Tag Archives: Paris Agreement
Net-Zero Targets and Temperature Alignment: Two Sides of the Same Coin?
For many people, a new year represents a chance to set new objectives and to tick (or scrap) the previous year’s list of resolutions. Whether this objective-setting exercise works is debatable. A similar phenomenon might be observed within companies. Scientific consensus maintains that net-zero emissions should be reached by 2050 if the world is to…
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Reversing the Entropy of Climate Change
According to the second law of thermodynamics, the state of disorder or chaos of a system, also known as entropy, increases over time, defining the so-called arrow of time. Applying this analogy to Earth, is the world headed into chaos as climate change unfolds? Not necessarily. Just as entropy can decrease if useful work is…
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How to Bring Paris Agreement Goals to Fixed Income Indices
This blog was co-authored by Smadar Shulman and Paulina Lichwa-Garcia. As the transition to net zero is becoming a critical consideration in portfolio management, the popularity of indices that incorporate the EU’s minimum standards for Climate Transition Benchmarks (CTBs) and Paris-aligned Benchmarks (PABs) has been gathering pace. Such benchmarks aim to select securities that are collectively…
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Schrödinger’s Carbon: Intensity and Paris Alignment
In quantum mechanics, Schrödinger’s Cat refers to the paradoxical consequences of a thought experiment: can a cat be simultaneously dead and alive? A similarly counterintuitive phenomenon can be found in the context of climate-based analysis: whereby an index may boast a relatively low carbon intensity and yet, perhaps surprisingly, not be judged as aligned with…
Data Driving the Weights within the S&P 500 Net Zero 2050 Paris-Aligned ESG Index
The World Meteorological Organization estimates that there is a 50% chance that global warming will exceed 1.5°C before 2026.1 The International Panel on Climate Change has warned that time is running out—climate change is no longer a problem for the future, and its associated physical risks are materializing more evidently.2 The world may need to…
S&P PACT Indices Target Sector Neutrality
Recently announced results for a consultation on the S&P PACT™ Indices (S&P Paris-Aligned & Climate Transition Indices) reveal that they will now target country and sector neutrality. This has the potential benefit of comparing companies, as much as possible, to close peers (those in the same sector and country), while reducing active risk. The EU’s…
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Resilience to Rising Carbon Prices: Do Eurozone S&P PACT Indices Stand the Test?
“Code red for humanity.” That’s how the imminent effects of climate change were described by the UN.1 Human-induced global warming stands at 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels, and will likely reach more than 2.7°C by 2100.2 If the world is to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and limit global warming to 1.5°C, decarbonization is…
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S&P PACT Indices Sector Weight Explanation in Developed and U.S. Markets
In April 2020, we launched the S&P PACTTM (Paris-Aligned & Climate Transition) Indices. The indices aim to align with a 1.5oC climate scenario, the EU’s minimum standards for EU Climate Transition Benchmarks and EU Paris-Aligned Benchmarks, and the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), while maintaining a broad, diversified exposure. The…
S&P PACT Indices Sector Weight Explanation in Europe and the Eurozone
In April 2020, we launched the S&P PACTTM (Paris-Aligned Climate Transition) Indices. The indices aim to align with a 1.5oC climate scenario, the EU’s minimum standards for EU Climate Transition Benchmarks and EU Paris-Aligned Benchmarks, and the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), while maintaining a broad, diversified exposure. The S&P…
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Why Clean Energy Now
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that power generation coming from renewable sources, such as wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal, should provide the majority of the world’s energy needs by 2050.1 The use of renewable energy has been increasing significantly over the last decade, however its current level of consumption still lags those of…