Ideas
This document is part of a series published by Mirova to illustrate our approach to sustainability sector-by-sector. We aim to address solutions, risks, and how we optimize impact through investment. This eighth paper focuses on environmental, social and governance issues in the Utilities sector.
This document is part of a series published by Mirova to illustrate our approach to sustainability sector-by-sector. We aim to address solutions, risks, and how we optimize impact through investment. This seventh paper focuses on environmental, social and governance issues in the Infrastructures and Construction industries.
The transition from a carbon-intensive and ecosystem-destroying extractive economy to a green economy has begun. Green growth, which creates environmental value first, will also contribute to the creation of economic and shareholder value.
Regulation, cost reduction, and the rise of renewable energy in the United States.
Historically and famously fossil-fuel dependent, the U.S. energy and electricity mixes are evolving quickly as costs fall for renewables, regulations mandate their implementation, and fiscal policy incentivizes their installation.
For some, a responsible investment is by definition a long-term investment. And they’re right, to be sure. Problems arise, however, with any attempt to define these terms. Surprisingly, it is almost as difficult to achieve a consensus on the meaning of long-term investment as it is to arrive at a broadly acceptable definition of responsible investment.
We are today indisputably enmired in a crisis. So why, one might ask, are the pages of this periodical devoted to such seemingly disparate events as a fire at the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, or Europe’s horsemeat scandal. Indeed, given the current situation, these choices might appear dictated by sentimental considerations, out of place in the serious study of macroeconomic issues such as Europe’s sagging economy or budgetary and monetary policies that show every sign of being dangerously out of kilter. However, we are convinced that trusting to appearances would be tantamount to confusing a force and its expression, and that dismissing the events we describe would be a mistake. Remember that the strategies for overcoming economic crises have often arisen from ‘scandals’ that served to awaken a public conscience and provide the impetus needed by public authorities to implement reforms.
Why we created Mirova
The current imbalance between growth and debt, the decorrelation with the real economy, the depletion of natural resources, and climate change issues all highlight the fact that the current economic development model is no longer sustainable. Whether it is seen as one of the causes of this crisis or merely as a catalyst, the finance industry also represents a major part of the solution. This is particularly true for the investment industry.