Articles by Frances Schwartzkopff

Banks Told to Review Clients in Historic ESG Crackdown in EU

Banks in Europe will need to adjust the risk assessments they conduct of their clients to reflect new ESG requirements enforced by their watchdog. In a world first, the European Banking Authority is revising the framework that sets industrywide capital …

Banks in EU Get World’s First ESG-Related Rewrite of Capital Rules

In a global first, Europe’s main bank regulator is revising the framework that sets capital requirements so that lenders reflect environmental and social risks in mandatory, industrywide buffers. The European Banking Authority has identified “some short-term fixes” to minimum requirements …

EU Companies Get New ESG Rules Aimed at Addressing Climate Risks

Tens of thousands of companies operating in Europe face new requirements to report their operations’ ESG impacts as the European Union advances a plan to address climate change and environmental degradation through increased transparency and market pressures. The European Commission …

Anti-ESG Movement in U.S. Feeds Anxiety Among UK Investors

Investors in the UK are starting to worry that the anti-ESG movement may spread from the US and get a foothold on the other side of the Atlantic. The UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF), whose members oversee more …

EU Banks Expand Risk Models to Better Prepare for Climate-Change Fallout

European banks are building out their risk models to better prepare for the fallout from climate change, with some even examining the short-term liquidity implications of a hotter planet, according to a joint survey conducted by the Association for Financial …

US Slips in Supply-Chain Ranks After Child-Labor Violations

The US has joined a list of mostly emerging-market countries where ESG supply-chain risks are “high,” after the world’s richest economy failed to provide adequate protections for vulnerable populations including migrant children, according to a fresh study. The US saw …

Executive Bonuses in Crosshairs in New CO2 Proposal: ESG Regulation

Executives will face bonus cuts if the companies they run fail to hit climate transition targets, under a new European Union proposal that greatly expands the range of levers regulators can draw on to meet terms of the Paris Agreement. …

ECB to Limit Purchases of Longer-Term Debt Issued by Climate Laggards

The European Central Bank will limit purchases of longer-term debt issued by companies that rank poorly under a new scoring system created to screen out polluters and tackle climate change. The maturity limit will cut the “longer-term exposure of the …

‘Hating ESG’: Advocates Are Looking to Replace the Label

A number of sustainable investing champions say it’s time for the “ESG” label to be shelved and replaced by something less likely to draw attacks from both the political right and left. Robert Eccles, a professor who’s spent the past …

Confusion About ESG Prompts EU Watchdog to Urge Rethinking of Rulebook

Europe’s markets watchdog is calling for a rethink of the region’s ESG investing rulebook after finding that the existing framework is being misinterpreted. At issue is the tendency of fund managers and their clients to treat the EU’s disclosure regime …