New abound this week, as the Nordics are getting back to work… and a somewhat scary future, as suggested by the highly anticipated IPCC AR6 report, confirming what most already feared and many already know.
In the Nordics, Carnegie Fonder became this week the first Swedish fund company to join the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi). Meanwhile, Länsförsäkringar decided to switch three of their externally-managed strategies to Article-8 compliant versions managed by the same firms. “Further changes can be expected going forward,” Anders Landström, Head of Manager Research told us. Also in Stockholm, we caught up with Johan Klevenstedt who joined BNY Mellon‘s boutique Insight Investment earlier this month.
Climate Action 100+ announced a new Global Sector Strategies series. First out, the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) published a report focused on the challenges that the steel sector faces in closing the gap to net-zero and proposes actions that companies, the industry collectively, and investors can take to address these. Stewardship and engagement are powerful elements of the sustainable investor’s toolbox and will be the topic of an upcoming NordSIP event featuring a panel composed of John Howchin, Secretary-General of the AP Funds‘ Council on Ethics, Julie Moret, Northern Trust Asset Management‘s recently appointed Global Head of Sustainable Investing and Stewardship as well as Stephanie Pfeifer CEO of the IIGCC.
A lineup of fund launches popped out this week, as managers were waiting for the Nordics to wake up from their summer slumber. German-based real asset boutique KGAL launched one of the first impact funds to be incorporated under Article 9, KGAL ESPF 5 which focuses on renewable energy. American Century Investments, in partnership with Nomura Asset Management, launched a US-focused Innovation UCITS fund. UBS Asset Management launched a new suite of ETFs tracking the MSCI ESG Universal Low Carbon Select indexes.
Even US investors are finally ramping up their capacity to face an increase in sustainable investment demand. Mercer announced this week a global expansion of its sustainable investment capabilities by an additional 30% and promoted Sarika Goel to the newly created role of Global Head of Sustainable Investment Research.
