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Carbon Market Data Grows Emissions Database
Author: Faye Kilburn Source: Inside Market Data | 13 Jun 2013 European carbon market research and data vendor Carbon Market Data has added new data covering carbon emissions reduction projects to its European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) database, to provide carbon traders, brokers and research functions within financial institutions with more granular information on the carbon emissions of countries in Europe. The EU ETS scheme , which is designed to tackle climate change, requires organizations that consume commodities , such as factories, power stations and energy providers, and other carbon-emitting industries such as pharmaceuticals, airlines, food and drinks manufacturers and hospitals — all of which are allocated carbon allowances each year — to monitor and report their CO2 emissions and return leftover emission allowances to their governments. Carbon Market Data aggregates all information generated by the scheme and published by the EU — including CO2 verified emissions and distributed allowances for each company — into a single database. In recent weeks, the vendor has updated the information it holds on emission-reduction projects developed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which operates in tandem with the EU ETS to reflective the most recent data issued by the UN. This information includes details of the type of projects being operated-for example, whether the project is a Joint Implementation (JI) between industrialized countries or a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project, which focuses on sustainable development in emerging economies; the country of origin of the project; the greenhouse gas reductions the project delivers, as well as data on the number of carbon credits or offsets issued to the countries involved by the UN in return for a reduction of atmospheric carbon emissions through the project. “The United Nations initiative collects data on new emission projects being developed by companies around the globe and publishes information, which we have added to the database,” says Cédric Bleuez, managing director at Carbon Market Data. Core users of this information are carbon traders and brokers who want more information about the sustainability profile of a company they are looking to invest in. Earlier this month, Carbon Market Data published emissions rankings of companies involved in the EU ETS scheme, and an accompanying report, following the release of verified emissions reports by the EU at the beginning of April. German electric utilities company RWE, Swedish power company Vattenfall and electric utility service provider E.ON were the three biggest CO2 emitters of the EU ETS scheme during 2012. “We found that the companies with the biggest capitalization are usually biggest emitters… and usually those having the biggest surplus of carbon allowances are steel makers and producers, while those with the biggest shortage of allowances are power producers,” Bleuez says. This data allows fund managers, carbon traders and brokers, analysts and M&A advisors to assess the business risks and opportunities associated with investing in a particular company, and to manage their exposure to carbon risk. The rankings and analysis are free to download in PDF format from Carbon Market Data’s website , and may be of interest to research professionals and analysts trying to understand the how companies’ shortage and surplus of carbon credits impact the price of carbon and stocks in the market, he adds. Continue reading
Four Months Until National Ethical Investment Week 2013
Thursday, June 13th, 2013 By Blue & Green Tomorrow National Ethical Investment Week (NEIW) – the event that brings together investors, financial advisers, fund managers, charities, faith groups and more, with the aim of raising the profile of ethical, responsible and sustainable investment – is back for another year in just four months’ time (October 13-19). National Ethical Investment Week is an umbrella event and vital focal point for socially responsible , impact , green , best-in-class and sustainable investment. The sector is as concerned with positively selecting the fastest-growing, most innovative industries of the future – in cleantech, biotech, healthcare, sustainable transport, forestry and agriculture – as it is with screening out ‘unethical’ offenders. Click here to read The Guide to Sustainable Investment 2013 The 2012 event was a success , involving more than 400 financial advisers and gaining the support of over 100 additional organisations. On top of this, supporters from charities, faith groups and the financial services industry organised nearly 40 events across 18 towns and cities across the UK – all with the aim of spreading the word about investment strategies that consider environmental and social externalities, and aren’t simply on a reckless search for profit at any cost. But there are high hopes that the 2013 event will make even greater steps. “ NEIW 2013 will look to be bigger and bolder than ever before ”, said Raj Singh, programme director at the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) which co-ordinates the event. “ We’re excited to work with UKSIF members and other partners to spread the word amongst investors about ethical investment . “ The options open to investors who want to invest ethically are growing year by year. We all embed ethics into other spheres of our lives, there’s no good reason for our financial or investment decisions to be exempt from that .” Click here to read The Guide to Ethical Financial Advice 2013 During NEIW 2012, UKISF targeted financial advisers , and urged them to view the event as an opportunity to explore green and ethical funds with their clients. Clients who invest sustainably are more loyal to their adviser and funds. As we have said before, the best financial advice includes the ethical investment option . It must be part of the know-your-client process, as Barchester Green financial adviser John Ditchfield said in an interview with Blue & Green Tomorrow during last year’s event. Speaking to B> again, he said, “ NEIW 2012 was a huge success for Barchester Green and really raised the profile of responsible investing in the UK . “ We managed to attract considerable press attention with events and press releases focusing on the strong performance of many ethical and responsible funds . Ditchfield, who is also co-chair of the Ethical Investment Association, added, “ We are looking forward to making NEIW 2013 another strong year for the responsible investment market and this year we are looking to focus on the growing market for high social impact investments, social bonds and other forms of finance for organisations with a clearly defined social purpose .” Click here to read The Guide to Ethical Funds 2013 At the beginning of NEIW 2012, EIRIS – the responsible investment research firm – released statistics that identified £11 billion of assets invested in UK green and ethical retail funds. Whilst this figure was 3.4% less than the total invested in June 2011, it marks a £7 billion growth in the sector over the last 10 years. Stephen Hine, EIRIS head of responsible investment development, said, “ This is EIRIS’ 30th year of empowering responsible investment and as-ever we will be supporting NEIW, which is now in its sixth year . “ We are planning further activity to follow on from last year’s webinar ‘ Beyond the ethical fund ‘ which was targeted at marketing professionals from financial product providers and focused on how sustainable investment credentials can help with branding in a time of low consumer trust and poor reputations . “ In 2013, we’ve seen an ever-increasing take-up of defined contribution pension schemes in the workplace and so a discussion on the need for ethical investment options around these would seem very relevant. We also plan to release our latest estimate of size of UK ethical retail market statistics . Hine added, “ As always, our consumer website www.YourEthicalMoney.org signposts to information on how people’s money is invested, green and ethical financial products, and how consumers can help make finance more sustainable. Watch this space as our plans progress .” Click here to read The Guide to Ownership 2013 One of the funds at the forefront of the sustainable investment market is WHEB’s Sustainability Fund . Having recruited Henderson Global Investors’ sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) team in May 2012 (and recently celebrating its one year anniversary ), it has gone from strength to strength – becoming one of the most innovative products on offer. Clare Brook, founding partner at WHEB, spoke to Blue & Green Tomorrow about what NEIW needs to do to build on the success of previous years. “ In order to engage the broader public, it’s important that NEIW makes it clear that the sort of investment we’re talking about here is not so much about avoiding alcohol, armaments, tobacco or pornography – those old-style ethical issues ”, she said. “ It’s about asking where your money is invested. If it’s invested in something reasonably long-term like a pension that you’re drawing on in 20 years’ time, what is the world going to look like then? What are the key challenges facing us – and therefore how should your money be invested in a way that aligns your investments with what most concerns you? “ And if what most concerns you are things like resource scarcity, climate change, pollution and demographics, then surely your money should be invested in companies providing solutions to these challenges, rather than perpetuating them . Click here to read The Guide to Sustainable Banking 2012 “ It’s not just about ethics – in the slightly puritanical sense – it’s about safeguarding your future by ensuring it’s invested in companies that are going to be growing in future, not those that are potentially going to be at risk because governments are going to decide that, for example, we simply can’t burn anymore carbon dioxide .” “ What would be good would be to make sure that a lot of the NEIW events were focused on looking into the future and essentially future-proofing investment, rather than nit-picking what we mean by ‘ethics’. I think that gets boring and it misses the point . “ Meanwhile, we’re facing a potentially enormous crisis in the form of climate change. So if I had a wish for NEIW, it’s let’s not dwell on the detail and niceties; let’s get thinking about how we as investors can better invest in a future-proofed economy .” In the same way that Fairtrade Fortnight and Move Your Money Month have helped spread the word about the ethical consumerism and responsible banking respectively, NEIW serves as an important marker for a type of investment that Blue & Green Tomorrow likes to call enlightened. It is not, as one personal finance journalist commented to us, an “ arbitrary promotional event ”. We encourage investors, financial advisers, charities, faith groups, NGOs and communities to get behind ethical investment this October and beyond. For more information, and ways to get involved, visit www.neiw.org . – See more at: http://blueandgreent…h.KPaMR8ru.dpuf Continue reading
Emerging Markets Mid-Year Pulse Check
Some markets do appear to have a weak pulse right now, but any number of catalysts could act as a jump start. Global economic growth hasn’t been terribly inspiring so far in the first half of the year, but many investors have nevertheless been inspired to pour more assets into the equity markets, some of which have surged to record highs. As we hit the mid-year point, now seems like a good time to take a pulse check of emerging markets and assess our prognosis. About the Author At Franklin Templeton, we never lose sight of why we’re here: to provide investors with exceptional asset management. That’s why our independent, specialized management teams are at the heart of our business. These dedicated portfolio groups allow us to offer focused expertise across a broad range of strategies and asset classes. Several emerging and frontier markets—including the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam in Southeast Asia—have seen strong returns in recent months. And there are several other notable emerging market performers where positive local macroeconomic developments have attracted strong investment flows. Given that yields on some assets seen as “safe” are close to record lows, the attraction to potentially higher-yielding, but riskier assets such as emerging-market equities has continued to grow. Of course, we’ve seen some disappointments too. Some larger emerging markets like South Africa, South Korea, Russia, China and Brazil have lost ground year-to-date through April. Reduced GDP growth forecasts certainly didn’t help and commodity-heavy markets took a double hit as reduced growth projections depressed commodity prices at the same time indications of rising production costs pressured individual mining and energy companies. In addition, sentiment in South Korea suffered amid threats from North Korea and fears Japan’s moves to depress the yen’s value would hurt South Korean exporters. In China, the authorities responded to rising property prices with measures to tighten monetary policy and restrict property purchases. In addition, some political and market developments in Brazil, India and Russia suggested that policy development was moving in a less shareholder-friendly direction. For example, in Brazil, the government has initiated major tax claims against some large companies. In my team’s opinion, many of these issues that held back the performance of major emerging markets in recent months are likely to have little long-term impact. Tensions on the Korean peninsula tend to fluctuate over time, and we believe an escalation of the current situation into actual conflict is highly unlikely. We also think yen weakness is unlikely to be a permanent drag on South Korean export performance. And, China’s moves to cool property markets should be seen in the context of strong ongoing growth and moves to rebalance the economy toward more sustainable growth models. Some policy moves that came with short-term costs could ultimately bring long-term benefits, such as anti-corruption measures that led to reduced demand for luxury items during the Chinese New Year. In Russia, shareholder rights issues are balanced by what we see as exceptionally cheap equity valuations. Meanwhile, the overall direction of policy in both India and Brazil remains market-oriented. Most importantly, we believe recent commodity weakness does not represent a long-term trend. The Case for Emerging Markets’ Growth Despite a recent moderation in short-term global GDP growth forecasts, we still anticipate a likely reacceleration of growth in 2013 and in subsequent years, with 2012 expected to mark a low point. Moreover, we expect growth generally in emerging markets in 2013 and beyond longer term to be much stronger than in developed markets and believe such strong growth could not only drive rising demand for commodities, but also feed into corporate profitability and valuations over time. Industrialization and urbanization in emerging markets are likely to further increase commodity demand, which could push prices ahead over the long term. In many emerging economies, commodities, exports and infrastructure development could continue to be leading growth drivers, but we believe going forward, overall growth is likely to arise increasingly from domestic sources. Expanding consumer wealth is creating an increasingly large and discriminating body of middle class consumers across emerging markets, and their demand is in turn creating increasingly significant domestic economic activity. Furthermore, emerging markets have far lower levels of consumer indebtedness than is common in developed markets, giving their consumers commensurately greater capacity to ramp up demand. In addition, demographic factors are more favorable in many emerging markets than in most developed markets. With a relatively high proportion of the population in emerging markets moving into the workforce and a relatively low proportion of dependents, demographics are acting to reinforce consumer demand. Even in markets like China, where demographics are less clearly favorable, productivity gains from moves out of agriculture and into manufacturing and service industries have still provided a positive influence on growth and domestic demand. Frontier Markets – Emerging Markets of the Future These so-called “emerging markets of the future” have enjoyed strong growth from low base effects, abundant natural and human resources, the availability of easy gains from market reforms and injections of technology into relatively low-wage economies. Compared with more mature emerging markets, frontier markets are relatively under-researched, and we believe that this lack of familiarity could lead to undervaluation and pricing anomalies that we could seek to exploit through our extensive research resources. We are finding many opportunities in frontier markets globally, but with an especially dense pack of opportunities, we think Africa in general represents an investment destination all its own and one we are eyeing with particular interest. We remain aware of risks to all markets, including emerging markets, arising from the fragility of global growth, indebtedness, and a number of geopolitical risks, notably in Korea, the South China Sea and the Middle East. However, while we take account of macroeconomic considerations as part of our investment process, our central aim is to build portfolios from those stocks our research leads us to believe are most underpriced relative to their long-term potential. My prognosis: Some markets do appear to have a weak pulse right now, but any number of catalysts could act as a jump start. Continue reading
