<ul class="summary-list"><li>When it comes to data on sustainable investing, asking the right questions is key.</li><li>Execs from <keyword id="578887" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Bridgewater">Bridgewater</keyword> and <keyword id="4749676" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="lgim">LGIM</keyword> outlined policies that could encourage better <keyword id="77363" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="ESG">ESG</keyword> disclosure. </li><li>The conversation was part of Insider's virtual event, "Future of Finance," presented by Grayscale on June 8, 2021. </li></ul>As financial institutions grapple with the steep risks posed by the imminent global climate crisis, ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investing has emerged as a potential solution. While these sustainable investment strategies have gained popularity with investors, data and reporting surrounding ESG factors can be opaque and confusing.Karen Karniol-Tambour, co-chief investment officer for <keyword id="49089" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sustainability">sustainability</keyword> at Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest <keyword id="62375" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Hedge-fund">hedge fund</keyword>, said that sorting through that data and making sense of it is part of an investor's job. She said answering questions about an investment's sustainability merits may feel like a new challenge, but is not any different than answering familiar macroeconomic questions about a country's growth rate, for example. Karniol-Tambour made these comments during Insider's recent virtual event, "Future of Finance," presented by Grayscale, which took place on June 8, 2021.This panel, titled "Sustainable Investing Pays Off?" was moderated by Bradley Saacks, senior finance reporter at Insider, and featured Karniol-Tambour along with John Hoeppner, head of US stewardship and sustainable investments at Legal &amp; General Investment Management (LGIM) America, a division of the <a href="https://www.lgim.com/asia/en/about-us/">$1 trillion global asset manager</a>.Karniol-Tambour said that the key question for Bridgewater in evaluating ESG investments is what they are trying to get out of the data. "Don't think about what is presented to you, but [think about] what concept are you actually trying to capture," Karniol-Tambour said.Hoeppner said in analyzing sustainable investments, LGIM is trying to "create [its] own points of view and rely less on others."The firm has two key goals in mind when it looks to <keyword id="8374461" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ESG-Investing">ESG investing</keyword>, Hoeppner said. The first is to raise standards across the board with regard to disclosure and the second is to find an investment advantage by looking at subsets of ESG data that are closely linked to mispricings in the market.Karniol-Tambour said her clients want to make the highest returns with the lowest risk possible. She said that there are many areas in which ESG factors are material to making money in a particular market."For example, if we're going and deciding whether or not we think the price of copper is going to go up or down, you really just can't do that analysis without looking at what's the pace going to be in which it will transition away from carbon," Karniol-Tambour said."Investing is not two-dimensional risk and return. It's actually three-dimensional risk, return, and impact -or risk, return, and sustainability. And that third dimension, deserves just as much care, attention, analysis, customization."Multiple strategies are available to investors seeking to maximize impact. Hoeppner said that divestment, or opting out of investing in certain assets because they are not sustainable, is "overused" as a strategy. He said that LGIM, as a major investor in many public companies, prefers to use its access to have "constructive engagements" with their portfolio companies through discussions and proxy votes on how to navigate risk.Moderator Bradley Saacks asked the panelists about the regulatory environment for ESG investing. Hoeppner mentioned that in the US today, if you are participating in a 401k or pension as part of your corporation, it is legally unclear whether or not you can have a sustainability fund in your lineup.He said he is optimistic that regulators will sort out the issue, which he attributed to an "incorrect assumption" that ESG strategies were deployed for non-financial benefits, whereas he believes most ESG research is actually performed with the goal of reaping financial benefits. He also expressed the hope that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforces some sort of mandatory disclosure for climate risk for all companies, arguing that information is the basis for a free market.Karniol-Tambour pointed to Australia's policy of making companies report their potential exposure to modern slavery and eradicate it as an example of sound policy based on a robust data ecosystem. Without disclosures and data, Hoeppner said, it is difficult to discern companies' credibility on ESG issues."All investment managers see ESG and sustainable investing as a commercial opportunity," Hoeppner said."How do you tell one asset manager from another one when everyone says that they have the best sustainability credentials? The hard answer is that you have to do your homework."

The three dimensions of investing today are risk, return, and impact. Experts say investors concerned about ESG need to 'do their homework'

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="4266558" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="legal-general-investment-management">Legal &amp; General Investment Management</keyword> is expanding its Climate Impact Pledge to assess 1,000 companies. </li><li>The companies will be ranked using a traffic light system on their approach to <keyword id="6361617" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change">climate change</keyword> -- these rankings will be made public. </li><li><keyword id="4749676" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="lgim">LGIM</keyword> noted that 7 of the 10 largest improvements in scores since 2019 were made by companies on the sanction list.</li><li>The company currently has 13 companies sanctioned, including <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/xom-stock">ExxonMobil</a> and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/china_construction_bank_1-stock">China Construction Bank</a> and will continue to sanction those firms that show poor performance and limited improvement on climate initiatives.</li></ul>Britain's largest asset manager <keyword id="148175" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Legal-General">Legal &amp; General</keyword> Investment Management, which <a href="https://www.lgim.com/uk/ad/about-us/our-business/">oversees around $1.6 trillion in assets</a>, is significantly increasing the number of companies it covers under its Climate Impact Pledge.Not long after the introduction of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, LGIM introduced the Climate Impact Pledge, which would assess and engage in the climate strategies of 80 of the world's largest companies across six sectors.Now LGIM is expanding and updating the Climate Impact Pledge to oversee 1,000 companies and making the climate rankings for those companies publicly available, using a traffic light system.The companies are selected from 15 climate-critical sectors and are responsible for 60% of all greenhouse gas emissions from listed companies, Meryam Omi, head of sustainability and responsible investment strategy for LGIM, said in a <a href="https://www.lgimblog.com/categories/esg-and-long-term-themes/climate-impact-pledge/">blog post</a>."To help accelerate this momentum, LGIM is ramping up the ambition of its Climate Impact Pledge engagement programme," Omi said. "We are leveraging new data sets and analytics, vastly increasing the sectors and companies covered, in a concerted push to drive more transparency in the market and help companies build resilient strategies. And, in keeping with our belief in 'engagement with consequences', we will systematically hold companies accountable through voting and investment sanctions."Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/investing-strategy-outperforming-vegan-etf-claire-smith-tech-stocks-2020-10?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">The founder of the world's first vegan ETF explains how her market-beating fund is naturally built to include the pandemic's biggest winners — and why industry titans like Facebook and Uber fit the bill</a>LGIM is seen to be a leader in <keyword id="6954789" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sustainable-investing">sustainable investing</keyword>, having recently been listed in the <a href="https://www.unpri.org/leaders-group-2020/6524.article">UN Principles for Responsible Investment 2020 leaders group</a>, which contains PRI signatories that have demonstrated responsible investment excellence and have excelled in the theme of climate reporting.Part of the Climate Pledge involves creating a sanction list for companies that continue to demonstrate poor performance and show limited improvement toward climate change initiatives.In the <a href="https://www.lgim.com/landg-assets/lgim/_document-library/responsible-investing/climate-impact-pledge-brochure-uk-eu.pdf">October 2020 report</a>, LGIM noted that 7 of the 10 largest improvements in scores since 2019 were made by companies on the sanction list. The company currently has 13 companies sanctioned, including <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/xom-stock">ExxonMobil</a> and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/china_construction_bank_1-stock">China Construction Bank</a>.Now, around 500 of the companies with poor scores relative to their size will receive letters detailing LGIM's assessment of their approach to sustainability, Omi said. LGIM will continue to sanction companies that continue to fall short of the company's minimum standards.Around 60 companies that are seen to be influential within their sector will be selected for in-depth engagement on why they can, and should, embrace the transition to net-zero carbon emissions over the next few years, LGIM said.Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/investing-tips-strategy-stock-picks-recommendations-fund-manager-david-dudding-2020-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">A fund manager beating 90% of his rivals told us why he actively avoids companies with giant profit margins — and shares 5 stocks he thinks will keep winning for years</a>

Britain's largest fund manager expands Climate Impact Pledge to 1,000 companies and will sanction those that perform poorly

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The UK is experimenting with offering small businesses free rent to revitalize downtown districts.</li><li>The English town of Poole has seen a jump in downtown foot traffic following its initiative. </li></ul>As many American downtowns struggle to come back to life in a remote-work world, they might want to look across the pond for inspiration. Several small towns in the UK have experimented with giving small businesses rent-free shop space over the last few years. Many of those businesses are now thriving and have helped attract visitors and shoppers back into relatively empty downtowns, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jul/23/rent-free-revival-dead-poole-shopping-street-back-life">multiple</a> recent news <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/12/business/england-high-street-retail-recovery.html?auth=login-google&amp;campaign_id=4&amp;emc=edit_dk_20230712&amp;instance_id=97321&amp;nl=dealbook&amp;regi_id=194893788&amp;segment_id=139084&amp;te=1&amp;user_id=2259c117e2d6d1f3b6de8de6262da403">reports</a>. In the English seaside town of Poole, a major asset management company, Legal &amp; General Investment Management (LGIM), rented 10 storefronts spaces at no cost for two years to a diverse set of small businesses on a depressed shopping street in the city center.The commercial street, called Kingland Crescent, has since made a remarkable turnaround and is attracting significantly more foot traffic and patrons. Foot traffic is up 16% over pre-pandemic levels, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jul/23/rent-free-revival-dead-poole-shopping-street-back-life">The Guardian reported</a>. And the small business owners — five of which are now paying to rent their spaces — were given an opportunity to grow that they might not otherwise have had. The shopping street now features a gin bar, a plant store, a restored furniture shop, and a coffee shop. "It was a dirty, funny walkway with boarded-up shops. Now it's vibrant, upbeat, colourful," Hope Dean, the owner of a plant shop that was one of the 10 businesses given free rent, told The Guardian. But the initiative is no charity project. "We're not just doing this to do a nice thing for the people of Poole," Matt Soffair, a retail researcher at LGIM, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/12/business/england-high-street-retail-recovery.html?auth=login-google&amp;campaign_id=4&amp;emc=edit_dk_20230712&amp;instance_id=97321&amp;nl=dealbook&amp;regi_id=194893788&amp;segment_id=139084&amp;te=1&amp;user_id=2259c117e2d6d1f3b6de8de6262da403">told the Times</a>. "We are also doing this because we do believe that in the long term, all these initiatives will create cash flow."Other UK downtowns are adopting a similar model. The Westminster City Council is <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-66231318">starting a £10 million program</a> to give small businesses rent-free space, as well as marketing and store-design help, on Oxford Street — a busy downtown shopping avenue in the West End of London. The initiative is designed to replace "low quality" existing shops, including American candy stores, with "innovative local businesses," BBC News <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-66231318">reported</a>. Some US cities have pursued similar downtown revitalization initiatives. Denver <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/denver-colorado-downtown-business-retail-apocalypse-popup-economic-development-stores-2022-2">offered free rent and services valued at $20,000</a> to businesses willing to use empty space in the city's downtown, and San Francisco has <a href="https://sf.eater.com/2023/4/18/23688202/vacant-vibrant-san-francisco-downtown-pop-ups-free-rent">offered free rent and grant money</a> to pop-up businesses in its downtown.

Struggling US downtowns could take a cue from a small town in England that gave businesses rent-free space

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Billionaire investor <keyword id="11908246" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bill-ackman" source="Orion">Bill Ackman</keyword> has said it's bullish for stocks if <keyword id="12616996" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="omicron" source="Orion">Omicron</keyword> symptoms turn out to be mild.</li><li>A doctor in South Africa said the symptoms she's seen so far from the new <keyword id="11893994" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19" source="Orion">COVID-19</keyword> variant have not been serious.</li></ul>Billionaire investor and hedge fund boss Bill Ackman has said it's bullish for stocks if the Omicron COVID-19 variant turns out to cause mild symptoms – but bearish for the bond market."While it is too early to have definitive data, early reported data suggest that the Omicron virus causes 'mild to moderate' symptoms (less severity) and is more transmissible. If this turns out to be true, this is bullish not bearish for <keyword id="11893875" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="markets" source="Orion">markets</keyword>," Ackman <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1465126762224963588?s=20">tweeted</a> on Sunday evening.He then added: "I should have said: bullish for the equity market, bearish for the bond market."Ackman is the founder and CEO of the hedge fund Pershing Square, and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/25/bill-ackman-exits-market-hedges-uses-2-billion-he-made-to-buy-more-stocks-including-hilton.html">made more than $2 billion</a> through savvy trading at the time of the first coronavirus-driven market sell-off in March 2020.Investors around the world are trying to gauge the possible economic impact of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/omicron-covid-variant-concern-what-we-know-2021-11">Omicron</a>, a highly mutated COVID-19 variant recently identified in southern Africa that is spreading globally.Stocks plunged on Friday, with the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/s&amp;p_500">S&amp;P 500</a> dropping 2.27% in its worst day since February.Yet <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-today-omicron-variant-us-futures-oil-bonds-crypto-2021-11">US futures rose on Monday</a> as traders waited for more information about Omicron, which scientists are racing to analyze.<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/safrican-doctor-says-patients-with-omicron-variant-have-very-mild-symptoms-2021-11-28/">According to reports</a> over the weekend, a doctor in South Africa, who was among the first to raise the alarm about a new variant, has said the symptoms she has seen in patients so far have been very mild.However, the World Health Organization <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/28-11-2021-update-on-omicron">said</a> in a statement Sunday: "It is not yet clear whether infection with Omicron causes more severe disease compared to infections with other variants, including Delta … ​​More information will emerge in the coming days and weeks."Ackman made a profit of more than $2 billion in about a month as the <keyword id="11893194" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus" source="Orion">coronavirus</keyword> pandemic first shook markets in March 2020, in a series of bearish trades, after calling into CNBC and warning that "hell is coming."He then plowed some of the money back into stocks at cheap prices, setting him up for another big win after equities soared on the back of huge stimulus packages.In the face of Omicron, traders are now expecting central banks around the world to be more reluctant to withdraw their support for economies. That is one factor <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-today-omicron-variant-us-futures-oil-bonds-crypto-2021-11">supporting stocks</a> Monday, alongside the tendency of investors to "buy the dip."Lars Kreckel, global equity strategist at investment company LGIM, said: "Our initial line of thinking is that market weakness around a new variant ... creates an opportunity to increase risk in portfolios."Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-outlook-stocks-to-buy-joel-greenblatt-buffet-burry-2021-11">Veteran investor Joel Greenblatt shares 6 tips for playing a pocket of the market ripe with opportunities right now — and lays out his thesis on a major upcoming special situation</a>

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman says it's bullish for stocks if Omicron variant symptoms are mild

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The rise of <keyword id="2461546" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="FinTech">fintech</keyword> and e-commerce changed the way we think about <keyword id="25455" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="finance">finance</keyword>, for both financial service professionals and consumers.</li><li>The <keyword id="8006792" type="AGENCY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Future-of-Finance">future of finance</keyword> is here-with <keyword id="1460938" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Digital-Banking">digital banking</keyword> and <keyword id="6357017" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="cryptocurrency">cryptocurrency</keyword> becoming the new normal.</li><li>On June 8, 2021, Insider is hosting "The Future of Finance: Disrupting the Ordinary," a free virtual event, at noon ET, featuring speakers from Bank of America, American Express, and more.</li></ul>Insider's virtual event "The Future of Finance: Disrupting the Ordinary," presented by Grayscale, takes place Tuesday, June 8, 2021, at noon ET, and includes live conversations with Insider editors and leaders from large corporations in the finance sector, focused on <keyword id="6358577" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="digital-payments">digital payments</keyword> and banking, cryptocurrency, and sustainability.Sessions will discuss digital payment platforms, contactless and instant payment, ESG <keyword id="35175" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="investing">investing</keyword>, and fintech.<h2>Sessions include:</h2><ul><li>Digital Transformation in Banking</li><li>Crypto - The Golden Child of Fintech?</li><li>Polished Payment Options</li><li><keyword id="6954789" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sustainable-investing">Sustainable Investing</keyword> Pays Off?</li></ul><h2>Speakers include:</h2><ul><li>David Tyrie, Head of Digital, Bank of America</li><li>John Hoeppner, Head of US Stewardship and Sustainable Investments, Legal &amp; General Investment Management America (LGIM America) </li><li>Karen Karniol-Tambour, Co-Chief Investment Officers for Sustainability, Bridgewater Associates</li><li>Lia Cao, Head of Wholesale Payment Solutions, JPMorgan Chase</li><li>Matthew Sueoka, Vice President and Head of Global Strategy, Partnerships &amp; Enablement, Amex Digital Labs</li><li>Michael Sonnenshein, CEO, Grayscale Investments</li></ul> <h1 class="formheader">Register For “The Future of Finance: Disrupting the Ordinary”</h1> Yes, I agree to receive marketing emails from Insider Inc. and event sponsor and accept the <a href="https://www.insider-inc.com/terms">terms and conditions</a>, <a href="https://www.insider-inc.com/privacy-policy">Privacy</a>, and <a href="https://www.insider-inc.com/cookie-policy">Cookie Policies</a> and agree to receive marketing emails from Insider Inc. You can opt-out of emails at any time. Registration information will only be shared with the event sponsor.

You Searched For "lgim" and got 5 results

The three dimensions of investing today are risk, return, and impact. Experts say investors concerned about ESG need to 'do their homework'

Anita Ramaswamy

Britain's largest fund manager expands Climate Impact Pledge to 1,000 companies and will sanction those that perform poorly

Kari McMahon

Struggling US downtowns could take a cue from a small town in England that gave businesses rent-free space

Eliza Relman

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman says it's bullish for stocks if Omicron variant symptoms are mild

Harry Robertson

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