Definition of Sustainability
Alexander Vidler
Senior ESG Consultant Périclès Group | Sustainable Investment & Finance Professional
With rate cuts and holds dominating the headlines, a challenging environment for business growth continues to be the norm.
Hampering the appetite for lending due to the aforementioned rates being so high, in addition to the pressure being received from financing deals running their course.
Environmental
Emerging world tops PM2.5
A new analysis has found that barely 9% of global cities have air quality that meets the WHOs' guidelines for harmful fine particles.
Some places most affected were the EMEA regions, weighted by population. Capital cities with the worst air were New Delhi, Dhaka, Ouagadougou, Dushanbe, and Baghdad.
Capitals with the lowest concentrations of PM2.5 mainly were in Oceania, Scandinavia and the Caribbean.
Governance
E.U. Commission Warning
The European Data Protection Service (EDPS) has found that the E.U. Commission's use of Microsoft 365 software has breached the region's data protection laws.
Privacy regulations announced that the Commission must suspend all data flows resulting from its use of Microsoft 365 and its affiliate sub-processors in countries outside the remit of the E.U.
The EDPS's decision followed a three-year probe triggered by worries about transferring personal data to the United States following revelations in 2013 by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden of mass U.S. surveillance.
E.U. Bans Unverified Green Product Claims
The E.U. parliament has approved rules to protect consumers from greenwashing or misleading environmental claims. This includes requiring companies to submit product marketing claims for verification before usage.
Texas pulling back from BlackRock
The Texas Board of Education announced the termination of an investment with the world's most prominent Asset Manager, withdrawing $8.5 billion in funds.
The U.S. state has been one of the most active in the anti-ESG space, with similar cases banning Barclays from the municipal bond market over its developed ESG policies.
BlackRock has called this decision 'reckless' and urged the state to reconsider its position, as reports of the cost to the underlying customer are being publicly expanded upon.
Big Tech probed
Apple, Meta platforms and Google are set for investigations for potential violations of the European Union's Digital Market Act.
The European Commission will likely announce the formalisation of these investigations in the coming days/week. These breaches could cost companies as much as 10% of their global annual turnover.
Corporate
Greenwashing suit against the world's largest meatpacker
New York state is suing JBS, accusing the Brazilian company of misleading customers over its state climate goals, including its plans to reach a Net-Zero carbon neutral standard by 2040.
JBS is the leading beef producer in the world - having the capacity to process over 200k worth of cattle, 500k pork and 45 million chickens a week, just from its U.S. operations.
The company has plans to list its U.S. arm on the NYSE. Still, it is facing fierce opposition from environmentalists, who claim that the company has links to deforestation in the Amazon.
Class actions against UnitedHealth
The Group has been charged with 6 class action lawsuits, accusing the failure to protect millions of people's personal data from last month's attack on the firm. With more set to be on the horizon
The 6 cases have been consolidated in federal court. At this stage, it is unknown how large the litigation could eventually become as it has yet to be determined what kind of information was compromised in the attack.
Opinion Piece
Globally, the scenario hasn't changed from the current course we find ourselves on, with rates maintained at a relatively high level, global conflict and high tension levels - although there is talk of a ceasefire for Ramadan.
Politically, in the U.S., the newly denoted sustainability legislation is already facing strong pushback and has been sent for appeal whilst the nation gears up for a contest between the incumbent and former president, with the nation's sustainable future in the balance based on the outcome of this election.
Across the waters, the UK continues to be the land of ambiguity in terms of legislation, whilst infrastructurally, electrification continues to reign in large amounts of interest and investment, albeit if the tangibility and feasibility of the projects can be called into question.
Europe continues its slow, steady march towards CSRD compliance, with companies getting to grips with legitimising well over 1000 data points, the cost of which is being shifted from firm to firm.
Financing continues to be the biggest issue for firms, alongside its ramifications on more sustainable adoptions into day-to-day life, incorporation into business practises and large-scale infrastructural phases. Government-funded projects remain the most common source of sustainable linked developments, taking advantage of the monopoly on their financing, with corporate counterparts and ambitions not so lucky.
An anticipated shifting through the latter parts of the year could change this picture... however, nothing is set in stone.