SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT

Banking giants launch digital carbon trading platform

A new platform called ‘CarbonPlace’ created by a collation of major financial institutions for digital carbon credit trading has been launched following a successful pilot in 2021. The pilot platform was jointly facilitated by banking giants NatWest, Itau Unibanco, CIBC and National Australia Bank, with UBS, Standard Chartered and BNP Paribas joining the cohort in 2022. CarbonPlace seeks to provide “clear and consistent pricing standards” to those buying and trading carbon credits through voluntary schemes amid concerns around credit integrity. Only credits verified under internationally agreed standards, such as REDD+ and Gold Standard, will be listed on CarbonPlace. The platform also offers robust IT infrastructure to ensure that organisations have a secure space to trade carbon credits. (edie)

HUMAN RIGHTS

Telenor investors scrutinise Myanmar data operations sale

Several investors in the Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor are seeking assurances that customer data will be protected following the sale of its operations in Myanmar. The military government in Myanmar has given local company, Shwe Byain Phyu, ownership of most of Telenor’s business in the country, under a deal soon to be finalised. Some human rights groups said the handover could put the data of 18 million people at risk of being misused by the military, with several demonstrations calling for the Telenor sale to stop altogether. Telenor’s fourth-largest investor with a 1.64% stake, DNB Asset Management, requested a meeting with the company to discuss the impending exit. Telenor’s eighth largest investor, Storebrand Asset Management, said it was asking Telenor to conduct “human rights due diligence” as it departs Myanmar. (Reuters)

BIODIVERSITY

University of Exeter gets £10m for biodiversity research

Researchers at the University of Exeter and the National Trust have been awarded a £10 million grant to work towards restoring the UK’s biodiversity. The ‘ReNew’ project will work with landowners, businesses and communities in restoring woodlands, wetlands and farmland across the country. The project lead said the UK was “one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries” and the funding will enable research expertise to create new sustainable solutions in reversing the UK’s biodiversity decline by 2030. The ReNew project will focus on: leveraging community support for biodiversity renewal; how people who are disengaged, disadvantaged or disconnected from nature can benefit from inclusion in solutions development; how renewal activities can be shaped by land managers and interest groups; and how renewal can be integrated into financial and commercial activity. (BBC News)

PHILANTHROPY

Climate news coverage given global philanthropic boost

News agency company the Associated Press (AP) has announced plans to assign more than two dozen journalists globally to cover climate news, following the organisation's single largest expansion paid through philanthropic grants. The AP's new team, with journalists based in Africa, Brazil, India and the US, will focus on the impact of climate change on agriculture, migration, urban planning, the economy, culture and other areas. The grant, worth more than $8 million over a three-year period, will pay for 20 new hire climate journalists. Key grant contributors include philanthropic organisations the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Quadrivium, the Rockerfeller Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation. The grant marks the latest boost, since the mid-2010s, to news coverage of environmental and scientific issues. (The Independent)

RENEWABLE ENERGY

Renewables to deliver most of UK’s energy by 2030

The UK is “on track” to see renewable energy account for most of its electricity by the end of the decade, according to Greg Hands, the Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth. The minister said that renewable electricity generation has “more than quadrupled since 2010 having delivered over 40% of generation in 2020” and highlighted that renewable energy has been “outpacing fossil fuels for the first time ever”. The minister forecasted that renewables are on track to deliver the majority of electricity by 2030. The news comes as the Energy Minister faces criticism from green groups over half a dozen new oil and gas fields set to be approved in the North Sea this year. (The Independent)

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