NEWSLETTER of October 15, 2021

The following content has been added at finexpert:

Strategy&
SCALING THE SUSTAINABLE FINANCE MARKET    
The market for sustainable finance is rapidly growing in response to the climate emergency. Despite impressive recent growth, the sustainable finance market has a long road ahead to reach maturity. It faces competing initiatives, uneven coverage by geography and asset class, misalignment of definitions and a mismatch between supply and demand. However, financial market infrastructure (FMI) can help. >more

Deloitte
CREATING SUSTAINABLE VALUE: REAL ESTATE AND ESG
ESG has taken on a key role in the strategic direction of companies. To remain successful, ESG factors must be incorporated into strategic decision-making, corporate governance, the investment process, reporting, and (commercial) legal and tax decisions. At Deloitte, we accompany you on the sustainability journey and highlight all ESG aspects in the Real Estate industry that will play a role for your company and its stakeholders today and in the future. >more

Deloitte
BREAKING NEW GROUND: M&A, TRANSITION AND EVOLUTION IN THE ENERGY INDUSTRY
Mergermarket is pleased to present Breaking new ground: M&A, transition and evolution in the energy industry, published in association with Deloitte. The oil and gas sector is at a crossroads. Sustainability is the watch word and companies’ ESG credentials are now a fundamental part of their operations. We talk to four Deloitte leaders about M&A, renewables, and finding future frontiers. >more

KfW Research
BEITRAG VON GREEN FINANCE ZUM ERREICHEN VON KLIMANEUTRALITÄT IN DEUTSCHLAND
In order to become climate-neutral by the middle of the century, Germany will have to invest around EUR 5 trillion. EUR must be invested in Germany to become climate-neutral by the middle of the century. This is the conclusion of a study commissioned by KfW Research. This is an ambitious figure, but it is put into perspective when one considers that many of these investments are already pending and must now be put to sustainable use. For this challenge to succeed, public investment funds must be used in a targeted manner and complementary private investments must be mobilized. If this succeeds, Germany will have the opportunity to improve its competitiveness and prosperity and to emerge stronger from the transformation to climate neutrality. >more

BOARD DYNAMICS OVER THE STARTUP LIFE CYCLE
Michael Ewens, and Nadya Malenko
2021
Venture capital (VC) backed firms face neither the regulatory requirements nor a major separation of ownership and control of their public peers. These differences suggest that independent directors could play a unique role on private firm boards. This paper explores the dynamics of VC-backed startup boards using novel data on director entry, exit, and characteristics. We document new facts about board composition, allocation of control, and dynamics, and examine the roles of independent directors. At formation, a typical board is entrepreneur-controlled. Independent directors join the median board after the second financing, when board control becomes shared, with independent directors holding the tie-breaking vote between entrepreneurs and VCs. At later stages, control switches to VCs and independent director characteristics change. These patterns are consistent with independent directors playing both a mediating and advising role over the startup life cycle, and thus representing another potential source of value-add to startup performance. >more

DO BANKS FUEL CLIMATE CHANGE?
Alessio Reghezza, Yener Altunbas, David Marques-Ibanez, Costanza Rodriguez d’Acri, and Martina Spaggiari
2021
Do climate-oriented regulatory policies affect the flow of credit towards polluting corporations? We match loan-level data to firm-level greenhouse gas emissions to assess the impact of the Paris Agreement. We find that, following this agreement, European banks reallocated credit away from polluting firms. In the aftermath of President Trump’s 2017 announcement that the United States was withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, lending by European banks to polluting firms in the United States decreased even further in relative terms. It follows that green regulatory initiatives in banking can have a significant impact combating climate change. >more