Over the last year, 30 of the world’s richest countries have poured an unprecedented $14.9 trillion into stimulus spending to help revive their pandemic-hit economies. Some hoped that this massive wave of spending would turbo-charge investment in greener industries, such as electric cars, efficient buildings and renewable energy. But has that actually happened?  In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we take a closer look at how much global stimulus spending has gone to fighting climate change or protecting the environment. The upshot, according to new research, is that stimulus measures are continuing to have a net negative impact on the environment, mainly because so much of spending is directed at more carbon intensive-industries such as transportation, agriculture and energy. Just 12% of overall stimulus spending is directed at the green economy.  We talk to Jason Eis, executive director of Vivid Economics, a British research firm. Eis says there are signs that the “greenness” of stimulus spending is slowly improving, thanks in part to President Biden’s plans to invest in a greener recovery.  Photo credit: Getty Images

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink made waves in the ESG world last month by pushing companies to plan for a net-zero emissions future. His annual letter also committed to taking more concrete steps within BlackRock to enable the decarbonization transition. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we dive into BlackRock’s own net-zero strategy. We talk to experts about what it means and how much further the world’s largest asset manager still needs to go. Fink has acknowledged that BlackRock has a carbon-intensive portfolio and is moving to change that. We'll hear from Kirsten Spalding, who leads the Investor Network at the sustainability-focused group Ceres. And we’ll also hear from Moira Birss, who is Climate & Finance Director at Amazon Watch. Her group is part of a network of NGOs and finance advocates that are pressing asset managers like BlackRock to align their business practices with a climate-safe world. Photo credit: Getty Images

Stakeholder capitalism — the idea that companies are responsible for their role in society in addition to making money for shareholders — has taken on new meaning thanks to COVID-19. It was the buzzword among major players in the ESG world like BlackRock CEO Larry Fink as well as heads of government at the Davos summit last week. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we dive into stakeholder capitalism — what it means and what people were saying at the World Economic Forum's annual Davos gathering, which was virtual this year.  You'll also hear an interview with the World Economic Forum's Project Lead for ESG, Emily Bayley. She describes the story behind a set of new stakeholder capitalism metrics that more than 60 major companies just agreed to use in their mainstream reporting, such as annual reports and proxy statements. 

New U.S. President Joe Biden has made climate change a priority and is setting the nation on a much more sustainability-focused path than his predecessor. Just days into his term, Biden had already has taken dozens of executive actions, including rejoining the Paris agreement on climate change and ordering a review of rules the Trump administration finalized in the last days of its term. In the latest episode of S&P Global podcast ESG Insider, we talk to experts about what the change of administration and the inherent regulatory uncertainty mean for sustainability-minded companies and investors. We hear from Josh Zinner, CEO of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. ICCR, a global coalition of institutional investors, engages with corporations on a wide range of ESG issues. Zinner said climate-minded investors take the long view and ignored the Trump administration's deregulatory agenda in the expectation that the pendulum would eventually swing back in their favor, which it now has under Biden. We talk to Alex Bond, one of the regulatory leads at the Edison Electric Institute, a trade group for investor-owned electric utilities in the U.S. Bond said the sector has been focused on climate for years and that utilities, like investors, take a long-term view. And we interview former bank regulator John Geiringer, who said that the tone in the financial sector was already shifting to take climate risk more seriously, even before the administration change.   Photo source: Getty Images

In this final episode of 2020, we'll talk with experts about what key ESG themes they expect to unfold in 2021. State Street Global Advisors’ EMEA Head of ESG Investment Strategy Carlo Funk outlines the firm’s ESG priorities for the year ahead, while proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis' Director of ESG Research Courteney Keatinge describes why COVID-19 will continue to be a key theme behind shareholder engagement in 2021. Trillium Asset Management CEO Matt Patsky talks about the continued need for robust data and how the incoming Biden administration could establish disclosure requirements. And we hear from Jeff Hales, who chairs the Standards Board at the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, or SASB. He talks about how COVID-19 altered the way companies and investors think about human capital management issues like worker mental health and paid sick leave. As a result, SASB is considering changing the way it measures human capital management in its industry-specific sustainability standards.   Photo credit: Getty Images/Nora Carol Photography

This special pre-Thanksgiving episode puts a spotlight on the meat industry that is supplying the turkeys and other poultry, pork, fish, and beef products many Americans will be feasting on for the holiday. The meat industry has been hard hit by COVID-19, as the pandemic has exposed frailties in everything from supply chains to production processes and associated greenhouse gas emissions levels to worker safety. In the episode, we talk with Jeremy Coller, the founder of the industry activist group Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return, or FAIRR, about these weaknesses. Coller also discusses progress his group and investors have made in convincing companies to tackle these risks, and the continued challenges the sector faces. Photo credit: Getty Images

U.S. financial regulators need to step up in the fight against climate change, according to one of their own. Rostin Behnam, a commissioner at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, talks to ESG Insider, an S&P Global podcast on environmental, social and governance issues, about a report released in September by a panel of nearly three dozen Wall Street, energy and sustainability executives and experts. In the report, the CFTC's Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee concluded that climate change poses a "major risk" to the stability of the American financial system and the broader economy. "U.S. financial regulators need to recognize this risk and move urgently and decisively to address" climate change," Behnam says in the episode. The landmark report included more than 50 recommendations calling on lawmakers and financial regulators across the U.S. to address climate risk. It has already sparked new conversations about the relationship between the financial industry and climate change. Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, introduced legislation Oct. 21 that would ban financial companies from making new investments in fossil fuels, while citing the report from the CFTC subcommittee. And the New York Public Service Commission recently noted the CFTC panel's findings when discussing whether to require annual reports from major electric and gas utilities on their climate-related risks. "Climate change is not linear in many respects," Behnam said. "It's not comparable to a traditional financial analyst's work when they evaluate public companies or risk more generally. So we have to, both the public sector and the private sector, adapt to climate change over the years. Nothing is clearly predictable. We do have a sense that climate change will get worse if we don't change our patterns." Photo source: Busà Photography via Getty Images

Pictured is Pamela Sutton-Wallace and her two daughters. In this episode, we bring you an exclusive interview with Pamela Sutton-Wallace, a healthcare executive at a New York City hospital that is one of the largest in the U.S. She took on the role just weeks before the pandemic turned the city into a coronavirus hotspot.   Sutton-Wallace shares her decades of personal and professional experience as a leader in the healthcare industry while raising her children. She tells us how she expects the coronavirus will change family leave policies. She talks about the guidance she gives to women looking to advance in their careers while balancing demands of childcare and caring for aging relatives. And she discusses the demands on the “sandwich generation” — adults caring for an aging parent who are also raising children or supporting them financially. Sutton-Wallace has two college-age daughters and her own mother lives with her. This is the second in a two-part series in which ESG Insider explores the ways corporate America is responding to COVID-19 and finding ways to retain employees. In the first part, we discussed research into gender, parental leave and family caregiving policies in the U.S. private sector, which S&P Global conducted in partnership with AARP.

In this special episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we explore how corporate America is responding to COVID-19 with new policies for employees caring for children and elderly relatives. S&P Global partnered with AARP to research how leave policies are evolving in the U.S. private sector as part of S&P Global’s #ChangePays initiative, which produces research about the benefits of increasing women participation in the work force. In the episode we unpack that research, which found the pace of change has accelerated rapidly amid the pandemic.   We also hear from women who are on the ground balancing childcare, virtual schooling and elder care alongside demanding careers amid the pandemic. The episode features interviews with Pamela Sutton-Wallace, an executive at New York-Presbyterian, one of the largest hospitals in the U.S.; Microsoft Corporate Vice President Rani Borkar; S&P Global Market Intelligence President Martina Cheung; and Arjuna Capital co-founder Natasha Lamb.

Duke Energy Corp. President, CEO and board Chair Lynn Good sat down for an exclusive interview just hours after the electric utility company held its first ESG investor day on Oct. 9. Lynn talked to ESG Insider, an S&P Global podcast about environmental, social and governance issues, about Duke’s evolving climate strategy. She also explained how the company is handling social issues ranging from racial tensions to working with customers who are struggling to pay their electric bills during the pandemic. At the ESG investor day event Duke announced several new initiatives including a methane emissions target, a climate-focused executive compensation metric and efforts to craft "principles for environmental justice." In the latest episode of the ESG Insider podcast, Lynn took a deeper dive into the compensation metric and environmental justice principles. She also defended the company's decision to build more natural gas plants despite having a net-zero emissions target. Lynn said that technologies such as battery storage are not where they need to be to make up for performance gaps in solar and wind. Therefore, "we see a need to use natural gas” to meet those needs — “probably in the medium term," , she said. But Lynn added that the company will continue to test that assumption as technologies develop. Lynn also said heightened racial tension in the U.S. is prompting Duke to reexamine diversity. Duke is "turning our attention into more rapid progression of minorities and women into the company into leadership in a way that this event has really catalyzed our good intentions to encourage us to move as quickly as we can," Lynn said. Photo source: Duke Energy