• A broken system needs urgent repairs by Henry Tricks

    A broken system needs urgent repairs by Henry Tricks (The Economist)Thank you to the Economist for interviewing me for this piece. It is spot on. Speaking of ESG investing, the article notes “it has a negligible impact on carbon emissions, especially by the highest polluters. Its attempt to address social issues such as workplace diversity is hard to measure. As for governance, the ESG industry does a lousy job of holding itself to account, let alone the companies it is supposed to be stewarding. It makes outsized claims to investors. It just unmanageable demands on companies.” Not a great report card.

    All that said, diligence on non financial factors is a must for any sane 21C investor. To abet, reporting should be standardized and audited. Even so, it is unreasonable to expect that ESG investing will do much to advance planetary welfare.

    The environmental, social and governance (ESG) approach to investment is broken. It needs to be streamlined and stripped of sanctimoniousness, argues Henry Tricks

    Read full article:
    https://www.economist.com/special-report/2022/07/21/a-broken-system-needs-urgent-repairs

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  • Can Fashion Lower Its Climate Impact While Selling More Products?

    Can Fashion Lower Its Climate Impact While Selling More Products?Business of Fashion

    “The narrative we’ve told ourselves around win-win solutions has deceived everyone into thinking there are no trade-offs,” said Kenneth Pucker, a senior lecturer at the Tufts Fletcher School and an advisory director at Berkshire Partners. “There are huge trade offs.”

    * Decoupling = green growth. Attractive conceptually. Very hard practically. Especially post elimination of easy waste.
    * Conceptual win-wins = eco efficiency, fortune at the bottom of the pyramid, creating shared value, circularity, regeneration…have yet to yield much, beyond rhetoric. Patagonia’s Worn Wear = < 1% of revenue.
    * New Business Models = rental, reuse, repair …are not yet sustainable …meaning profitable. Hard to fund especially in an environment when profits matter.
    * BioBased Materials = often replace less environmentally destructive processes, face valley of death funding challenges and often rely on scarce feedstocks. Also, harder to fund when profit matters.

    Net. Change the rules. Make excess consumption less profit rich. Pass the NY Fashion Act.

    https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/sustainability/fashion-lower-climate-impact-selling-less-products-degrowth-decouple-grow-sustainability/

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  • Decarbonizing the Runway – The Nuance

    Fashion Runway“Market based solutions in fashion have proven ineffective.”

    In reality, consumers had little to no influence over the business direction of fashion brands, leaving companies to operate as they wished with minimal oversight or accountability. Pucker explained that carbon emissions in the fashion industry have more than doubled in this timeframe. In 2000, the fashion industry produced around 50 billion units of clothing. Today, they produce more than 100 billion. Due to a lack of disclosure requirements, the exact number is still unknown.

    http://20830773.hs-sites.com/decar?ecid=ACsprvs235MtwQ5nhySFfqNdUOMtET9eZiJC6ywaplDcztCaw0CfcLEFOYoRgNqYyusGGMNHNslP 

    The Nuance ISSUE 08 – JULY 6, 2022

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  • The Game of ESG Telephone

    GreenBiz

    ESG’s expansion over the past few years has felt a bit like a game of telephone. If you’ve ever played telephone, you may recall that the final participant in the circuit who shares what they have heard usually offers an interpretation that is incorrect, hyperbolic and pretty entertaining. But with trillions of invested dollars and climate breakdown on the line, ESG telephone is a dangerous game.

    https://www.greenbiz.com/article/game-esg-telephone

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