Big super fails to back activist resolutions | AFR

Activists are disappointed after the majority of large superannuation funds failed to support shareholder resolutions on environmental, social and governance issues last year.

The exceptions were construction industry fund Cbus, Local Government Super and Vision Super, which voted in favour of shareholder resolutions on more than 75 per cent of occasions, Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility's climate and environment director, Daniel Gocher, said.

“Despite claims from many funds that they are ‘ESG aware’, there is still widespread reluctance to support sensible shareholder proposals on these issues,” he said.

Heightened expectations of climate-related disclosure and assurance | MinterEllison

Corporations are facing increased pressure to apply climate-related governance, strategy, risk metrics and disclosure. Report preparers, assurers and auditors must approach climate change-related issues with the same degree of rigour as any other financial variable.

As reporting season approaches, financial report preparers are grappling with new expectations concerning the disclosure of financial impacts associated with climate change.

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Google Wants To Use AI To Track Pollution From Every Power Plant On Earth | Gizmodo

They all want to learn more about the greenhouse gases and other pollutants that pour out of the world’s power plants, with the aim of holding companies and polluters accountable. They’ll be relying on satellites currently up in space to gather data for this endeavour.

Weathering the new storms: risks and culture in agribusiness | Turlough Guerin for Farm Institutes Insights

Climate, culture and risk are now mainstream governance issues in agriculture and natural resource management.

In a recent risk and governance forum held in Australia, experts highlighted that organisations should undertake rigorous review of their non-financial risks, in particular those related to culture and climate.

While some sectors – including banking and agriculture – were directly called out in terms of their impact, there were implications for all sectors of industry.

With the increasing focus on the need for good governance, and expectation that the advice provided by professionals meets the highest ethical standards, it is incumbent upon professionals in all sectors to demonstrate how they are acting in the interests of their clients and organisations as a whole, and not just focus on financial performance.

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This article was originally published in the Australian Farm Institute Insights newsletter in May 2019

ALAN PEARS: The cost of Labor’s Paris Climate Change Policies | John Menadue, Pearls and Irritations

Economic modelling is one of many tools for policy development. It is often taken out of context and misused. The present debate over the cost of Labor’s climate policy provides an example. Lack of context, modelling assumptions and selective use of modelling results risks distorting future climate and energy policy, with serious consequences.

Before entering into discussion of recent Coalition claims regarding the impact of Labor’s climate policies, we should consider some context.

Eight EU countries call for more ambitious strategy to tackle climate change | Euro News

Belgium, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden urged the EU to cut emissions to net zero by 2050. They also demand that at least a quarter of the EU budget be spent on projects to fight climate change.

MPs endorse Corbyn’s call to declare climate emergency | The Guardian

Responding for the government, the environment secretary, Michael Gove, said he accepted “that the situation we face is an emergency”, and called for a consensual, cross-party approach so the UK could take a lead on climate action.

'Outrage is justified': David Attenborough backs school climate strikers | The Guardian

“[Young people] understand the simple discoveries of science about our dependence upon the natural world,” he said. “My generation is no great example for understanding – we have done terrible things.”

The protests by young people were enormously encouraging, Attenborough said. “That is the one big reason I have for feeling we are making progress. If we were not making progress with young people, we are done.”

Who will replace Mark Carney as Bank of England governor? | FT

Carney has delayed his exit from the BOE twice because of Brexit, though he’s said he won’t do so again and will leave at the end of January 2020.

Serious about sustainability? Some progress, but not yet persuaded by BlackRock's efforts | Eco Business

If BlackRock is going to promote the kind of systemic shift that Fink’s 2018 letter suggested, there’s still much work to be done. In this blog, we identify several areas to which BlackRock should turn its attention next.

OCBC is Southeast Asia's first bank to rule out funding new coal power plants | Eco Business

Singapore’s OCBC Bank is the first banking giant in Southeast Asia to rule out financing new coal-fired power plants.

In an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday, the bank’s chief executive Samuel Tsien said the company would no longer fund new coal-fired power plants in any country.

Mark Carney tells global banks they cannot ignore climate change dangers | The Guardian

If some companies and industries fail to adjust to this new world, they will fail to exist,” Carney and De Galhau said.

Home Front | A Breakthrough Production

Over the years an array of climate change related films have been produced in countries all around the world. Yet very few, if any of these productions have been made within Australia. It is extremely rare to find an Australian film or documentary that focuses on the local impacts and potential solutions to global warming. HOME FRONT sets out to change this, presenting a new and compelling narrative to enliven and motivate.

Featuring interviews with former Australian defence officials, fossil fuel industry executives, national security experts, and political and business leaders, you won't see your normal bunch of environmentalists presented in this film.

BYD, World’s Biggest Electric Car Maker, Looks Nothing Like Tesla | Bloomberg

More EVs were sold in Shanghai last year than in Germany, France, or the U.K.; the city of Hangzhou, smallish by Chinese standards, had higher sales than all of Japan.

APRA to update ESG guidelines | Investment Magazine

Australia’s industry funds believe an update of the ESG guidelines will likely reflect the latest movement in fiduciary duty and climate risk. 

How climate change could hit the financial sector | London Institute of Banking & Finance, Paul Fisher

Westpac joins shift to 100% renewables, starting with big NSW solar farm | One Stop Off The Grid

In a statement on Wednesday, Westpac said the deal would deliver a 45 per cent transition to renewables by 2021 for the bank globally, as well as providing greater cost certainty on its electricity spend.

Tectonic shift as network owner buys solar farm, points to renewable future | Renew Economy

The implications for the likes of AGL, Origin, EnergyAustralia and the government-owned Snowy Hydro, are significant, and they will no doubt increase their efforts to keep the networks out of what they see as their traditional business.

Only rebellion will prevent an ecological apocalypse | The Guardian

The political class, as anyone who has followed its progress over the past three years can surely now see, is chaotic, unwilling and, in isolation, strategically incapable of addressing even short-term crises, let alone a vast existential predicament.

Former fire chiefs warn Australia unprepared for escalating climate threat | The Guardian

“It’s just frustrating to hear the lip service being given to ‘Oh yes, we now believe in climate change and need to do something’ when every effort to do something about it is rubbished.”