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Sustainable Finance & Consumer ProtectionJoint 2° Investing Initiative and BETTER FINANCE Webinar24 March 2020 │ 09h30 – 16h00 | Webinar |
2° Investing Initiative, in collaboration with BETTER FINANCE, will launch and discuss a new series of research papers focused on individual investors’ sustainability investment objectives, compliance of environmental marketing claims, and consent of beneficiaries on the use of shareholder voting rights.
Our survey results and literature review suggest that two-thirds of retail investors have sustainability investment objectives, and 40% want to have a measurable environmental impact in the real economy. Meanwhile, we found that half of the 230 “sustainability-themed” retail funds we analyzed make environmental impact claims, and almost none of them comply with regulatory guidance that require claims to be specific, unambiguous and substantiated. Another principal-agent problem relates to the use of shareholder voting rights by fund managers. While impact-oriented retail clients seem to favor engagement and use of voting rights as the best mobilization mechanism, voting rights legally belong to fund managers – who do not consult retail clients on their use. Policy relevance:
Please note we will stream the entire webinar via Zoom (register), and you are welcome to login before your chosen session(s) and/or remain for the following sessions. The webinar will also be recorded for those who wish to watch later. For any questions, please email comms@2degrees-investing.org Full program:Speakers:
I. Compliance of environmental impact claims (9:00-9:45)9:00 – 9:30 – Misleading marketing claims – Pablo Felmer Roa & Stan Dupré (2DII), Aleksandra Mączyńska & Edoardo Carlucci (Better Finance) 9:30-9:45 [Q&A] II. Consumer expectations (9:45-10:45)9:45-9:55 – Policy context – Better Finance III. Environmental impact measurement: focus on engagement (11:00-12:30)11:00-11:10 – Policy context – Sebastien Godinot (WWF) IV. EU Ecolabel for Financial Products (15:00-16:00)15:00-15:30 – Presentation of 2DII’s Ecolabel note |