their efforts to address nature-related risks and opportunities, focusing on areas such as sustainable forestry, circular resource use, soil health, sustainable seafood, biodiversity, and freshwater management.
Pension fund trustees and fiduciary duties: Decision-making in the context of sustainability and the subject of climate change
The report discusses the legal duties of pension fund trustees, especially in the context of sustainability and climate change. It highlights how trustees must balance financial risks and returns while incorporating long-term sustainability. The paper provides guidance for trustees to navigate fiduciary duties, including the implications of climate-related factors on investment decisions.
Engagement and divestment: Shareholders transcend a false binary
This briefing explores how institutional investors are moving beyond the binary choice of engagement versus divestment in response to climate-related financial risks. It highlights how divestment complements engagement strategies, enabling investors to maintain credible influence over corporate policies while protecting portfolios from climate risks.
Building sustainable business models in private banks: A pathway to a better future
This report highlights the SPRING framework, aimed at integrating sustainability within private banking. It presents findings from a pilot study, emphasising the need for private banks to incorporate ESG in operations, improve risk management, foster governance, and engage clients on sustainability preferences. The report also provides actionable recommendations for private banks to drive positive environmental and social impact.
The finfluencer appeal: Investing in the age of social media
The report titled examines the role of financial influencers ("finfluencers") in shaping investment decisions, especially among Gen-Z investors. It highlights the regulatory challenges posed by finfluencers, explores their content's appeal to younger audiences, and provides recommendations for enhancing financial literacy and regulatory frameworks.
No data, no deal? Impact measurement and capital flows to achieve climate-compatible growth
This report explores the challenges and importance of impact measurement and management (IMM) in directing capital to climate-friendly projects, particularly in emerging markets. Through investor interviews and case studies, it highlights the need for standardised IMM to enhance transparency, avoid 'impact-washing', and ensure equitable access to capital for underrepresented markets like Zambia.
How to address the corporate community engagement gap: The case for a pooled fund for legal and technical support
This report makes the case for a pooled fund to provide independent legal and technical support to communities affected by land-based investments. The fund aims to bridge the gap in corporate-community engagement, reduce social and environmental risks, and improve human rights due diligence by empowering communities to engage on equal footing with businesses.
The investor case for fighting inequality: How inequality harms investors and what investors should do about it
The report argues that socioeconomic inequality poses systemic risks to investment performance. It highlights that addressing inequality aligns with investors' fiduciary duties by reducing financial risks and improving long-term returns. The report provides evidence that inequality impacts corporate performance, supply chains, and macroeconomic stability.
From fragmentation to integration: Embedding social issues in sustainable finance
The report calls for integrating social risks into financial strategies. It emphasises the interconnectedness of social and environmental issues and recommends enhancing research, standards, and tools to address socio-economic inequalities, promoting financial stability and sustainability.
Are high-interest loans predatory? Theory and evidence from payday lending
This report investigates whether high-interest payday loans are predatory by exploring borrower behaviour and the impact of regulatory measures. Using an experiment with payday loan borrowers, the study finds that while inexperienced borrowers are often overoptimistic about repayment, more experienced ones anticipate future borrowing accurately.
Leveraged buyouts: A survey of the literature
This report provides a comprehensive review of leveraged buyouts (LBOs), covering their motives, value creation mechanisms, and trends in public-to-private transactions. Key factors discussed include agency cost reduction, tax benefits, stakeholder wealth transfers, and corporate restructuring processes. It also highlights empirical evidence from the US, UK, and Europe, examining the resurgence of LBOs in the early 2000s.
Nature investor toolkit: Understanding nature-related risks and opportunities and supporting investors to assess, engage and take action
The toolkit helps investors identify, assess, and manage nature-related risks and opportunities in their portfolios. It provides guidance on how to engage with stakeholders, evaluate investment impacts on nature, and explore emerging tools for nature-positive outcomes. The toolkit also highlights strategies to mitigate risks and seize nature-related investment opportunities.
Predatory fintech and the politics of banking
This report critically examines the rise of predatory fintech lending practices in the US. It highlights how fintech firms exploit regulatory gaps through partnerships with banks, resulting in high-cost loans that disproportionately impact financially vulnerable households. The report also discusses potential regulatory reforms to protect consumers from these harmful practices.