OnPoint Subscriber Exclusive

The Big Picture brings together a range of PS commentaries to give readers a comprehensive understanding of topics in the news – and the deeper issues driving the news. The Big Question features concise contributor analysis and predictions on timely topics.

Is Sustainable Investing Sustainable?

Jun 16, 2022

The Big Question is a regular feature in which Project Syndicate commentators concisely address a timely topic.

Tumbling equity markets and greater regulatory and public scrutiny are subjecting previously fast-growing green investments to what may be their toughest stress test yet. As fears of recession increase, many believe that an industry based on the promise of making money while doing good may be facing a reckoning.

In this Big Question, we ask Bertrand Badré, Karen Karniol-Tambour, Daniel Litvin, and Eva Zabey to assess the future of environmental, social, and governance investing.

To continue reading, register now. It’s free!

Already have an account? Log in

new comment has been posted. new comments have been posted.

0 Comments on this paragraph, 3 Comments on this article

peter yeoh Jun 20, 2022

The sustainable industry continues to be plagued by controversies over transparency, validity and reliability of methodology matters, and importantly the absence of consensus over the reporting standards used. It is so sad that after so much progress, companies and those monitoring them failed to provide analysis that enjoys the confidence of investors and other stakeholders, such that the reports and recommendations need to be looked over by regulators. Instead of spending so much resources and time over this, why not leave things as they are. Businesses that failed to be sufficiently transparent, or are found to be involved in greenwashing and so on would eventually be disciplined by market forces.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Richard Allen Jun 16, 2022

The proposed U.S. Securities Exchange Commission reporting requirement would impose a duty of a company to estimate the amount of pollution upstream companies produce and also estimate the amount of pollution downstream customer companies produce. Really!

I am writing in opposition to the SEC Climate Disclosure rule. This new regulation will add to the already onerous regulations that businesses face and they will pass on the extra cost to the consumer. Instead of helping the climate, this rule will make goods more expensive and will line the pockets of already well-payed consultants, lawyers, accountants, and lobbyists. Most published research findings are wrong. There is no evidence that the proposed calculations have undergone the scientific process of being reproducible using the same methods and same data. There is no evidence presented that the calculations have undergone the scientific process of being replicated using the same method and different data. The proposed regulations fail to acknowledge that there are sources of global warming and global cooling which dwarf the warming, if any, caused by humans. Our Sun has cycles which are not predictable. However, the National Park Service has evidence in the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument that tsetse flies existed in Colorado millions of years ago. Tsetse flies are now only found in sub Sahara Africa where it is very hot. I suggest that the SEC consult with the National Park Service to determine whether their calculations would show global warming when tsetse flies were alive in Colorado. In my opinion, the SEC is attempting to introduce a "Social Credit Scoring System." Since it is trying to build a score system when mixing various types of activities into the score means that it is probably not scientific. Support for the above comments is found below in these links. Why Most Published Research Findings Are False by John P. A. Ioannidis https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124 The Flawed Reasoning Behind the Replication Crisis: It’s time to change the way uncertainty is quantified By Aubrey Clayton https://nautil.us/the-flawed-reasoning-behind-the-replication-crisis-8365/ COSMIC RAYS, CLOUDS AND CLIMATE by Henrik Svensmark – hsv@space.dtu.dk – DOI: 10.1051/epn/2015204 National Space Institute – Technical University of Denmark – Elektrovej, Bygning 328, 2800 Kgs – Lyngby, Denmark http://www.europhysicsnews.org/articles/epn/pdf/2015/02/epn2015462p26.pdf 20 New Science Papers Find Climate is Driven by Solar Changes https://principia-scientific.org/20-new-science-papers-find-climate-driven-solar-changes/ Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument https://www.nps.gov/flfo/learn/nature/did-you-know.htm Problems with scoring methods and ordinal scales in risk assessment by D. Hubbard, Dylan Evans Published 1 May 2010 Psychology IBM J. Res. Dev. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Problems-with-scoring-methods-and-ordinal-scales-in-Hubbard-Evans/49c5557a74eea6598516ebdd09d5719c656be00d?p2df
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Richard Allen Jun 16, 2022

One proposal by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission would impose onerous new financial reporting requirements for companies. In my public comment to them I wrote,

I am writing in opposition to the SEC Climate Disclosure rule. This new regulation will add to the already onerous regulations that businesses face and they will pass on the extra cost to the consumer. Instead of helping the climate, this rule will make goods more expensive and will line the pockets of already well-payed consultants, lawyers, accountants, and lobbyists. As a former President Obama science advisor, he looked at the science supposedly supporting the "Man Made Global Warming Hypothesis." Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters by Steven E. Koonin. Too often, regulatory agencies have trouble with instruments and collection of air samples to have certainty in compiling accurate data. It is ridiculous and unscientific to expect every business to replicate the investment in monitoring and analysis lab instruments to comply with this proposed regulation. This is an attempt to bankrupt businesses with ineffective regulations. How will the EPA audit every business to determine whether they have captured and analyzed the required air samples?
A new reply to this comment has been posted.

https://prosyn.org/Z3L5cDq;

OnPoint Subscriber Exclusive

Is Sustainable Investing Sustainable?

Featured in this Big Question

To continue reading, register now. It’s free!

More
PS OnPoint

New Comment

Contact us

Log in/Register

OnPoint Subscriber Exclusive

Is Sustainable Investing Sustainable?

Featured in this Big Question

To continue reading, register now. It’s free!

More PS OnPoint

Edit Newsletter Preferences

Set up Notification

More
PS OnPoint