ESG Currents

Mangroves are one of the most powerful natural tools for climate adaptation and resilience, protecting coastlines, stabilizing economies and strengthening ecosystems. On this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Ignace Beguin Billecocq, executive director of the Mangrove Breakthrough, joins BI senior ESG credit analyst Chris Ratti. The Mangrove Breakthrough is a global initiative aiming to secure the future of 15 million hectares of mangroves by 2030 through a $4 billion investment to foster resilience, biodiversity and coastal protection. They discuss the materiality of mangroves and the importance of funding for expansion across a coalition of beneficiaries including governments, multilateral development banks, insurance companies and climate investors.
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Can cutting methane leaks help fuel the rising energy demand from AI data centers? On this episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Carl Pope, former Sierra Club executive director, and Last Mile Production CEO Zach Wagner join BI climate analyst Andrew Stevenson to discuss how leaking and vented methane has the potential to help meet Texas’ surging power demand. Methane leaks are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, and capturing that lost gas could help ease rising US natural gas costs.
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Blended finance uses catalytic capital from public or philanthropic sources to mobilize private investment toward sustainable development — but how are these vehicles structured, and what enables them to scale? On this week’s episode of the ESG Currents podcast, Timothee Jaulin, head of responsible investment development & advocacy at Amundi, joins Shaheen Contractor, senior ESG analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, to unpack how blended finance works in practice. The discussion breaks down how blended finance vehicles are structured — from the roles of DFIs and asset managers to tranche design, capital layering and the realities of deployment timelines. They also explore how risk is allocated and mitigated via credit enhancements, guarantees and political risk insurance — and who is driving demand today, from multilateral developmental banks to family offices, as Asia emerges as a key growth market.
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The build-out of power-hungry data centers is coinciding with new roadblocks for solar and wind farms under the Trump administration, raising the risk of an electricity supply squeeze. In this episode of Bloomberg Intelligence’s ESG Currents podcast, senior climate analyst Andrew John Stevenson speaks with Simcore Partners’ Dan Lee about the path forward for renewables beyond this year’s subsidy sunset amid rising AI-driven power demand. They discuss project-delay risks and grid-congestion concerns, and how renewables may continue to play a meaningful role in the coming years.
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Amid a wave of political pressure in recent years, investors have faced greater barriers to engaging with companies, particularly on environmental and social issues. But engagement remains an important tool for identifying and mitigating risks that could hurt long-term shareholder value. On this week’s edition of ESG Currents, senior ESG analyst Rob Du Boff speaks with Andrea Ranger, director of shareholder advocacy for Trillium Asset Management, a long-standing thought leader in ESG investing with around $5 billion in assets under management. They discuss the importance of investment stewardship, why it remains a critical fiduciary duty and how it can be done effectively. This episode was recorded on Dec. 15.
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