What's Happening in Sustainability & ESG (Week Recap 03.06 - 09.06) 🌎

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This week’s read time: 8 minutes

Welcome to this edition of Green Digest, where you will get updated about everything happening in the Sustainability & ESG space in less than 10 minutes. 🌎

We go through tons of articles and data from the most reliable sources, filter & simplify them, and serve them to you in bite-sized chunks every week. 🍀

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In this edition, we’ll cover:

• Global energy investment is set to hit a record $3.3 trillion in 2025 ⚡️

• Nearly 90% of institutional investors globally are maintaining their commitments to sustainable investing despite geopolitical tensions, though many are now less vocal about it 📈

• Canada’s Competition Bureau released final guidelines to help companies comply with new anti-greenwashing laws 🇨🇦

• Indirect carbon emissions from Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta rose an average of 150% from 2020 to 2023 🔴

• and other news 🌍

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THIS WEEK’S TOP NEWS

Regulatory Oversight & Industry Insights

⚡️ Global energy investment is set to hit a record $3.3 trillion in 2025, driven by a surge in clean energy spending, according to the IEA’s World Energy Investment report. Of that, $2.2 trillion will go to clean technologies like renewables, nuclear, and storage, double the amount expected for fossil fuels. Solar is projected to attract $450 billion, with battery storage investment rising to $66 billion. Meanwhile, oil and gas investment is expected to decline, marking the first drop since 2020. However, grid investment remains insufficient, posing a threat to electricity security. Regional disparities persist, with China accounting for nearly a third of global clean energy investment, while developing economies continue to struggle with capital mobilization.

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MORE INTERESTING NEWS

Latest developments, reports, insights, and trends

🇨🇦 Canada’s Competition Bureau released final guidelines to help companies comply with new anti-greenwashing laws, emphasizing that environmental claims (especially forward-looking ones like net-zero goals), must be substantiated with concrete, verifiable plans and interim targets. Under the updated Competition Act, companies are prohibited from making environmental claims about products or business activities without proper testing or substantiation based on internationally recognized methodologies. Violations can result in significant penalties, including fines of up to $10 million or 3% of annual revenues. The guidelines also require clarity and specificity in environmental claims, discourage exaggeration, and highlight the need for scientific backing and third-party verification where appropriate. Some companies, like RBC, have already revised their sustainability messaging in response.

🇪🇺 The European Investment Bank pledged €15 billion in water-related investments between 2025 and 2027 to combat pollution, reduce wastage, and support innovation amid growing water stress from climate change, farming, and urbanization. The funding, primarily in loans, aims to mobilize an additional €25 billion from private investors and will support infrastructure, ecosystem restoration, and emerging technologies. With 40% of Europe under drought warnings, the EU also plans new water resilience measures, including standards for data center water use, though it scaled back earlier proposals for direct farm subsidies.

🛩️ The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production to double in 2025 to 2 million tonnes, but this will still cover only 0.7% of airlines’ fuel needs and add $4.4 billion to fuel costs. While SAF can reduce lifecycle emissions by up to 85%, its limited availability and high cost remain major barriers. IATA criticized Europe’s SAF mandates, which launched in January and have driven up compliance costs, arguing that policies should support market development rather than inflate decarbonization expenses. IATA continues to push for better government support, the success of the CORSIA offsetting scheme, and broader adoption of its SAF registry and SAF Matchmaker to boost global SAF use.

WHAT ARE COMPANIES DOING?

Corporate sustainability, new tools and services & companies in the news

🔴 Indirect carbon emissions from Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta rose an average of 150% from 2020 to 2023 due to the growing energy demands of AI-powered data centres, according to a new UN report. Amazon led with a 182% increase, followed by Microsoft (155%), Meta (145%), and Alphabet (138%). The International Telecommunication Union warned that AI’s rapid growth is straining electricity infrastructure, with emissions from top AI systems potentially reaching over 100 million tons of CO₂ annually.

🛩️ Honeywell UOP, Johnson Matthey, GIDARA Energy, and SAMSUNG E&A formed a new alliance to accelerate and reduce the cost of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production by launching a joint technology offering. Aimed at addressing major barriers like high capital costs and feedstock limitations, the alliance expects to cut facility startup timelines by over 15% and capital expenditures by up to 10%. The collaboration combines each partner’s strengths, such as gasification, catalyst innovation, process automation, and engineering execution, to support scalable SAF projects using biomass and municipal waste.

⏪ Shareholders at Walmart and Netflix overwhelmingly rejected anti-DEI proposals, each receiving less than 1% support. The resolutions, brought by the conservative National Center for Public Policy Research, criticized the companies for not eliminating DEI programs outright, claiming such initiatives destroy value. Both companies defended their inclusive policies, with their boards urging shareholders to reject the proposals and reaffirming commitments to workplace equity and opportunity. Similar proposals have recently failed at Apple, Amazon, Goldman Sachs, and others.

⚡️ Meta signed a new agreement with Constellation Energy to extend the life of the Clinton Clean Energy Center, a 1.1 GW nuclear plant in Illinois, for another 20 years beginning in 2027. The deal will replace the current zero emission credit program, add 30 MW of capacity. The move reflects Meta’s growing reliance on nuclear power to meet soaring energy demands driven by AI growth.

⚡️ Low Carbon sold a ready-to-build UK portfolio of eight solar projects (350 MW) and two co-located battery storage assets (85 MW) to TotalEnergies. The projects, located in southern England and part of Low Carbon’s 16 GW pipeline, are expected to be operational by 2028, generating over 350 GWh annually, enough to power 100,000 homes.

📊 Bain & Company and supply chain decarbonization startup Terralytiq launched a global strategic partnership to help companies reduce supply chain emissions and costs. Terralytiq’s AI-driven platform automates Scope 3 data collection, offers supplier-specific emissions insights, and supports sustainable procurement decisions. The partnership will combine Bain’s strategic insights and benchmarks with Terralytiq’s technology to provide clients with detailed carbon footprinting and automated supplier engagement.

📚 Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and AICPA & CIMA launched an eight-week executive program focused on sustainability reporting and ESG data management. Aimed at senior finance professionals, auditors, and risk managers, the course addresses the shift from voluntary to mandatory sustainability reporting and equips participants with knowledge of key frameworks like TCFD, ISSB, and ESRS. It covers integrating ESG data into decision-making, leveraging technology, governance systems, and sustainability assurance.

EVERYTHING FINANCE

Sustainable finance, funding rounds, acquisitions & private equity deals

📈 Nearly 90% of institutional investors globally are maintaining their commitments to sustainable investing despite geopolitical tensions, though many are now less vocal about it, according to BNP Paribas’ 2025 ESG Survey. The survey, covering 420 firms managing $34 trillion across 29 countries, found only 3% scaling back ESG goals, with the Americas showing slightly higher pullback at 7%. While 85% expect sustainability progress to continue or accelerate through 2030, 23% foresee it happening with less publicity. Thematic investing is on the rise, focused on areas like energy transition, biodiversity, and adaptation, overtaking broader ESG strategies. Near-term priorities include increasing allocations to energy transition (49%), active ownership (49%), and low-carbon assets (46%), while long-term goals center on net zero commitments (40%) and Paris alignment (34%). The biggest ESG hurdles remain data challenges (58%), short-term vs. long-term goal conflicts (56%), and greenwashing risks (54%).

📈 BlackRock has been removed from Texas’ divestment list of companies accused of “boycotting energy companies,” following changes to its climate policies and exit from several climate-focused investor groups. The 2022 list, part of Texas’ anti-ESG stance, targeted financial firms deemed unsupportive of the fossil fuel industry. BlackRock’s removal comes after it left the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, reduced involvement in Climate Action 100+, and scaled back exclusionary funds targeting oil and gas. While BlackRock was removed, 15 other firms, including HSBC, BNP Paribas, and UBS, remain on the updated list.

🇺🇸 The Trump administration is advancing efforts to overturn a Biden-era rule that allowed US retirement plans to consider ESG factors in investment decisions. A recent court filing confirmed that the government will no longer defend the rule and has instructed the Department of Labor (DOL) to issue a replacement. While the DOL has yet to outline its new approach, the existing rule permits ESG considerations when they are financially relevant and allows their use in proxy voting decisions. The Biden rule, finalized in 2023, reversed Trump-era restrictions and has faced ongoing legal challenges, including from 26 Republican-led states.

📈 The International Finance Corporation (IFC) committed $100 million in equity to TPG’s Global South Initiative (GSI), a fund targeting $2.5 billion to accelerate climate-focused investments across emerging markets. Launched at COP28, the GSI aims to attract institutional capital by offering enhanced returns for private equity investments in high-growth climate sectors in the Global South. TPG has already secured $1.25 billion in initial commitments, including $500 million from ALTÉRRA and contributions from TPG Rise Climate II. The fund’s first deal involved acquiring Siemens Gamesa’s onshore wind business in Sri Lanka and India.

📊 TPG Rise Climate, the climate investing platform of TPG, announced it will acquire a majority stake in UK-based Aurora Energy Research, a leading power market analytics provider. Founded in 2013, Aurora offers proprietary data, software, and forecasting tools for global energy markets, employing over 600 professionals across 17 offices. TPG aims to scale Aurora’s growth, particularly in the US and Asia, leveraging its expertise in energy transition and climate-focused investing through its $18 billion TPG Rise platform.

♻️ Macquarie Asset Management and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) completed their £707 million ($957 million) acquisition of Renewi, a UK-headquartered European waste-to-product company that recycles over 10 million tonnes of waste annually across facilities in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Portugal. The acquisition will support Renewi’s strategic initiatives, including its “One Renewi” program to enhance logistics and processing, while accelerating growth and recycling efficiency.

Funding rounds:

⚡️ TAE Technologies raised $150 million in new funding from investors including Chevron, Google, and NEA to accelerate development of the world’s first commercial fusion power. The California-based company uses a proprietary beam-driven Field-Reversed Configuration (FRC) system designed for safe, carbon-free, utility-scale power with no long-lived radioactive waste. TAE has raised over $1.3 billion to date and recently achieved stable plasmas above 70 million °C, advancing reactor-readiness.

🟢 Aircapture announced a $50 million Series A funding round, enabling it to scale its modular Direct Air Capture (DAC) systems that deliver high-purity, on-site CO₂ to industrial, food, beverage, and agriculture sectors. Unlike legacy DAC models, Aircapture’s cost-effective and modular approach avoids transportation and supply chain disruptions while generating immediate revenue through its “CO₂ as a Service™” model.

🟢 Treefera, a UK-based AI-enabled data fabric company focused on supply chain resilience, raised $30 million in Series B funding. The funds will support go-to-market acceleration and enhance its risk and compliance capabilities. Founded in 2022, Treefera delivers near real-time, plot-level insights using spatial and temporal data to help global enterprises manage sourcing and mitigate supply chain risks.

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