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Rio was proud to sponsor The Future of Climate Finance last week; an exclusive one-day conference held in the heart of London that addressed the escalating mobilisation of finance in favour of sustainable global development. As well as sponsoring the conference our CEO and founder, Dan Botterill, sat on a dynamic panel discussing the evolution from ESG to sustainability and real impact.

The conference saw a discussion amongst lead investors, policy makers and CFOs on the multi-billion dollar climate-focused funds investment industry. Specifically, over $650 billion poured into climate-focused funds worldwide in 2021 and 2022 is set to be another record-breaking year for green finance.

As the environmental stakes increase and the vocal and natural warnings grow menacingly stark, pressure on the global investment industry to tackle climate change is higher than ever before.

There is no vaccine against the potential of a climate crisis and the rapidly shifting change in sentiment towards those that can assist in delivering a greener future is already widening the gap between winners and losers. There is no end of money to be made by those who anticipate the number of opportunities brought about by this uneven pace of change.

Moreover, the politics of climate change continues to have significant implications for how capital markets are expected to perform. It seems increasingly possible that the owners of capital will either die alone in the pursuit of growth or share a bed with the concepts of sustainability and social well-being.  

Is this endless pursuit of growth compatible with an urgent need to slash carbon emissions? Or is this the end of capitalism as we know it?

Click here below to listen to the key takeaways from some of the excellent speakers including Olga Hancock, Deputy Head of Responsible Investment, Church Commissioners for England, Amanda Young,  Chief Sustainability Officer, abrdn and our very own Dan Botterill, CEO and Company Founder, Rio ESG LTD.

 

Fashion accounts for 10% of the world’s carbon emissions and is the second-most polluting industry in the world. But in an increasingly climate-conscious society, there are pressures to present sustainable performance to appeal to customers.

Reference take from this Guardian article.

What is your professional background and experience?

After my masters I become a data/business analyst for two different renewable energy companies; it helped me to fully realise that data will and is changing the world. Data can tell you everything you would ever need to know, but you first need to understand what the right questions to ask are, how the data should be presented so it’s meaningful and actionable and have an idea of the wider context. I’ve seen first-hand that by looking at data, presenting it in a meaningful way and offering actionable insights you can change an entire company’s direction. 

 

Our Manifesto

At Rio, we stand by our manifesto and that means practising what we preach. To do this, last year we set science-based targets to achieve Net Zero within our organisation. So, a year on, we’re looking at the targets we set, what practices or policies we put in place to achieve them and where we are now.

GHG Protocol basics: Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions reporting

A recently released OECD report found that just 9% of plastic worldwide is currently recycled; despite a heightened alertness of the problem globally, and the recent drive to address it.  

When consumers return an item of clothing, they think that it will be shipped back to a warehouse, processed, then resold. Yet, due to the relentless and unsustainable nature of fast fashion, returns commonly end up in landfill. This is because it is cheaper for the company to throw them in landfill than to process them, as this would outweigh how much it cost to produce the garment in the first place.

Our Chief Executive, Dan Botterill, recently had a discussion with James Holley, Head of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) at Bridgepoint on all things ESG and investment data. Bridgepoint is an alternative asset fund management group focussing on the Middle Market, and have adopted responsible investing principles into their work and business practices.

James spoke with us as part of our most recent resource guide, ESG Due Diligence, Compliance, and Voluntary Reporting: A Data Collection Guide for Financial Services. This guide provides snapshot of the ESG due diligence data landscape, and some practical steps for collecting data.

AVG Group Sarl,  a climate change investment firm in Norway, recently engaged with Rio to to better understand their ESG performance and areas of improvement. Together undertaking and assessment of each company in AVG’s portfolio against material ESG issues using a customised methodology aligned with SASB and WEF frameworks.

The final report of the assessment is a summary that showcases the positive environmental impact that one investor has when investing in AVG’s fund. The report also provides visualisations of environmental data, demonstrating the direct impact of individual investment through key metrics such as carbon emissions saved, homes powered, and equivalent trees planted.

Taking time to sit down with Rio recently, Karl shared his insights and expertise to contribute to Rio's data collection guide for financial services, titled ESG Due Diligence, Compliance, and Voluntary Reporting. You can find more insights, actions and tips in the full guide.

Why collect ESG data for pre-investment?

Assessing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance is becoming a critical part of the due diligence and voluntary reporting process for investment, financing, and insurance decisions. There are many connected reasons for the rising importance of ESG reporting and performance, including:

• the shift to consider ESG in the financial sector;
• a positive correlation between ESG and financial performance;
• record investment into ESG funds;
• the increasing pressure from regulators to report on ESG decision making; and
• the risks associated with non-disclosure and non-compliance.