‘The sham must end’: UN ups the ante on company local weather motion

Hello from New York, the place Moral Money needs to briefly flip your consideration away from Sharm el-Sheikh to ship some breaking information on the US midterm elections. As of Wednesday morning, Republicans have been anticipated to win the House of Representatives, however their hopes of a giant wave of assist have been shattered. As our Washington colleagues reported this morning . . . 

The early tallies from the midterm elections on Tuesday confirmed many battleground races throughout the nation have been too near name, with management of the Senate remaining within the stability and Republicans struggling to safe widespread victories in swing districts within the House of Representatives.

Please see our evaluation of the outcomes beneath.

But we undoubtedly don’t wish to distract from the motion at COP27, the place we proceed our particular editions each weekday in the course of the local weather summit. On a busy day in Sharm, a UN professional group introduced a significant new report on non-state web zero commitments of essential significance for Moral Money readers. Below is a few evaluation from Simon, who’s reporting from the bottom all through COP27. (Patrick Temple-West)

COP27 day 3 briefly

On a really busy third day, attendees have been united of their dismay on the big queues for meals, and the eye-watering costs on the finish of them. Personally I fasted. Here are the highlights:

• Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had undercut the worldwide effort to fight carbon emissions, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned — in distinction with different leaders’ claims that the warfare is hastening the power transition.

• CDP, which runs the most important disclosure platform for company local weather emissions, mentioned it will incorporate the requirements of the International Sustainability Standards Board into its reporting system. ISSB chair Emmanuel Faber mentioned the our bodies have been “reducing the burden on entities and moving a step closer to that common language for disclosures”.

• The Africa Carbon Markets Initiative was launched, backed by the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions. The new physique needs to assist Africa to provide credit price 300mn tonnes of carbon every year, with related income of $6bn, by 2030.

UN unveils benchmark requirements for company local weather plans

If you’re following, or are concerned in, company responses to local weather change, you’d do effectively to take a very good have a look at a significant new report unveiled right here at COP27 yesterday.

It got here from a physique with one of many longest names I’ve ever needed to write: the UN High‑Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities (UNHLEG), which was arrange in April by UN secretary-general António Guterres and chaired by former Canadian atmosphere minister Catherine McKenna.

The report units out requirements for web zero plans by corporations and all different non-state actors. Announcing the report, Guterres used characteristically punchy language. “Using bogus net zero pledges to cover up massive fossil-fuel expansion is reprehensible,” he mentioned. “This toxic cover-up could push our world over the climate cliff. The sham must end.”

This comes after months of controversy across the membership requirements for Mark Carney’s Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero — a narrative that Kenza strikes ahead immediately in a superb FT Big Read. Gfanz’s sectoral groupings had been required to observe requirements set by the UN-backed Race to Zero marketing campaign — however as of final month, these company alliances are free to choose membership standards for themselves.

The UNHLEG has now laid down a transparent and demanding set of requirements by which all such alliances — and any non-state physique with a web zero plan — can be judged, whether or not they prefer it or not. These embrace some that could possibly be very inconvenient for a lot of large corporations, akin to the next:

• Non-state actors ought to have brief‑time period emission discount targets of 5 years or much less, with the primary goal set for 2025.

• Businesses ought to finish all growth of coal, oil and gasoline reserves.

• An entity’s web zero pledges and progress reporting ought to cowl all scope emissions and all operations alongside its worth chain in all jurisdictions.

• All web zero pledges ought to embrace particular targets aimed toward ending the usage of and/or assist for fossil fuels.

Some Gfanz members had questioned the legitimacy of Race to Zero’s personal professional group, which successfully set Gfanz requirements till final month’s cut up. Crucially, whereas the Race to Zero marketing campaign enjoys UN assist, the UNHLEG is an official UN physique, making it far more durable to dismiss.

The 16 members of the UNHLEG are a way more numerous group than another benchmark-setting initiatives which might be closely stocked with executives from the worldwide north. Four are from Africa, together with former Malian prime minister Oumar Tatam Ly and Kenyan local weather researcher Jessica Omukuti. Financial heavyweights on the workforce embrace former Chinese central financial institution governor Zhou Xiaochuan and ex-Brazilian finance minister Joaquim Levy. The company monetary sector is represented by a person acquainted to Moral Money readers — Günther Thallinger, a board member at Allianz and chair of the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, which is a part of Gfanz.

Carney tweeted to welcome the report, and endorsed its name for regulators to develop necessary frameworks for transition finance, which he mentioned might draw on a brand new Gfanz web zero transition planning framework, revealed earlier this month.

McKenna endorsed her fellow Canadian’s suggestion in a friendly response on Twitter. But in her spoken remarks, she struck a strikingly harsh tone in the direction of corporations which have sought the great PR of a web zero pledge with out enterprise the painful work wanted to make it rely.

“If you put up your hand and say: ‘I’m a climate leader and I’m committed to net zero,’ you cannot claim to be net zero [while] continuing to build or invest in new fossil fuel supply,” she mentioned — phrases that may rankle with the various Gfanz members nonetheless funding new fossil gasoline improvement. (Simon Mundy)

Quote of the day 

“The impacts of climate change are with us now, but they are far more than floods, droughts and heatwaves. They extend to our very sense of hope.”

Paloma Escudero, head of Unicef’s COP27 delegation, commenting on rising local weather anxiousness. A Unicef ballot suggests virtually half of younger folks in Africa have reconsidered having kids because of the local weather disaster.

Beyond COP27: US elections pose issues for ESG 

US midterm congressional elections hardly ever go effectively for the man within the White House. Donald Trump misplaced to the Democrats in 2018. Barack Obama suffered setbacks in 2010 and 2014.

Now, it’s President Joe Biden’s flip to face the music. He was already going through an uphill battle as inflation jumped this 12 months. As of early Wednesday morning, Republicans have been nonetheless anticipated to win the House of Representatives. But a nationwide rout did not materialise.

“Democrats put up an unexpectedly strong fight,” our Washington colleagues reported immediately. Control of the Senate was nonetheless unknown on Wednesday.

For environmental, social and governance investing, not a lot will change within the close to time period. Aniket Shah, international head of ESG technique at Jefferies, revealed a report this month citing a Republican lobbyist who mentioned hand ringing over ESG can be “noise in the near term” and extra about getting ready for the 2024 elections.

Biden’s large local weather laws appears secure. The Inflation Reduction Act has bipartisan assist. Democrats and Republicans are prone to come collectively to move oil-and-gas allowing reform, Shah mentioned.

That doesn’t imply it is going to be straightforward going for BlackRock and different corporations which might be below hearth for his or her ESG enterprise practices. Republicans are sure to contemplate calling BlackRock chief government Larry Fink to Washington to testify about ESG and sustainable investing.

Republican state attorneys-general will proceed to assault ESG. As a outcome, “green hushing” will speed up as large banks cease touting their local weather mitigation efforts, a Washington lobbyist advised me final week.

Republican management of the senate will make life a lot more durable for Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC’s landmark local weather disclosure rule is definite to finish up in court docket subsequent 12 months, and Republicans will do no matter they’ll to assist corporations torpedo the regulation.

Finally, although they don’t seem to be up for election, the Supreme Court justices will proceed to current a threat to US local weather rules. The justices’ resolution towards the Environmental Protection Agency this 12 months forged doubt on the powers of different regulators such because the SEC.

Smart learn

Our colleague Martin Wolf writes that it’s too late to speak about “reparations” for local weather change. “Diverting attention from the priorities of today to compensation for injustices in the past will lead not to action but to endless and unproductive disputes,” he writes. People mustn’t surrender hope that local weather change may be slowed. “At COP27, we must do so, in earnest.”