environmental social and governance (ESG) criteria News

What Two Oil Firm Ads Show About Where UK Regulator Draws Line on Greenwashing

An ad for TotalEnergies SE inflated the oil company’s investments in renewable energy, misleading consumers, the UK’s advertising regulator ruled on Wednesday. Another commercial for Shell, which promoted its investments in EV charging stations and renewable energy, as well as …

Deutsche Bank’s DWS Pays $27 Million in German Greenwashing Case

Deutsche Bank AG’s investment arm DWS agreed to pay €25 million ($27 million) to end a long-running German investigation into alleged greenwashing, in a similar settlement to the one it struck with US regulators in 2023. DWS gave a false …

Allianz Global Investors Scraps Nuclear, Military Exclusions to Back Europe Rearmament

Germany’s Allianz Global Investors has dropped two exclusions blocking its sustainable funds from investing in defense, becoming one of the first major European asset managers to change their policies to help finance the region’s rearmament. AGI wrote to its clients …

Australian Pension Fund Fined A$10.5 Million for Greenwashing

Australian pension fund Active Super has been fined A$10.5 million ($6.7 million) for making a number of misrepresentations about its environmental, social and governance credentials amid a regulator push to stamp out greenwashing. In June, the Federal Court found regulator …

Trump Has Companies in Europe and Asia Walking a DEI Tightrope

Donald Trump’s executive order dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion efforts is making waves at international companies in Europe, Asia and beyond — but only on the surface. Quietly, many businesses are standing firm on diversity initiatives. Companies from Roche Holding …

UK Financial Watchdogs Drop Diversity and ‘Name and Shame’ Reforms

Britain’s top financial regulators have scrapped proposed new rules to boost diversity and inclusion in the industry, and mothballed a fresh crackdown on non-financial misconduct, citing fears of imposing unnecessary regulatory burdens on firms. The Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial …

British Drugmaker GSK Abandons Diversity Targets Following Trump Pressure

British drugmaker GSK will no longer set diversity targets, it said on Thursday, as it became the latest company to scale back or abandon such goals in response to the U.S. president’s opposition to them. President Donald Trump has issued …

EU Mounts Major Retreat From ESG Agenda Amid Fierce Backlash

The European Union is about to walk back significant chunks of planned ESG regulations, amid a barrage of complaints that such rules are becoming a dead weight hampering EU efforts to compete with the US and Asia. The European Commission, …

EU Plans to Walk Back Key Planks of Toughest ESG Legislation

The European Commission is proposing a significant watering down of what was arguably its most consequential piece of ESG regulation. The European Union’s executive arm is proposing that the bloc amend eight main points in the scope of the Corporate …

Climate Goals Still Make Business Sense, Rio Tinto CEO Says

Rio Tinto Group, the world’s second-largest mining company and a major polluter, came out in support of corporate efforts to curb emissions, insisting that pursuing green targets can add value. “Despite the fragmented policy landscape, decarbonization can still be good …