‘Keep Glasgow cold, wet and grey’ was one of the better placards being waved at the children’s protest during the COP26 summit. It was apposite as well given the unseasonably balmy weather at the end of the first week of negotiations. Read more …

The COVID-19 pandemic has put enormous strain on the healthcare sector globally. In England alone, there are almost 5.5 million patients waiting for routine hospital treatment.^[1] The elderly in care homes have been hit especially hard by the coronavirus. Many now fear moving into a care home, having seen the elevated mortality rate at care homes due to COVID-19. Read more …

Gas prices in the UK shot up by 37% in a single day in early October. This was on top of a near trebling in price since the Summer of last year. The UK has become more dependent on gas as a back-up to intermittent renewables on the electricity grid and consequently electricity prices have also risen precipitously. According to recent studies, 86% of the rise in electricity price is because of gas.^[1] Across the European Union it is 80%.

Much has been written about the cause of the gas price spike. Principal contributors are variously thought to have included: Read more …

Whether you’ve tried to fuel up your car recently, were warned by a friend to buy your Christmas presents in August, or are currently waiting over a month for the new iPhone 13, you’ll know that global supply chains are facing severe disruption. Read more …

Like many others, the COVID-19 lock-downs were an opportunity to develop new hobbies. One of my new hobbies was to join a film club. A few months ago, we watched ‘The Graduate’ starring a young Dustin Hoffman as the eponymous graduate ‘Benjamin’. A key moment in the film involves a friend of Benjamin’s parents advising him to get into plastics because “there’s going to be a great future in plastics.”  Read more …

Last week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published the latest report from its first Working Group.[1] There are three Working Groups and Working Group 1 focuses on the physical science of climate change, while the other two look at adaptation and mitigation.  So this report gives us the state of play on the science itself.

Even by the standards of climate change news, it made for sobering reading. Read more …

In July, hardly a day went by when you didn’t see extreme weather events on the news headlines. Read more …

A disappointing roadshow lunch

In 2016, I attended a roadshow lunch for an upcoming initial public offering (IPO).  This was of course in the “good old days” before the pandemic.  It was a biggish launch, so maybe 100 of us crammed into a room in a grand West London hotel.

As we juggled laptops with dinnerplates, the CEO stepped up to the lectern.  He was leading a global business with over £1bn in revenues and over 9,000 employees.  The first thing he wanted to talk to his potential investors about?  The company’s clever tax structuring. Read more …

Much ink has been spilt announcing net-zero carbon (NZC) targets over the past few months, with WHEB no doubt contributing more than our fair share. A recent survey of UK businesses, for example, found that 52% of respondents worked for businesses that had already set a NZC target.[1] A proportion of these announcements will doubtless amount to rather little. Greenpeace believes that we are currently living in ‘a golden age of greenwash’.[2] Certainly, some companies have been more focused on setting ‘aims’ rather than ‘commitments’ and have been pilloried by NGOs and investors alike.[3] Read more …

The WHEB investment strategy has evolved considerably over the past fifteen years. But the core has always been quite simple. We invest in companies that provide solutions to sustainability challenges.  The companies’ products and services are good for society or the environment, and because of that, they have the potential to grow profits and generate strong investment returns. Read more …