Finance firms’ claim to be ‘saving the world’ was a mistake, says City veteran | Financial sector

Douglas Flint, the outgoing president, said that pension funds and institutional investors have made a “big mistake”, and their role in environmental, social and governmental issues boasted to promote their products.

Flint, who headed A recent rename fund manager Since 2019, he said, “The high allegations are ridiculous” by some companies, which were driven by a mindset that their job was not about investing money: We are just good people and we are providing the world. “

Flint, who also chaired HSBC between 2010 and 2017, told the London City Conference on Monday that these allegations may be exaggerated, in a way that they are subjected to legal danger, especially in the United States.

“Our industry has committed a kind of big mistake. It has become marketing: Let’s tell everyone that we are saving the world, and we are saving the planet,” he said in the comments mentioned by The Financeial Times first.

Legal risks have increased in recent months after a severe decrease in supporting ESG issues in the United States. The right -wing activists and politicians targeted financial companies to support climate policies, after they were encouraged by the Trump administration policy makers, which I pushed for a recovery in oil and gas production.

ESG’s reaction to some companies has worried that it could be targeted through lawsuits and blacklist that may harm their American business. Even before Trump took office in November, Texas Natoyst added to a growing list of companies Accused of boycotting its oil industryIn a move that threatened the work of the United Kingdom with the American state.

For others, ESG reaction provided an opportunity to eliminate green international initiatives that some presidents claim are less competing. Promising investors, including Blackrock and State Street, have canceled the membership of volunteer plans such as the Climate Action 100+ in recent months.

Although American companies have led the charge in dropping ESG obligations, there are increasing concerns that investors in the United Kingdom can follow their example, which means that there will be less pressure on the companies listed for the public, which they keep, to reduce the effects of their carbon feet.

It can be aggravated by Possible pledge to the Labor Party statement To ensure that FTSE 100 – in addition to banks in the city, asset managers, insurance companies and pension funds – the “credible” climate transition plans are in line with the Paris Agreement to reduce global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Last week, a consultation on these rules showed that the government was exploring less striking bases as part of a campaign to reduce the costs of red tape and compliance. One of the options to be considered means that the government “will not require the entity to have a separate transitional plan or to set climate goals in line with a specific climate goal.”

“The focus on the influence of the environment and climate on business profits remains, not the impact of business on this planet,” said Mark Kev, a visiting colleague at the International Systems Institute at the University of Exter. “Given the lack of clarity on government climate plans, not to mention the decline in the United States and other places, this is likely to increase the decline in companies’ obligations in climate work. “

Last week, an energy security spokesman and Safi Safar said that the government “is committed to making the UK capital of sustainable financing in the world.

“The advice that we launched seeks to the views of the stakeholders about a set of methods of transmission plans, including the climate alignment, as part of our commitment to proceed with the full commitment of the statement.”