DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s Chief Executive of NEOM Nadhmi Al-Nasr has shared new details about the ambitious mega city project changing the landscape of tackling environmental challenges in urban planning. “I dream of 200 or 300 years from today, when there is a NEOM model being developed worldwide that has helped reduce emissions, reduce the environmental challenge,” Nasr told
Conference shows leadership in developing ESG standards
Cornelia Meyer
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The first environmental, social and governance (ESG) conference of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute was a real masterclass in taking into consideration all aspects of ESG standards.
The title of the conference “The Neo-Renaissance: Mobilizing ESG for a Sustainable Future” could not have been chosen more pertinently. The world is emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, which makes it important to think strategically about the one planet on which we inhabit and how to organize life on it. ESG is an important building block along that thought process. Similarly, the renaissance also marked the passing of a pandemic, the plague, and the transition to a new more enlightened world order.
RIYADH: Participants at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute virtual event on Thursday called for inclusive efforts towards achieving environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, in order to help build a sustainable future for all.
The virtual event titled “The Neo-Renaissance: Mobilizing ESG for a Sustainable Future” – was opened by FII Institute CEO Richard Attias, who told delegates: “We need to build more sustainable markets in 2021.”
“As we continue to battle the global pandemic, we need to rethink our approach to global sustainability… Although ESG has proven its worth, much remains to be done to ensure we use it to its full potential. The low level of inclusion and participation of emerging markets in the development of ESG frameworks is counterproductive to global sustainability,” he added.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) programs made solid business sense in the Kingdom and worldwide.
“Such action not only helps in protecting climate but also helps economically,” he said during the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute’s ESG virtual event on Thursday.
The PIF has already incorporated ESG principles into its $400 billion worth of global investments as the sector gains in prominence throughout the region.
Al-Rumayyan, who also chairs the FII Institute, said that ESG investing should grow in tandem with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) which were adopted by UN member states in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty and protect the planet.
By Susanna Rust2021-04-15T14:36:00+01:00
The way asset managers cast votes on climate-related issues should not be influenced by the status of company engagement “or other management considerations”, according to guidelines from the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA).
In a new publication – billed as being about ‘Elevating Climate Diligence on Proxy Voting Approaches’ – the group of asset owners wrote that asset managers’ proxy voting policies and supporting documents should “include a commitment to Climate Votes being evaluated based on merit of the proposal”.
By way of example, the Alliance members indicated this would mean “a productive engagement is not used as an excuse for a vote against a shareholder proposal with which the manager finds merit”.