We’re back with our monthly roundup of ESG content highlights – articles we’re reading, podcasts we’re enjoying, useful videos and more.
Sustainability
Top 10 podcasts to help you understand sustainability
Sustainability Magazine suggests the top 10 podcasts to help listeners understand what they can do to be more sustainable – spanning topics from activism to mental health.
Climate change
Patagonia’s billionaire owner gives away company to fight climate crisis
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard is giving the entire company to a uniquely structured trust and non-profit that will allow the company to continue to operate as a for-profit company whose proceeds will go to benefit environmental efforts.
‘Chicago when it Sizzles’ episode, Cautionary Tales podcast – Tim Harford
Financial Times journalist Tim Harford’s Cautionary Tales podcast tells true stories about mistakes and what we should learn from them. In the Chicago episode, Tim discusses a deadly 1995 heatwave to discuss the relationship between poverty and vulnerability to extremes of weather.
Biodiversity
The History of Bees – Maja Lunde
The novel follows three generations of beekeepers from the past, present and future when the world has been confronted with a loss of bees. ‘Cli-fi’ at its best (an emerging strand a of literature dealing with future climate impact), Maja Lunde shows how what we may perceive as small ecological impacts can compound with frightening future results.
Energy crisis
Three myths about the global energy crisis
International Energy Agency chief Faith Birol discusses three narratives about the current energy crisis he believes are wrong – in some cases dangerously so: that Moscow is winning the energy battle, that the crisis is a clean energy crisis, and that the crisis is a huge setback for our efforts to tackle climate change.
Responsible investing
One of the Hottest Trends in the World of Investing Is a Sham
This New York Times opinion piece argues that ESG investing – especially when investment managers rely on rating agencies’ views of companies – isn’t having the positive effect on people and the planet that investors may believe. It calls on the US Securities and Exchange Commission to play a role in reforming the system – much like what we are seeing with SFDR in Europe.
Other
Radical Uncertainty: Decision Making Beyond the Numbers – John Kay and Mervyn King
An interesting read full of lively anecdotes. The book argues that formal economic models should not be given the final word in decision making, as these ‘wind tunnel models’ do not largely represent the complexity of economic systems. The book is light on solutions (or anecdotes on where these models have been useful) but still an insightful look into two leading UK economist thinking on probabilities and risks.
