Embedding environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles into the investment process continues to attract all types of investors for many reasons. Institutional investors correctly recognize there are business risks associated with ignoring ESG. There are a long list of such risks that could hit the bottom line, some sooner, some later, and many have the
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Arlington, TX – June 15, 2022 – First Rate Ventures, a premier Dallas/Fort Worth-based FinTech-focused venture capital fund, today announced its first investment in OWL ESG from its recently launched $25 million venture capital fund. First Rate Ventures led the Series A investment round. Led by ESG expert and entrepreneur Ben Webster, OWL ESG leverages machine learning and natural
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Recently, we have seen a number of articles and news items about a push-back against ESG or “stakeholder capitalism” (or “woke capitalism” in some circles). One could argue that the asset management industry itself is largely to blame—as interest in sustainable investing grew, more and more asset managers wanted to grab a piece of the
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Here’s an update from the latest on ESG investing that falls under the category of “you probably heard about it, but just in case you missed it… ” The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed new rules that would require disclosures about investment strategies (mutual funds, ETFs, or other products) that claim to have
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We have come across more than a few articles recently on how a company’s board of directors handles ESG oversight. To be kind, we’ll summarize by saying it’s a work in process. In all fairness, we acknowledge that people who typically serve on boards of large corporations rarely have much of a background in sustainability
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Sometimes, a particular phrase starts to pop up here and there, then more people use it and soon we’re all repeating it, even if we’re not really sure we understand what it means. Such phrases are often stated with at least some degree of gravitas, to signify that the underlying issue is worthy of some
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In case you missed it, Tesla was recently dropped from S&P Global Inc.’s flagship ESG index, and Elon Musk, Tesla’s founder and chief executive, immediately and harshly criticized the decision. We write about this here not to argue for or against S&P’s action, but because we think it highlights some important issues about ESG scores
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Discussions about ESG issues often focus mostly on the “E” (environmental), with far less attention paid to the Social “S” and Governance “G” pillars. This may be partly, or even mostly due to the fact that it is relatively easy to define and measure things that fall under the Environmental pillar, such as a company’s
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We’ll put this one in the category of “unexpected pairings” (sort of like pickles and peanut butter, or avocados and chocolate). We’re talking about blockchain and ESG. Mining cryptocurrencies, which is tied to but is not the same as blockchain technology, uses enormous amounts of energy – Bitcoin mining takes more power than Finland uses
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For those who prefer “give it to me straight” over “beat around the bush”, we offer this opener from a recent article about misconceptions about ESG investing, published by GreenBiz: “The market demands ESG discipline, period. Whether you view ESG as the alpha and the omega, an opportunity for capitalism to atone and course correct,
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ESG investing has spread across institutional asset management, expanding beyond equities to include green corporate and municipal bonds and even private markets. At a minimum, asset managers are expected to measure the E, S and G risk characteristics of their strategies and around the world the bar is being raised in terms of regulatory disclosure
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Nature’s most obvious form of carbon capture – forests – are imperfect in terms of their ability to address the need. They have a limited capacity and take many years to grow. They also carry the inherent risk that fire will release the trapped carbon, destroying the carbon offset potential those trees represented. While we
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We work with all types of investment firms, corporations and fintech platforms around the world. Find out how OWL can meet your need for ESG data and analytics today.
