The Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) has released the first progress report for its human rights-focused engagement initiative, Advance. Officially launched in December 2022, the initiative – which is currently focused on engaging companies from the metals and mining and renewables sectors – has 118 participants and 149 endorsers. According to the report, 30 engagement teams have established ongoing dialogue with target companies, six have had their first call/meeting, one has made contact, one has had no response from the company and one is currently paused due to “the group being undersubscribed or lacking a lead investor”. The PRI said it plans to roll out sector-level strategies this year and aims to include additional companies and sectors for engagement in the course of 2025-26.
Australia is set to release its sustainable finance taxonomy for climate change mitigation on 17 June. The Australian Sustainable Finance Institute has been co-ordinating the development of the framework, and delivered a draft to the government in February. The taxonomy is part of the country’s sustainable finance roadmap.
Large emitters in the UAE will be required to measure, track and manage their greenhouse gas emissions and develop mitigation strategies from this year onwards, under a national law that came into effect in May. The mandatory requirements apply to governmental, public and private entities which emit 0.5 million metric tonnes of CO2 or more annually. Organisations will need to have climate plans which are aligned to a national 2050 net-zero deadline and comply with sector-level emission reduction targets which will be determined by the government. They will also need to prepare climate adaptation plans which meet sector-level requirements.
Emerging market sustainable bond issuance is likely to pick up over the next three years as $330 billion in green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked bonds approach their maturity, but weak economic growth and downward sentiment on growth among investors could prove to be a headwind, according to Amundi and the International Finance Corporation’s annual emerging markets green bond report. While noting that near-term forecasts are difficult due to global uncertainties, the pair said the outlook over the longer term continues to be robust, and that GSS+ bonds were 5 percent of emerging market ex-China issuance last year, a new record.
