Mission transition: sustainable finance’s journey from climate ambition to credibility
“The transition is not stalled. It is maturing,” the keynote speaker from a leading UK bank told the audience at last week’s Sustainable Finance Europe summit in London. This message was reiterated by speakers, panellists and delegates in various ways throughout the day, indicating a notable evolution of ESG at a time when the geopolitical […]
The conversation continued – exploring five more claims about the energy transition
In this second instalment, we turn to five more myths that sit at the heart of the transition’s social dimension, from land use and workforce change to the lifecycle impacts of new technologies, highlighting the trade-offs policymakers and stakeholders must navigate and the importance of assessing them through an ESG lens. Claim 6: “Solar farms […]
Let’s have a discussion about renewables, storage and the energy transition
Climate misinformation involves inaccurate or outdated claims that spread without intent to deceive, often stemming from misunderstandings or misinterpretation of data. Disinformation, by contrast, is deliberately created to mislead audiences for political, financial or ideological purposes. Both distort public debate. Analysis by Carbon Brief shows that 2025 marked the first year in which UK newspaper […]
COP30: A fragile consensus in a fractured geopolitical climate
The summit closed after a long final night of negotiations, with the Brazilian presidency issuing a compromise package known as the “global mutirão”, a nod to the idea of collective effort. The deal attempted to pull together the most contentious threads of the talks, from climate finance and trade measures to the ongoing struggle to […]
Why ESG should be reframed, not abandoned
“Net Zero is dead.” “The Tories are dead.” “Democracy is dead.” Lately, everything in political life seems to be declared finished. ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) has also been subject to this narrative. But while media headlines are loud and decisive, the reality is more nuanced. The question shouldn’t be “is ESG dead” but whether the […]
Is ESG failing defence? Rethinking ethics, investment and national security
As someone who regularly trawls through Hansard in search of references to ESG, I can safely say the term has not exactly made its way into the vernacular of Parliament (between the election and March, it was mentioned twice in the Commons). While related themes like sustainability, biodiversity, and net zero are familiar ground, ESG […]
