Financial regulators have criticised using "social and environmental financing" to finance oil and gas projects. This week, The Telegraph revealed that Barclays had provided Shell with a $10 billion loan, which was marketed as part of the bank's $150 billion commitment to "social and environmental" financing. However, Shell has since backtracked on its previous commitments to reduce its carbon emissions.

ESG (environmental, social, and governance) is a risk mitigation framework that has been rebranded by big finance companies to seem more meaningful. However, it should not be relied upon to determine what is good for the environment. The only way to ensure that money is flowing to companies that are actually doing good for the world is through impact investing, where business models are directly linked to solving major world problems. Banks need to do better in holding these companies to account and not using the “ESG” and “sustainability” labels as just marketing ploys. Full story here. Commentary written by Tom McGillycuddy - Co-Founder CIRCA5000.