There have been some disappointing headlines out of the UN climate meeting this week, which is intended to pave the way for some of the COP26 discussions and come up with proposals that are likely to be agreed upon at the meeting. Most of the issues are around who is paying for what and whether developed nations are investing enough to help developing nations, using the guidelines put forward when the Paris Agreement was signed. In the US, the climate agenda and the Biden plan are bogged down in Congress and the plan is unlikely to pass in its current form.
The article linked that discusses the “Talent War” for ESG spreads well beyond the investment community. Corporations are having to rethink strategy around new variables, and consequently, the experienced talent pool is limited and in some areas such as carbon abatement, recycling versus renewable polymers, and alternate sources of fuel, there is not much history to have created many “experts”.