LONDON (Reuters) – Switzerland’s UBS said the value of its ‘sustainable’ investments rose by more than 50% to nearly $500 billion in 2019, while lending to the energy and utilities sectors fell by 40% as it tightened its rules. UBS, which has assets of more than 3.6 trillion Swiss francs ($3.76 trillion) and invests for...Read More

At the heart of Hong Kong’s past year of protests is an emboldened nativism that portrays the Chinese Communist Party, and mainland Chinese people, as antithetical to the city’s interests. At its worst, such nativism manifests in racist, dehumanizing rhetoric—and a chilling schadenfreude over crises such as the COVID-19 outbreak—imbued with thinly veiled colonialist nostalgia...Read More

The New York State Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has announced a new Co-Investment Fund to support emerging clean energy startups. The fund has an initial $6 million in capital to finance clean energy startups seeking to match investments from qualified investors. The Co-Investment Fund is part of New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s climate...Read More

Socially responsible investing — also know as ethical, green or sustainable investing — is the new buzzword in the financial world. A growing number of institutions and individual investors seem to want to invest according to ethical principles, and the financial industry has been happy to oblige. Today, investors can choose from a smattering of...Read More

Institutional investor increased pressure to take environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into account in investing has soared, prompting greater transparency on ESG policies and performance, as well as a rise in dedicated impact funds within private markets, according to McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) 2020 annual review of global private markets, A New Decade for Private Markets....Read More

Corporate CEOs and boards are under increasing pressure from investors and others to do better by the planet and everyone living on it. That means doing all of the following and more: Go green. Do business more ethically, humanely and sustainably. Treat employees well and pay them fairly. Diversify the workplace and boardroom. Improve data...Read More

Russia’s Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) has announced the start of construction on a year-round fully autonomous, renewables and hydrogen-powered International Arctic Station (IAS) in the Land of Hope, in the foothills of the Polar Urals. The station will have a modular structure and rely on renewable energy sources and hydrogen fuel, without burning...Read More

The Brief  |  February 18, 2020 The Brief: Impact alpha in donor-advised funds, inclusive credit unions, greenhouses in India, flexible loans for founders of color, off-grid energy impact     ImpactAlpha Greetings, Agents of Impact! Featured: Impact Voices Impact drives alpha, and other lessons from ‘100% impact’ donor-advised funds. In the same way that some big foundations are beginning...Read More

  The historic launch of the new European Solar Orbiter helps foster a golden age for understanding our nearest star. On Sunday evening, a rocket lit up Florida’s nighttime sky as it ferried a spacecraft toward a first-of-its-kind adventure to the sun. Even though our home star smolders every day in our skies, humans have...Read More

Land prices are booming in Sazlibosna. Over a tulip-shaped glass of tea in one of the village’s cafes, local governor Oktay Teke says that a few years ago, a square meter of land here in the farming community northwest of Istanbul sold for as little as 10 Turkish lira, about half the price of a...Read More