This report from Planet Trackers sets out four food system transformation themes that financial institutions should focus on to ensure they are aligning their capital and investment processes with the food system changes required:

In this week's Friday 5, Giles Gibbons is giving the Good Business take on the latest IPCC report, Ubuntoo's 'Plastic Promises' report, Wellcome Trust's call for equality of climate data, and much more.

A chilling effect. At the opening night of the Ceres conference, leaders of several major banks and asset managers mingled at a reception, but their company names were absent from the initial list of signatories — an indication that the ESG debate has had an impact.

As a world-leading financial services centre, the UK’s financial sector is both a significant pillar of our economy, supporting more than 2.5 million people across the UK, and is uniquely placed in its ability to support our commitment to meet net zero.

The SustainAbility Institute is ERM's primary platform for thought leadership on sustainability. The Institute identifies innovative solutions to global sustainability challenges built on ERM’s experience, expertise and commitment to transformational change.

Nigel Green of deVere Group is speaking out after the Jack Ma-founded business empire said on Tuesday it is planning to split into six units and explore fundraisings or listings for most of them.

The USD 271 trillion investment gap translates into an average annual gap of USD 9.4 trillion between 2022 and 2050, assuming investments are equally spread across the years. Or an opportunity for some?

“[While] much recent public controversy about sustainable investment has centered around climate change and fossil fuel companies, almost all the shareholder proposals from organizations opposed to ESG investment considerations instead concentrate on social policy,” the report notes.

The danger with ESG investing is that it might convince policy makers that the market can solve major societal challenges such as climate change — when in fact only government intervention can help the planet avoid a climate catastrophe.

Profit can, and should, coexist with purpose. Mars is showing what this means in practice, with the intention of increasing their sustainability spending to US$2.7 billion in the next year, as well as making substantial efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the sustainability of their supply chain.

Fixed income, once a reliable ballast against market downturns, suffered a 10 percent decline in the same period in the face of inflationary pressure - but is there an upturn due?

We should all demand more, starting with audited financial statements from all private startups. If they refuse, their market value should be reported as zero.

There's some clear indications that there's no future for coal, oil and gas on a liveable planet. But are the alternatives ready and able to pick up the slack?

The FCA have previously said that they support regulation of ESG ratings and are working closely with Government and are expected to shortly consult on whether and how to extend the FCA's perimeter to include ESG ratings providers.

“We agree with SMSG that alleged greenwashing does not necessarily reflect intent to mislead, but rather could be the product of multiple other causes” says Jason M. Halper of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP

President Biden's climate betrayal - reports We Don’t Have Time who promise to broadcasts future developments by the European Parliament discussions during the UN Climate Conference COP28. Watch this space…..

Silicon Valley Bank was scored highly by most of the major ESG data providers and unofficially known as the “climate” bank by founders due to its involvement in financing renewable energy projects and climate technology start-ups. Gulp!

Miller Lite is aware of their its contributions to sexist advertising and in a bid to make amends, they have launched the Bad $#!T to Good $#!T campaign, collecting old copies of sexist advertisements and turning them into fertiliser to help grow hops for women brewers.

Cary Krosinsky and Sahil Mulji look at the impact outcome potential for what they call the Seven Tribes of Sustainable Investing.

“Voting choice can enhance corporate governance by bringing new voices into shareholder democracy” says Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock