Ideas
The gradual reduction of public support measures is ushering renewable energies into a new era: that of autonomy on electricity trading markets. The way in which the associated risks are managed (volatility, cannibalisation effects, modification of the supply/demand equilibrium, buyer consideration, etc.) therefore becomes a fundamental issue in the project’s business plan and consequently for all stakeholders. In this article, Mirova offers a look at merchant risk, how it can be analysed, the strategies to guard against it and the opportunities that can be seized.
Today’s world is changing, led by long term transitions: demographic, technological, environmental and related to corporate governance. In this interview, Amber Fairbanks and Manon Salomez give their view on the impact of Covid-19 on corporate governance, and share Mirova’s vision, putting the emphasis on the creation of shared value over the long term.
One of the most important challenges for institutional investors is to deploy large amounts of capital and manage increasingly high liability commitments in an environment of low-yielding opportunities. At the same time, one of the biggest challenges for the world as a whole is dealing with climate change, its impacts on the economy and more broadly with what it already implies in terms of adaptation for all humanity. While seemingly disparate, these two challenges have converged to a point where they become synergetic: today, the renewable energy production infrastructure sector has reached maturity and offers investment opportunities with a good risk/return ratio, while participating in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. For investors, renewable energy infrastructure has thus established itself as an asset class in its own right.
Improving the transparency of financial institutions on environmental and social issues is a strongpoint of the European Commission's action plan on sustainable finance. The cornerstone of this enhanced transparency, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) which entered into force in March 2021 for its initial phase.
But they will not have it.
Whether it is “grey”, “blue”, “yellow”, or “green”, hydrogen is the topic on everyone’s lips today. While it is already widely consumed in many sectors, its use as a source of energy is only in its early stages. Its applications are as numerous as they are promising, most notably in the mobility sector. For it to become the best facilitator for the transition towards a low carbon economy, many challenges still need to be met, starting with the mass production of a zero-carbon hydrogen which will require substantial investment in the coming years.
The energy, industry, buildings and transport sectors together currently account for three quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions, with mobility alone representing no less than 24% of CO2 emissions caused by energy combustion1. To limit global warming in accordance with the goals of the Paris Agreement, financing the transition of transport towards low-carbon mobility constitutes both an ecological imperative and an opportunity for positive impact investment.
The concept of impact investing is increasingly prevalent in the financial industry. Yet there is, to date, no clear consensus on what this notion comprises, nor on the financial sector’s exact relationship to reorienting our economies towards sustainable development. At Mirova, certainly, impact serves as a core structural feature of our corporate purpose. Therefore wa wanted to clarify our vision of impact
