ESG Currents

Climate-related disasters have caused $18.5 trillion in damages since 2000, and the risks keep growing. In this episode of ESG Currents, Bloomberg Intelligence’s director of ESG research Eric Kane speaks with Ron Dembo, founder and CEO of Riskthinking.AI, about the radical uncertainty of climate change, how his firm models physical climate risk, how investors can use the data and why the biggest signals might be hiding in the...

Patagonia is known for putting the planet before profit, including a landmark decision to make Earth “our only shareholder.” Learn more about Patagonia’s unique ownership structure as CEO Ryan Gellert joins Shaheen Contractor, senior ESG analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, on this week’s episode of ESG Currents. They discuss unique challenges and opportunities in leading a mission-driven company, along with G...

Debt-for-nature swaps are gaining traction as a way to restructure sovereign debt in exchange for conservation commitments. In this episode of ESG Currents, Bloomberg Intelligence director of ESG research Eric Kane and senior ESG associate Melanie Rua speak with Slav Gatchev, who leads The Nature Conservancy’s Sustainable Debt team, and Jake Harper, senior investment manager for Alternative Debt at Legal & General. Togeth...

The climate transition is expected to require significant capital expenditures, with private equity being an important vehicle. In this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Vikram Raju, head of Private Equity Climate Investing for Morgan Stanley Investment Management, joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s senior ESG analyst Shaheen Contractor. They discuss the financial viability and risks of climate-focused investments, the complex...

Natural gas is often referred to as a bridge fuel. Though some see it as a lower-carbon alternative to coal and oil for reliable electricity, others regard it as a methane-loaded detour to a zero-carbon future. In this week’s episode of ESG Currents, Bloomberg Intelligence Senior ESG Analyst Rob Du Boff sits down with Danny Rice, co-founder of Rice Energy and CEO of Net Power, a company that aims to generate cleaner power fro...

How can AI help navigate the complex, varied and piecemeal world of ESG regulations? In this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Irena Vodenska, professor of finance and director of finance programs at Boston University’s Metropolitan College, joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s senior ESG analysts Shaheen Contractor and Rob Du Boff. They discuss a study that uses the power of AI to help dissect sustainability regulations. ...

"Exiting or reducing financing for palm oil is something we're absolutely not trying to do. Instead we're trying to support sustainable palm oil, without deforestation and planting on peat or exploitation," says Luanne Sieh, group chief sustainability officer at Malaysia's CIMB Group. On this ESG Currents episode, Sieh and Conrad Tan, Bloomberg Intelligence ESG integration analyst for APAC, explore the bank's efforts guided by scie...

California has long led the US in tackling air emissions, but Congress recently voted to block a key tool employed by the state to accomplish its goals. In this episode of ESG Currents, BI senior ESG analysts Gail Glazerman and Rob Du Boff are joined by Mary Nichols, distinguished counsel for the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA, who previously served as chair of the California Air Resources Board. The...

How can we prepare tomorrow’s leaders for today’s climate risks? In this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, the University of Maryland’s Dr. Cliff Rossi, academic director and professor, and Tim Canty, associate professor, join Bloomberg Intelligence’s Andy Stevenson, senior ESG analyst, to discuss their interdisciplinary approach to teaching sustainability. Together they explore how science and finance mu...

Discussions around climate change have become deeply politicized, but global warming’s impacts have no political affiliation, whether it’s hurricanes in deep red Texas or wildfires in deep blue California. On this episode of ESG Currents, BI senior ESG analyst Rob Du Boff is joined by Bob Inglis, executive director of republicEn.org and former US Congressman from South Carolina’s 4th district. They discuss why Rep...

With emissions hitting record highs, carbon dioxide removal is shifting from theoretical climate solution to commercial necessity. In this episode of ESG Currents, Bloomberg Intelligence Director of ESG Research Eric Kane speaks with AirMyne’s co-founder and COO, Mark Cyffka, and its CCO, Jan Huckfeldt, about the startup’s low-cost, scalable approach to direct air capture (DAC). They discuss why simplicity and heat effi...

"Climate risk is financial risk; investors who aren't addressing that risk are at risk themselves," says Rebecca Mikula-Wright, CEO of the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change. Among Asia's biggest institutional investors, a growing number now track or target investments in climate solutions, conduct physical-risk assessments and engage investee companies to reduce portfolio risks, recognizing climate change as a major risk to lon...

"Many UAE banks have seen sustainable finance as a profit center", says Vijay Bains, Group Chief Sustainability Officer and Head of ESG at Emirates NBD. In this episode of ESG Currents, Grace Osborne, BI’s ESG integration analyst for EMEA, speaks with Bains about the rising momentum of sustainable finance in the GCC and its intertwinement with the region's economic diversification plans. With UAE's national banks' pledging to...

As climate change accelerates water scarcity, investors are eyeing scalable solutions with environmental integrity. In this episode of ESG Currents, BI’s director of ESG research Eric Kane and senior ESG associate Melanie Rua speak with OceanWell CEO Robert Bergstrom about a subsea desalination product that uses deep-ocean pressure to cut energy use by up to 40% while protecting marine ecosystems. Bergstrom outlines OceanWell...

"It’s very important to understand that we need to deliver sustainability, not simply be passionate about it," says Eric Lim, managing director and chief sustainability officer at United Overseas Bank, our first guest from Asia on the ESG Currents podcast. Lim joins Conrad Tan, Bloomberg Intelligence’s ESG integration analyst for Asia-Pacific, to discuss what the ESG backlash means for companies' sustainability efforts,...

Reducing greenhouse-gas emissions remains the top priority in addressing climate change. However, it’s increasingly clear that these efforts must be complemented by greenhouse-gas removal. The extent needed is difficult to pin down, but a recent report, Scaling Technological Greenhouse Gas Removal: A Global Roadmap to 2050, by the Bezos Earth Fund and the Rocky Mountain Institute is anchored around the idea that we need to ac...

In the current political climate, corporate executives must address environmental, social and governance challenges with real authenticity while never losing sight of the strategic needs of their organizations. On this week’s episode of ESG Currents, Bloomberg Intelligence Senior ESG Analyst Rob Du Boff speaks with Amy Brachio, Global Vice Chair of Sustainability at EY and co-chair of the S30, a community of chief sustainabil...

AI’s role in climate is often framed around increased energy use and emissions, but what if it could help solve the crisis? In this episode of Bloomberg Intelligence’s ESG Currents, we explore how Amazon Web Services is helping foster AI-driven climate-tech companies, including through the Compute for Climate Fellowship. AWS’ Head of Climate Tech Business Development, Startups and Venture Capital Lisbeth Kaufman j...

Sustainable-debt issuance reached $1.63 trillion in 2024, and though regulation has been critical to driving the growth of sustainable-finance markets, it risks being a distraction if it’s too onerous. The key will be focusing on the 20% of metrics that drive 80% of the impact on our investment decisions, says Dr. Arthur Krebbers, managing director and head of Corporate Climate and ESG Capital Markets at NatWest. In this epis...