With a major international investment summit in Canada in two months, it’s time for securities regulators to greenlight mandatory corporate climate discloure. It’s what global financial institutions expect. My post in Corporate Knights. corporateknights.com/finance/weak...

Weak climate disclosure is hurting Canada’s financial independence

Researchers say mandatory corporate reporting would kick-start non-U.S. investment

corporateknights.com

The Banking on Climate Chaos report documents $906 billion in total fossil fuel financing in 2025, about 8% higher than in 2024. The document is a who’s who of the 65 largest fossil fuel banks in the world. Here is my review of this important report, posted in Corporate Knights this week.

Banks up the ante on fossil fuels — again

The new Banking on Climate Chaos report shows global banks ramping up their fossil fuel financing, though some are dialling back

corporateknights.com

Shareholder engagement on climate is changing. It's focusing on behind-the-scenes meetings instead of public proxy battles. And it's moving away from target-setting and emissions disclosure to climate transition plans. Here's my feature in Corporate Knights. corporateknights.com/finance/shar...

Shareholder activists are changing tactics for promoting sustainability | Corporate Knights

Climate-aligned investors are focusing more on private dialogues and corporate transition plans than ESG resolutions

corporateknights.com

The UK government wants to ramp community energy projects. Could it also encourage thousands of Britons to invest directly in local power through crowdfunding? I report on this in Corporate Knights. corporateknights.com/finance/the-...

The U.K. has a plan to crowdfund clean energy

The U.K. government has a £1-billion strategy to leverage crowdfunding for hundreds of community energy projects. Will it work?

corporateknights.com

Mark Carney's new wealth fund won’t hold much appeal for green investors, who will be put off by its fossil fuel holdings. But it could be very popular among "elbows up" investors worried about Canadian sovereignty. My piece in Corporate Knights. corporateknights.com/finance/mark...

Mark Carney turns nation-building into a retail investment product

Canada's new sovereign wealth fund has strong patriotic appeal, but green investors may recoil from fossil fuel inclusions

corporateknights.com

As the Canadian sustainable finance taxonomy begins work to create clear labels for "green" and "transition" investments, a debate over how natural gas fits into this classification is underway. Here's my report in Corporate Knights. corporateknights.com/responsible-...

A clash over natural gas is brewing as Canada readies green rules

A key sustainable taxonomy tool to guard against investment greenwashing in Canada is finally in the works

corporateknights.com

Canada's major pension funds are talking about financing nation-building projects -- a turnaround for funds that have jealously guarded their independence. In Corporate Knights, I look at what infrastructure and energy sectors could get the green light. corporateknights.com/finance/can-...

Can Ottawa convince Canada’s pension giants to invest at home? | Corporate Knights

Shifting geopolitics has Canada’s pension super-funds considering a change in strategy to take advantage of their "home-ice advantage"

corporateknights.com

ArcelorMittal Dofasco is rethinking its greenhouse gas reduction project in Hamilton, looking to make lower-CO2 iron instead at its existing facility in Quebec. The new plan is a victory for Quebec's renewable energy strategy. My analysis in today's Spectator. #Hamont www.thespec.com/opinion/cont...

Dofasco green iron plan a win for Quebec energy strategy

It only makes sense to convert to hydrogen if it can be produced economically and with non-emitting renewable power.

thespec.com

Donald Trump looms large over prospects for sustainable finance in 2026. Still, economic fundamentals of the energy transition and imperatives of global warming provide hope for the industry's future. My annual predictions for readers of Corporate Knights. share.google/9xhDxemBfJ7P...

Corporate Knights | Since 2002

Corporate Knights is an award-winning sustainable economy magazine that produces research, rankings, and reports on the world's most sustainable corporations, solutions and leaders.

share.google

Tropical forests are a key part of the earth's ecosystem that moderates global warming. Brazil wants to tap the financial industry to create a permanent global tropical forest endowment. Despite lukewarm support at COP30, hopes are high for the imaginative new fund. My take in Corporate Knights.

Disappointing support for COP30 forest protection fund not the last word

Climate groups, governments, development agencies and even some banks maintain hope that the trail-blazing fund can become a reality

corporateknights.com

The Hamilton Farmers Market is getting ready for thousands of new residents and visitors that will help to transform the city's downtown. Can it meet these opportunities and emerge as the champion of local food culture in Hamilton? #HamOnt #FarmersMarkets hamiltoncitymagazine.ca/marketing-a-...

Marketing a new vision - Hamilton City Magazine

Business is looking up for the two-century-old Hamilton Farmers’ Market, but it needs to evolve, say its vendors, to meet growing demands and new opportunities. It will soon be undertaking a more entr...

hamiltoncitymagazine.ca

Great to see a major bank recognizing the opportunity of Indigenous lending. #ESG funds for sure will subscribe. It will be interesting to see if conventional funds follow suit.

Climate, Ecology, War & More: Dr. Glen Barry BigEarthData.ai@bigearthdata.ai · 10mo ago

BMO First North American Bank to Issue Labelled Indigenous Bond in Support of Indigenous-Owned Businesses and Indigenous Communities - ->Yahoo Finance | More from Lil' Dr Glen EcoChat at BigEarthData.ai

A mix of fun and serious resolve against Trump in yesterday's protests. Great to see. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/u...

Scenes From a Day of Mass Protests

nytimes.com

By sharply reducing the number of companies reporting under Europe's sustainability disclosure rules and wiping out key supply chain information mandates, the EU is delivering a blow to progress on sustainable finance. New statement from Eurosif and 480 investors and businesses.

Omnibus: setback for sustainable finance rules, but damage control on transition plans - EUROSIF

Aleksandra Palinska, Executive Director of Eurosif, commented: “Reducing the number of in-scope companies by over 90% for sustainability reporting and by 70% for rules on transition plans and due dili...

eurosif.org

The collapse of the NZBA seems to point to a bleak period ahead for the climate transition. Yet the Rocky Mountain Institute and Europe-based Finance Watch are laying out optimistic new approaches to engagement and regulation on banks and global warming. My article in Corporate Knights.

Mark Carney's Net-Zero Banking Alliance is done. Now what?

The end of the global network could spell more bank financing of fossil fuels, or a more effective path for the energy transition

corporateknights.com

The demands for capital to finance solutions to the polycrisis of the Trump tariffs, climate change, international wars, and non-stop innovation will be enormous. Where will Canada get the money? Canada’s financial regulator believes Bay Street holds the key. My report in Corporate Knights.

Corporate Knights@green-economy.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Canada’s financial industry regulator is quietly laying the ground for the country’s banks, insurance companies and pension funds to vastly increase credit and investments targeted to the current economic crisis.

The Net-Zero Banking Alliance is officially dead, with yesterday's announcement. Simultaneously, though, US banks have reduced their fossil lending. For Wall Street, the energy transition is "complicated." www.semafor.com/article/08/0...

Net Zero Banking Alliance Pauses Activities - ESG Today

The Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), a UN-backed banking sector coalition dedicated to advancing global net zero goals through their financing activities, announced that it has paused its activities ...

esgtoday.com

The energy transition is building momentum with banks, hedge funds, pension funds and equity investors. And this is happening as Donald Trump pushes fossil fuels and trashes renewable energy. My report in Corporate Knights. share.google/VerwWVOJshJP...

Defying Trump, banks and investors boost renewables as they recoil from fossil fuel stocks

Market forces appear to be pushing the financial sector away from fossil fuel investments

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Responsible investors in Europe are warming up to defence stocks. But not all agree with the rush into arms companies. My report in Corporate Knights. share.google/0I4PvFjPSjwa...

Climate lawsuits are real. The regulators and lawmakers deciding on Canada’s national infrastructure projects need to take note. ccli.ubc.ca/landmark-leg...

Landmark legal opinion finds that Canadian directors risk lawsuits over climate and nature inaction

Canadian company directors who fail to address climate and nature risks, such as biodiversity loss, freshwater stress, or ecosystem degradation, could face legal action, according to a landmark legal ...

ccli.ubc.ca

At over 3ºC, Canada ranks third-worst among G20 countries for its national implied global warming temperature rise. It's more than double the accepted level of 1.5ºC under the Paris Agreement. If 3ºC or more is really in the planet's future, it would be catastrophic. New data from MSCI.

Projected temperature alignment of G20 countries (Implied Temperature Rise in °C)

msci-institute.com

Ontario needs to assure ArcelorMittal Dofasco it can provide affordable, abundant and clean power for its green steel project. The future of Hamilton as a major steel producer is at stake. My take in today’s Hamilton Spectator.

Hamilton Spectator@thespec1846.bsky.social · last yr.

Green steel projects have run into a problem

I always find it frustrating when people pit renewables against nuclear. Wind, solar and battery power can meet our immediate needs for CO2-free generation. Nuclear provides a good option for the vast power needs of the future. Let’s build both. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

Can we afford to be afraid of nuclear power?

Not only is nuclear essential if we want to reach net zero – it’s the key to tackling poverty, too

theguardian.com

This article is a romantic rumination on Canada's new nationalism. But in economic terms, here is the hard question: Can we preserve access to US markets in the short term while forging a more independent economy over the long-term. We should know in a few weeks. www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Canada’s Terrible New Freedom

This Canada Day, Trump is fueling a very different kind of nationalism.

theatlantic.com

Trump's domestic policy bill won't be as bad for the energy transition as originally feared. But it will slow down wind and solar energy and EV adootion. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/03/c...

How the G.O.P. Bill Will Reshape America’s Energy Landscape

nytimes.com

The steps to transition to a clean-energy future can seem daunting. But the path is clear: ramp up investment in renewables, electric vehicles and green buildings. www.thestar.com/business/opi...

Is your firm a good corporate citizen? Top 50 report’s CEO analyzes what Canadian companies got right — and wrong

Corporations need to not only do better, but do what the science and the economics tell us is necessary, writes Corporate Knight's CEO Toby Heaps.

thestar.com

A new report shows global banks are sharply ramping up fossil fuel financing, flying in the face of what the world needs to avoid catastrophic global warming. My piece in Corporate Knights. ://www.corporateknights.com/category-finance/banks-reverse-course-pour-more-money-into-fossil-fuels/

Banks reverse course and pour more money into fossil fuels

Clean energy is poised to pull in double the financing as oil, gas and coal, but a new report shows that big banks, especially Canadian and U.S. entities, are still betting big on fossil fuels

corporateknights.com

Looks like Trump's policies are starting to put the brakes on the global solar industry. This doesn't mean the industry is in permanent reversal, but a significant slowdown appears to be underway. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Gloom Gathers Over Solar Companies in the US and China

Today’s newsletter comes from our team in China, where solar manufacturers and investors are gathering at the world’s largest fair for their industry in Shanghai this week. You can read more about the...

bloomberg.com

With Mark Carney calling on Canada to become an energy superpower, there's an urgent need for corporate climate transition plans. Future growth can't come at the expense of higher emissions. Here's a plan from Business Future Pathways. www.corporateknights.com/category-fin...

A new plan to kick-start the energy transition at Canadian companies

Credible energy transition plans are vanishingly rare. Business Future Pathways has a strategy to change that.

corporateknights.com

This is an unusual idea, but I think it will get some traction. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Canada won’t become the 51st US state – but could it join the EU?

Donald Trump’s extraordinary threats have angered Canadians and Europeans, and the idea of a new kind of transatlantic alliance is gaining traction

theguardian.com