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Singapore, March 27 (ANI): Last week, a report published by Bloomberg Media Studios in partnership with DBS, the largest bank in Southeast Asia, revealed that while 85 per cent of medium-sized and 75 per cent of small companies state that ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) is a high priority, only 37 per cent have a clear roadmap on how to achieve their goals.The report published in the form of an e-book and titled "Catalyst of Sustainability", was a result of a survey conducted in August last year involving 800 SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) across six markets in Asia namely India, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore.The study engaged over 937 decision-makers in industries covering real estate, mobility, power, agriculture and F & B/Hospitality. In-depth interviews with 11 decision-makers from SMEs were also conducted to further understand the barriers and opportunities around sustainability.SMEs have an important role to play to ...
President Joe Biden on Monday issued the first veto of his presidency as he sought to block Republican-led efforts in Congress to overturn a Labour Department rule allowing retirement plans to consider environmental, social and governance factors when making investment decisions. The Labor Department rule ended a Trump-era ban on managers of retirement plans considering factors such as climate change or pending lawsuits when making investment choices. Because suits and climate change have financial repercussions, administration officials argue that their predecessors were courting possible disaster. Critics say ESG investments allocate money based on political agendas, such as a drive against climate change, rather than on earning the best returns for savers. Republicans in Congress who pushed the measure to overturn the Labour Department's action argue ESG is just the latest example of the world trying to get woke. Only two Democrats in the Senate voted for the measure, making it
Capital markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday extended the timeline until March 15 for submission of public comments on the proposed regulatory framework on ESG rating providers. Earlier, the deadline for submission of the comments was March 8, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a notice. The regulator had placed a consultation paper for Regulatory Framework for ESG Rating Providers (ERPs) in the securities market on its website on February 22 and sought comments on the same. "It has been decided to extend the timeline for submission of comments to March 15, 2023," the regulator said. Under the consultation paper, ERPs can be allowed to register with the regulator under the CRA (Credit Rating Agencies) norms. Sebi said the role of ERPs has become important in making investment decisions but their activities are not typically subject to regulatory or supervisory at present. Also, Sebi proposed a regulatory framework on ESG disclosures by listed entities, ESG .
Capital markets regulator Sebi has proposed allowing mutual funds to introduce five new categories under ESG (environmental, social and governance) scheme. The five new categories should be exclusions, integration, best-in-class and positive screening, impact investing and sustainable objectives. Presently, mutual funds can launch only one ESG scheme under the thematic category of equity schemes. Considering that AMCs may want to launch multiple diversified ESG schemes under the ESG category, Sebi has proposed that each asset management company should be permitted to launch one ESG scheme each under the five subcategories. ESG schemes under the proposed new category should be permitted with a minimum 80 per cent investment of total assets in equity or debt stocks of a particular theme as per the sub-categories. However, the residual portion of the investment should not be starkly in contrast to the philosophy of the scheme. "AMCs should endeavour to have a higher proportion of the
Large listed domestic companies with an active ESG (environmental, social and governance) framework have performed better than their broad market counterparts even during extreme market events like the pandemic shocks, says an RBI study. The RBI study of 18 economies with such frameworks, indicate that investors reward pro-climate and pro-socially oriented companies. The analysis is based on the 10 emerging countries of Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, and Thailand; and the eight advanced economies of Australia, Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, and the US. The ESG study based on the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI's) ESG indices is published in the February bulletin of the Reserve Bank. The study noted that the ESG leaders' indices have outperformed the broad indices for most of the countries in the sample, and the outcomes are based on these numbers from 2010 when the ESG concept began to gather