Articles by Simon Jessop

Global Insurers’ Climate Alliance Relaunches After Member Exodus

A global insurance coalition intended to help curb the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions has relaunched with a new name and weaker membership requirements in response to companies fleeing over allegations of collusion by Republican politicians in the United States. The …

Investor Climate Group Sets Target for Assets in Private Equity, Debt

The world’s leading group of asset owners committed to turning their investment portfolios green said on Thursday it had set guidance for private assets for the first time and would also look to improve assessment of emissions tied to sovereign …

Companies Walk ESG Tightrope, Under Fire From All Sides Over Disclosures

Since joining Asahi Group in 2020 as sustainability chief, Preeti Srivastav has helped the Japanese brewer make several environmental and social pledges but has not got it to disclose all its progress. Asahi said on Feb. 9 it had brought …

JPMorgan, State Street Quit Climate Group, BlackRock Steps Back

JPMorgan Chase’s and State Street’s investment arms on Thursday both quit a global investor coalition pushing companies to rein in climate-damaging emissions, while BlackRock said it has transferred its membership to its international arm, limiting its involvement. The decisions together …

Storm Henk Causes Estimated £150 Million in UK Insured Losses: PwC

Storm Henk, which battered Britain last week, caused around 150 million pounds ($190 million) in insured losses and damaged around 2,000 properties, consultants PwC said on Wednesday. Heavy rain caused major rivers to burst their banks and the government issued …

Infrastructure Faces $600B Hit in Worst-Case Climate Shift: Study

Infrastructure investors face losing nearly a third of their money, or around $600 billion, if countries do not plan for an orderly shift to a greener economy by mid-century, a first-of-its-kind study shared with Reuters showed. The researchers describe this …

Typhoon That Hit China’s Ports Provides Wakeup Call for Climate Risk to Markets

As Typhoon Doksuri aimed toward mainland China, major southeast ports were forced to turn away dozens of vessels for days. The storm, supercharged by the warm July waters of the Pacific, delivered Beijing’s worst flooding in more than 50 years, …

Climate Finance Takes Center Stage at COP28 Climate Talks

Money pledges grabbed the spotlight again at COP28 in Dubai on Monday as delegates turned their focus to the yawning gap in the need for climate finance and what’s on offer. The United Arab Emirates, the host of this year’s …

Insurance, Cat Bonds Can Help Boost Poorer Countries’ Resilience to Climate Risks

Low-income countries are struggling to access insurance, catastrophe bonds and other hedging mechanisms that could help protect them from the economic fallout of climate change, industry sources told Reuters. Helping these countries, which face some of the biggest risks from …

Allianz and Dutch Development Bank Back $1.1 Billion Sustainable Loans Fund

Allianz Global Investors and Dutch development bank FMO have agreed one of the largest “blended finance” funds on record, raising $1.1 billion to invest in loans that help emerging and frontier countries meet sustainable development targets. The fund is the …