Corporate Social Responsibility

The market for financial products to support renewable energies and the transition to sustainable business practices continues to evolve, with sustainability-linked bonds and loans soaring in growth.

As the MENA region prepares to host the world’s major climate-change policy event, COP27, Global Finance explored the region’s sustainability commitment and sustainable finance initiatives in a discussion with experts from MENA’s leading banks.

Bennett Freeman, associate fellow of Chatham House and former SVP of Sustainability Research and Policy at Calvert Investments, speaks to Global Finance about environmental, social, and governance efforts worldwide.

Iowa's largest home lender is changing how borrowers are vetted to boost minority home ownership.

Newly minted ESG teams, chief ESG officers and chief sustainability officers are becoming more common in the corporate world.

Unionization efforts at Apple, Amazon and Starbucks appear to be exceptions to the rule of fewer workers in unions overall.

A survey by the Society of Human Resources Management shows that 86% of employers are willing to welcome back quitters.

Like BP, Norway’s Equinor and France’s TotalEnergies, Shell’s leadership decided that the war with Ukraine made it impossible to maintain its business in Russia. 

Private companies take a growing role, as innovations and data needs expand the sector.

The move follows similar stock market listings of Geely-owned foreign marques, including Volvo Cars, which floated in Stockholm last year.

The wealthy are ready for a more sustainable future, but struggling with just how to get there.

Transition bonds are providing a way for companies in hard-to-abate industries to deliver net-zero emissions.

The effect of the Glasgow COP26 meeting continues to grow and is now propelling the carbon-trading market.

Zac Nesper, treasurer at HP, speaks with Global Finance about the company’s $1 billion sustainable bond offering in June and the framework HP developed for future issuances.

In late October, Citi issued its first social bond, priced close to par, with a four-year tenor and 1.281% fixed-rate coupon. Proceeds will be used to finance healthcare, affordable housing, education and other goods and services that meet the bank’s social principles. Jorge Rubio Nava, global head of social finance at Citi, talks about the new bond as well as the evolution of Citi’s culture and policy with respect to ESG.

Mary Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO of Women’s World Banking, speaks to Global Finance about expanding financial inclusion of women, especially in emerging markets.

Maturing standards are raising the issuance bar.

New Zealand is the first sovereign state to approve a law requiring financial institutions, insurance companies and asset managers to disclose climate change risks.

If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it. 

Sustainable finance makes inroads in Africa.