Last week the financial sector and the international development sector gathered in Geneva to discuss how asset managers, asset owners and banks can contribute to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Here is why one should resist the temptation of cynicism.
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PRI in Person event
Last month the Quaero Capital ESG team attended the annual PRI event, this year held in Paris. The event was the largest responsible investment conference ever held, with over 1600 attendees from the industry.
Climate Summit
Last month the UN Climate Summit took place in New York, arguably the most significant event for global cooperation on climate change since Paris 2015.
Flight Shame
“Flygskam”, a new expression in Swedish, refers to the movement that originated in Sweden last year. It literally translates as ‘flight shame’ and is used to encourage people to shift towards more sustainable transportation options. It’s also given birth to another concept – ‘tagskryt’ or ‘train brag’.
QUAERO CAPITAL supports the Building Bridges Summit in Geneva
QUAERO CAPITAL is one of the official sponsors of the Building Bridges Summit, an exceptional event to be held in Geneva on 10 October that will be the highlight of the Building Bridges Week, a week dedicated to sustainable finance between 7 and 11 October 2019.
Rule, Moneta! Moneta, rule the waves!
Greece and Iceland’s recent economic histories offer an interesting case for a comparative study. Highlighting the danger of running a large current account deficit, their experience can also be a guide for the future of the British economy and currency.
The environmental footprint of the shipping industry
As it’s often the cheapest form of transportation, more than 90% of all world goods, from raw materials to finished products, are carried by sea. Spurred by worldwide population growth and increasing globalisation, global trade has grown by 85% in the last 18 years. The shipping industry merchant fleet has grown to c.100,000 vessels producing an estimated 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions annually. According to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the UN agency responsible for the safety and security of the shipping industry, emissions will increase between 50 and 250% by 2050 under a business-as-usual scenario, if no drastic measures are taken.
Jouons les apprentis sorciers !
Cette chronique de notre CEO Jean Keller a été publiée dans Le Temps du 2 septembre 2019. Lire l’article.
Au risque d’enfoncer une porte ouverte, force est de constater que les politiques monétaires expansives de ces dix dernières années nous ont menés dans une impasse. Car si le « Quantitative Easing » a certainement contribué à sauver l’Europe d’une catastrophe économique, il faut bien admettre que nous avons atteint les limites du modèle et qu’il est urgent de trouver d’autres outils de politique conjoncturelle afin relancer la consommation moribonde sur le Vieux Continent.
Deforestation
Global deforestation is at a very high level, losing five million hectares a year or the equivalent of 15 football pitches of forest every minute. The election of the new Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in January led to a rapid reacceleration in Brazil; the Brazilian Space Agency found that deforestation had increased by 88% in June this year relative to last. In the past forty years, the Amazon rainforest has lost about 18% of its territory.
A deep plunge in the midst of the summer heat
As recession fears rose last week, government bond yields in Europe reached new lows. In our opinion, a long-term investor ought to seek better investments than assets that will yield negative nominal returns over several decades.