‘Never waste a good crisis’. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Union (“EU”) has proposed a €750 billion recovery plan to repair the economic and social damage. But this recovery plan has green strings attached. 25% of the recovery spending is set aside for green investments.
Sustainability is at the core of everything we do at WHEB. As a founding member of the Business Declares network[i], we understand that serious changes need to be made by governments and corporations in order to restrict global warming to 1.5o C above pre-industrial levels.
At the risk of stating the obvious: there is a lot going on at the moment. The COVID-19 pandemic is changing the very fabric of society. We’ve had to carefully re-evaluate every position we hold in the last two months.
Usually our focus on long-term signals makes it relatively easy to screen out the noise, which tends to be shorter term. At the moment, even the noise is long-term. Read more …
It began just before the quarter started. A novel virus emerged in the historic Chinese regional city of Wuhan. That virus would be named COVID-19. It would deliver the worst global pandemic in modern history. Read more …
As we write this review in early mid-April, the UK, alongside many other countries, remains in lock-down. We find ourselves in a period of unprecedented crisis that has driven profound changes in our lifestyles. But like any crisis, society’s response brings with it the opportunity for positive change. Read more …
A crisis puts everything in a new light. Over the last six weeks we’ve worked hard to review our strategy and all of our stocks. We’re looking at them from fresh angles, and with different eyes. And so with investors everywhere, no doubt. Read more …
The term “Net Zero Carbon” (NZC) sounds technical and boring. But it could herald the start of a race to the top in efforts to combat irreversible climate change. Read more …
New diseases have a particular power to capture the imagination. There’s just a lot about them which is scary. They grow and spread fast. We’re accustomed to thinking our doctors are in control – what if they’re not? The symptoms sound so innocuous – how would you know to be worried? Read more …
WHEB’s ‘Well-being’ theme is one of the strategy’s smaller and more heterogeneous themes covering everything from healthy eating to care for the elderly. The theme also includes companies that support ‘Hearing, vision and oral health’ and Cooper Companies has been a core holding in this sub-theme for over seven years. The company is a conglomerate combining two businesses; CooperVision which focuses on developing, manufacturing and selling contact lenses and CooperSurgical which focuses on women’s health and fertility treatments. Read more …
So Boris Johnson now commands a convincing majority of MPs in the UK’s House of Commons. This gives the new Prime Minister an enviable position from which to drive UK policy for the next few years. What is this likely to mean for sustainable investing in the UK and elsewhere?