The past decade’s explosive increase in digitalisation is forecast to continue exponentially in the coming years. This expansion of the digital economy is fueling the need for data centres. But data centre growth may see significant challenges given the large amounts of electricity they require. Uncertainty about how quickly their power demand will grow is also creating challenges for utilities that have to plan their generation capacity years in advance. Meanwhile, major tech companies claim...

The rising cost of housing has brought into full view the need for more affordable housing solutions. Fannie Mae's new Mission Index aims to assist the housing market by enhancing transparency and supporting disadvantaged borrowers. This episode of Fixed on ESG explores the Mission Index and Social Bond Framework for single-family RMBS pools, looking at pool composition, prepayment performance, the collaborative effort behind the launch, and more. David Klausner, ESG Specialist at PGIM...

Debt-for-nature swaps have come to the forefront as a unique solution for both environmental conservation and debt alleviation. In this episode of Fixed on ESG, we are joined by The Nature Conservancy, an organization that's aided in structuring several of these types of instruments. Together, we examine their role in alleviating the post-pandemic debt surge in developing economies, the environmental benefits of these instruments, and challenges for investors and measuring effectiveness. ...

The aviation industry is under the sustainability microscope with recent estimates finding that it contributes to 6% of total global warming. This episode of Fixed on ESG explores the role of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in mitigating aviation's environmental impact, the contrasting policy approaches in the U.S. and EU, and discusses the potential implications of SAF on airline credit profiles and decarbonisation strategies. This episode is hosted by PGIM Fixed Income's Taylor Chatlos,...

Tackling the intricacies of ESG investing in a warming world is a top challenge for today's investors. In the second half of this two-part series, we explore the practical application of temperature alignment in investment strategies, detail the limitations of third-party ESG data, and introduce PGIM Fixed Income’s proprietary Temperature Alignment Tool, which offers a nuanced assessment of a company's climate impact. This episode features PGIM Fixed Income’s Ruth Klavert, Client Manager,...

In the face of escalating climate challenges, temperature alignment is taking center stage and helping to reshape climate-conscious investment strategies. In the first of a two-part series, we delve deeper into this innovative tool and its role in the low carbon transition, understanding the shift from excluding to backing certain issuers critical to the low carbon transition, the reason for sector-specific decarbonization rates, and more. This episode features PGIM Fixed Income’s Ruth...

The vital role of biodiversity across social and economic dependencies has captured the attention of ESG investors. With biodiversity in focus and a surge of new datasets to inform investment considerations, we explore how biodiversity is measured, approaches to investing in nature, how we tackled some of the complexities in biodiversity data when redesigning PGIM Fixed Income’s Sovereign ESG Impact Rating framework, and aspirations for the future of biodiversity investing. This episode...

For fixed income ESG investors, gaining a deeper understanding of emerging markets is crucial as standard ESG assessments may neglect the complex economic and social dynamics that influence positive ESG impact as well as investment risks and opportunities in these regions. In this episode of Fixed on ESG, Nuvneet Dhillon, CFA, ESG Specialist, highlights our enhanced Sovereign ESG Impact Rating framework, and hosts Cathy Hepworth, CFA, Head of Emerging Markets Debt, and Magdalena Polan, Head...

Several major reports were released just ahead of this year’s COP28 in the UAE on the state of climate action, the widening gap between actual progress and policies on decarbonization, and what would be needed to limit warming to well below 2°C. In this second of a two-part instalment of PGIM Fixed Income’s Fixed on ESG, James Malone, CFA, ESG Research Specialist, and John Ploeg, CFA, Co-Head of ESG Research, examine the latest developments in global climate action. They provide an in-depth...

COP28, which was hosted in the UAE, has come to a close. In the first of a two-part instalment of PGIM Fixed Income’s Fixed on ESG, James Malone, CFA, ESG Research Specialist, and John Ploeg, CFA, Co-Head of ESG Research, analyse the key takeaways of the COP. The duo take a closer look at the results of the first-ever Global Stocktake, discuss the effectiveness of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), weigh in on the debate around the new loss and damage fund, examine the criticism...

Climate finance has gained significant attention over the past decade due to the increase in extreme climate events around the world. While developed countries have been the largest contributors to climate change, it’s developing countries that often feel the worst of the impacts as they struggle to finance resources to respond, rebuild, and protect themselves from extreme weather events. In this episode of Fixed on ESG, ESG Specialists, Nuvneet Dhillon, CFA, and Alistair Shepheard-Walwyn,...

With the use of plastic packaging on the rise, the issue of plastic waste looms large and complex. Plastic is a prevalent part of our lives, but this widespread use poses alarming consequences to the environment and to our health. In this episode of PGIM Fixed Income’s Fixed on ESG, David Klausner, ESG Specialist, hosts guests James Malone, CFA, ESG Specialist, and Richard Kus, CFA, U.S. Leveraged Finance Credit Research Analyst, for a conversation on the multifaceted challenges posed by...

Cybersecurity impacts every industry and, for many issuers, the consequences of a breach could be disastrous—as we’ve seen in a number of recent high-profile cases. As investors analysing the current cybersecurity landscape from an ESG risk and ESG impact perspective, we believe that a lack of understanding or investment in cybersecurity is simply not an option. In this episode of Fixed on ESG, Birgit Lundem Jakobsen, Senior ESG Analyst for PGIM Fixed Income, and special guest, Limor Kessem,...

Damaged power lines are a leading cause of wildfires around the world and serve as a significant vulnerability to the service providers who operate them. The cost of upgrading and repairing transmission and distribution lines is high, but costs related to the legal liabilities faced by these entities in the face of a wildfire can be enormous and, therefore, can majorly impact the credit risk of utilities debt issuers. In this episode of Fixed on ESG, Taylor Chatlos, ESG Specialist, and...

Although deep-sea mining has never occurred at commercial scale, the growing interest in the minerals and metals found on the seabed could prompt a shift in the status quo. As the world looks to address climate change, increased demand for required base metals and critical minerals that support large scale deployments of green technologies is a real concern. Against this backdrop, some point to deep-sea mining as a potential solve, but it’s not that simple. The topic is also garnering...

Clean hydrogen has garnered considerable attention in recent years due to its potential to address hard-to-decarbonize sectors—or—as James Malone, CFA, ESG Specialist, and host of this month’s podcast likes to refer to them, “hard-to-electrify sectors.” These are sectors where electrification has historically been—for a variety of reasons—less attractive, less commercial, or simply not viable. In this episode of PGIM Fixed Income’s Fixed on ESG, James hosts special guest Catherine Klinger,...

In some areas, population explosion has exhausted freshwater supplies, and globally the impacts of a warming climate have caused the slow depletion of the freshwater resources available. The search for solutions to freshwater scarcity has intensified and led some municipalities to explore desalination, or the process of turning saltwater into freshwater, as one potential solution. PGIM Fixed Income’s Taylor Chatlos, ESG Specialist, and Michael Slonim, Municipal Bond Credit Research Analyst,...

The existing stock of affordable housing in the U.S. is becoming largely obsolete at the same time the development of replacement properties has lagged. As a result, the affordable housing supply in the U.S. is in crisis. In this episode of PGIM Fixed Income’s Fixed on ESG, David Klausner, ESG Specialist, sits down with Ola Hixon, Executive Director and Portfolio Manager on PGIM Real Estate’s U.S. Value-Add team, to discuss the state of affordable housing in the U.S. Ola describes the...

Nuclear fusion is making headlines with the first ever demonstration of fusion ignition by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Why is this so groundbreaking? Nuclear fusion is a clean source of energy, and there are many benefits to fusion over its more controversial counterpart, nuclear fission. Some are even painting fusion as THE solution to the climate crisis. Those are the headlines. In this episode of PGIM Fixed Income’s Fixed on ESG podcast, John Ploeg, CFA, Co-Head of ESG...

The long awaited 2022 United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) was held this past December in Montreal. Biodiversity is hugely important to us all for our basic, everyday needs, but biodiversity loss is not just an ecological threat as half of global GDP is dependent on nature in some way. With hopes that COP15 would produce a Paris Agreement equivalent to biodiversity, stakes were high. Birgit Lundem Jakobsen, Senior ESG Analyst at PGIM Fixed Income, hosts two highly anticipated...

With the conclusion of COP27 this past November in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, on this episode of Fixed on ESG, PGIM Fixed Income’s John Ploeg, CFA, Co-Head of ESG Research, has invited Birgit Jakobsen, Senior ESG Analyst, to join him in highlighting the major takeaways from the conference. These include: updates to some of the nationally determined contributions (NDCs); this year’s main communique, the Sharm El-Sheikh Implementation Plan; developments around adaptation and loss and damage...

In this episode of Fixed on ESG, PGIM Fixed Income’s Armelle de Vienne, Co-Head of ESG Research, and Kunal Patel, CFA, Head of Client Advisory for EMEA, host a Q&A with special guest, Sarika Goel, Global Head of Sustainable Investment Research for Mercer. Listen for thoughts on: drivers of demand for ESG-labelled fixed income strategies; navigating differences in investor ESG objectives; considerations for investors looking to align their assets to net zero; stewardship and engagement...

With the 27th annual UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) underway in Egypt, what do investors need to know? In this episode of Fixed on ESG, Elizabeth Burgess, Client Manager, sits down with John Ploeg, CFA, Co-head of ESG Research, to set the scene for listeners and provide background on the big-ticket issues we all should be monitoring, including: updates to Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs); new developments around Article 6 of the Paris Agreement; the state of the $100 billion...

What could electric vehicles and California’s 2035 ban on the sale of gas-powered autos mean for autos manufacturers and what peripheral factors do fixed income investors need to consider? PGIM Fixed Income’s own Alistair Shepheard-Walwyn, Investment Analyst and ESG Specialist, John Smigelsky, CFA, U.S. IG Credit Research Analyst, and Megi Leka, Sr. European IG Credit Research Analyst, have sorted through the details to provide a rundown of what they’re watching for as 2035 inches closer. In...