Tag: UK

As ESG Investments Soften and Pressure Grows on Allegedly ‘Woke’ Finance Giants, Conservative Investment Firms Scour for Missed Opportunities

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.nysun.com/article/as-esg-investments-soften-and-pressure-grows-on-allegedly-woke-finance-giants-conservative-investment-firms-scour-for-missed-opportunities

Excerpt:

In May, the United Kingdom’s version of the Securities and Exchange Commission will begin enforcing its pledge to crack down on so-called greenwashing by companies wishing to trade on the label of being green-friendly.  

The Financial Conduct Authority’s rules, announced in late November, come as U.S. traders await stronger regulations from the SEC. That body moved in September to curb misleading marketing practices by requiring 80 percent of funds that claim to be “sustainable,” “green,” or “socially responsible” to actually be so. 

The sustainability disclosure requirements are now deemed a necessity after regulators found “environmental, social, and corporate governance” analysts at Goldman Sachs and Germany’s DWS Group were promoting investments that were not as ESG-friendly as they claimed. 

“The portfolio managers weren’t necessarily doing all of the work that they said they were doing,” the associate director of sustainability research for Morningstar Research Services LLC, Alyssa Stankiewicz, said. “They didn’t have documentation or data maybe related to the ESG-ness of these investments.”

At the same time as ESG-friendly firms are facing accusations of insincerity, they’re also coming under pressure from state pension funds in states with Republican-controlled governments that don’t want their employees’ retirement funds affected by what they view as politicized, left-leaning investing strategies.

Author(s): SHARON KEHNEMUI

Publication Date: 16 Jan 2024

Publication Site: NY Sun

A Four-Day Workweek Will Benefit Everyone, But Especially Women

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://jacobin.com/2022/03/four-day-workweek-trial-gender-pension-gap

Excerpt:

A four-day week would make it easier to balance life and work responsibilities. This would decrease the pressure on women to drop out of full-time employment and make it easier for others to rejoin full-time employment if they wish. It would also decrease underemployment, lessen the costs of paid childcare, and help level the playing field for unpaid care work by keeping men at home longer.

A recent policy paper published by the Women’s Budget Group comments in regard to a four-day week: “As the marginal worker is usually female, this effect could reduce gender gaps in both employment and income.” As the definition of full-time employment is decreased, more women will surpass the £10,000 a year threshold for autoenrollment and also have higher sustained pension contributions throughout their working life.

Belmont Packaging in Wigan, a company that practices a four-day week, asked its employees how they spend their three-day weekend. One employee said, “It’s like a bank holiday every week. Not exactly like one, because the wife has me doing chores every Friday.” During the early months of the pandemic, when many workers were kept at home, research showed that men took on a greater share of housework and women’s disproportionate burden decreased.

Author(s): James Derry

Publication Date: 25 March 2022

Publication Site: Jacobin

Total deaths in the UK from 2000 to 2020

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/totaldeathsintheukfrom2000to2020

YearUnited KingdomEngland and WalesEnglandWalesScotlandNorthern Ireland
2018616,014541,589505,85934,40658,50315,922
2017607,172533,253498,88233,24857,88316,036
2016597,206525,048490,79133,06656,72815,430
2015602,782529,655495,30933,19857,57915,548
2014570,341501,424468,87531,43954,23914,678
2013576,458506,790473,55232,13854,70014,968
2012569,024499,331466,77931,50254,93714,756
2011552,232484,367452,86230,42653,66114,204
2010561,666493,242461,01731,19753,96714,457
2009559,617491,348459,24131,00653,85614,413
2008579,697509,090475,76332,06655,70014,907
2007574,687504,052470,72132,14855,98614,649
2006572,224502,599470,32631,08355,09314,532
2005582,964512,993479,67832,16255,74714,224
2004584,791514,250480,71732,31756,18714,354
2003612,085539,151504,12733,81058,47214,462
2002608,045535,356500,79233,31458,10314,586
2001604,393532,498497,87833,24957,38214,513
2000610,579537,877503,02633,50157,79914,903

Date Accessed: 28 January 2021

Publication Site: Office for National Statistics, UK