What's Happening in Sustainability & ESG (29.09 - 05.10) 🌎

This week’s read time: 8 minutes

Welcome to this edition of Green Digest, where you will get updated about everything happening in the Sustainability & ESG space in less than 10 minutes. 🌎

We go through tons of articles and data from the most reliable sources, filter & simplify them, and serve them to you in bite-sized chunks every week. 🍀

In this edition, we’ll cover:

• The UK FCA dropped its proposal for mandatory IFRS-based climate reporting 🇬🇧

• GRI is planning to develop a sustainability-reporting standard covering food, beverage, and tobacco companies and their value chains 📑

• Starbucks scaled back and removed several other environmental targets and cut sustainability staff as part of a wider drive to deliver $2 billion in savings ⏪

• Solutions: Upright adds physical and transition climate-risk assessments to its platform; Schneider Electric partnered with Greenly to help SMEs 📊

• and other news 🌍

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Regulatory Oversight & Industry Insights

📑 The UK Financial Conduct Authority dropped its proposal for mandatory IFRS-based climate reporting and will allow listed companies to follow the new standards on a comply-or-explain basis. The FCA said the change responds to concerns about disproportionate burdens on smaller companies, while retaining the shift towards reporting based on the ISSB’s sustainability and climate standards. The requirements will apply to accounting periods beginning January 1, 2027, with the first reports expected in 2028.

While the UK moved away from mandatory compliance, GRI is planning to develop a sustainability-reporting standard covering food, beverage and tobacco companies and their value chains. GRI selected the industry because of its links to roughly one-third of global emissions and its significant effects on biodiversity, public health, labour conditions and food safety. The standard will address company operations and connections with agriculture, aquaculture and fishing.

In the US, meanwhile, most major companies continue publishing sustainability reports, but they are promoting them less and keep moving away from ESG terminology. Teneo found that 87% of previous reporters published again in 2026, while only 32% issued accompanying press releases, down from 62% in 2022. Just 4% used “ESG” in their report titles, compared with 35% four years earlier. External assurance reached 75 percent, reflecting increased scrutiny, while more companies disclosed double-materiality assessments and AI-governance policies.

Latest developments, reports, insights, and trends

🏛️ A coalition led by New York filed a legal challenge seeking to overturn the Trump administration’s repeal of federal GHG limits for fossil-fuel power plants. The EPA’s decision removed most Biden-era standards, including emissions guidelines for existing plants and carbon-capture requirements for modified coal and new gas facilities. The states argue that the agency failed to consider reasonable alternatives or properly calculate the health and climate costs of the repeal, which they warn could allow millions of tonnes of additional emissions.

⚖️ Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court is considering whether ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy can block a Colorado lawsuit seeking compensation for climate-related damage. Boulder’s city and county governments accuse the companies of misleading the public about fossil-fuel risks and want them to help cover infrastructure, emergency-management, environmental and public-health costs. The companies argue that federal law prevents state-level claims over global emissions. With nearly 60 similar lawsuits underway, the decision expected by June could determine whether many are allowed to proceed.

🚗 European EV sales reached a record 1.64 million between January and August, increasing 45% from the previous year as more affordable models entered the market. EVs accounted for 22% of sales, while the number of available models increased 50% as manufacturers worked toward EU emissions targets. European carmakers supplied nearly 60% of available models, compared with 21% for Chinese brands, while higher petrol and diesel costs added further momentum to the shift.

Corporate sustainability, new tools and services & companies in the news

☕ Starbucks scaled back and removed several other environmental targets and cut sustainability staff as part of a wider drive to deliver $2 billion in savings. The company dropped its previous water and landfill-waste ambitions, reduced its packaging target from a 50% cut in virgin fossil materials to a 5% reduction in virgin plastic, and is reassessing its commitment to halve emissions by 2030. Starbucks’ total emissions were 7% above its 2019 baseline in 2025.

🚚 FedEx ordered 2,000 electric trucks from Harbinger in a deal worth more than $300 million, described as one of the largest binding orders of its kind. Deliveries are planned by the end of 2027 for pickup and delivery operations across the US and Canada. Harbinger estimates the fleet could save approximately $40 million in fuel annually and avoid more than 1.7 million tonnes of CO₂ over its operating life.

📈 Amazon committed more than $1 billion over five years to education, workforce development, energy affordability and water projects in communities hosting its data centres. The company’s Built Together initiative will support free community-college programmes and skilled-trade training, potentially expanding degree access to more than 300,000 students. Funding will also cover energy-efficiency upgrades, alongside water-replenishment projects and grants directed by local nonprofit organisations and community foundations.

🌱 Salesforce signed pre-purchase agreements covering more than 3,600 tonnes of carbon removal from eight early-stage suppliers. Arranged through Milkywire, the portfolio includes direct-air capture, ocean alkalinity enhancement and biomass-storage projects, with an emphasis on first-of-a-kind facilities and technologies that have yet to attract mainstream buyers.

♻️ Primark signed a multi-year agreement to use recycled polyester produced from textile waste in its clothing lines beginning in 2029. The retailer’s first long-term agreement with a textile-to-textile recycler will support Circ’s initial industrial-scale facility. Circ’s technology separates and recovers polyester and cellulose from difficult-to-recycle polycotton blends, allowing them to return to textile supply chains.

Solutions

📊 Upright added physical and transition climate-risk assessments to its platform, enabling companies and investors to evaluate exposure across operations, suppliers and portfolios. The solution combines climate-science datasets with information on company locations, products and value chains, providing site- and product-level assessments under three warming scenarios through 2100. It is intended to support climate reporting, supplier screening, mitigation planning and investment analysis while reducing the need for additional questionnaires and separate software tools.

📊 Schneider Electric partnered with Greenly to help small and medium-sized businesses in its electrical value chain measure and reduce emissions. The expanded programme combines Greenly’s carbon-accounting software with Schneider’s sustainability advisory services, training, remote audits and decarbonisation roadmaps. Participants will receive support in measuring and reporting Scope 1 and 2 emissions while building the capabilities needed to meet customer expectations, regulatory requirements and operational-efficiency goals.

💼 EY launched its Sustainability Value Bridge to help companies quantify how climate and sustainability risks and opportunities affect financial performance. The framework identifies potential sources of value erosion, including raw-material volatility, supply-chain disruption, regulation and higher capital costs, before assessing actions that can protect or create value.

🔎 Diginex launched a supply-chain due-diligence platform providing companies with risk data and traceable visibility across multiple supplier tiers. The solution maps supplier networks, compares company, worker and third-party information to validate risks, manages corrective actions and maintains records through verified resolution.

Sustainable finance, funding rounds, acquisitions & private equity deals

📈 Norway’s $2 trillion oil fund manager NBIM committed €1.2 billion to Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ (CIP) new flagship renewable-energy fund. CIP is reportedly targeting €16 billion for CI VI, which will invest primarily in renewable generation and storage projects across OECD markets in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific.

📈 UK pension scheme Nest awarded Wellington Management a £3.5 billion ($4.6 billion), emerging-markets equity mandate designed to strengthen ESG risk assessment and stewardship. Nest will replace a systematic portfolio of roughly 1,000 stocks with an actively managed strategy holding between 100 and 150 companies.

🇮🇹 Italy raised €8 billion through a new green bond after receiving more than €110 billion in orders. More than 330 investors from 35 countries participated, with foreign investors accounting for approximately 75% and ESG-focused investors representing around 80% of the placement. Proceeds will support renewable energy, building efficiency, clean transport, climate resilience, biodiversity, water protection and environmental research.

🏭 Stegra said it needs additional capital to complete its green-steel plant in Boden, Sweden, after a review found costs significantly higher than previously assumed. The disclosure follows a €1.4 billion financing package completed in June and reflects inflation and expenses associated with restarting work after an earlier slowdown. Stegra maintains that the production timetable and business case remain intact and is discussing further funding with shareholders, financiers and partners.

🗳️ Vanguard found that younger investors selected its ESG-focused proxy-voting policy at approximately twice the rate of older participants. The option was chosen by 38.8% of investors under 30 and 36.3% of those aged 31–45, compared with 19.4% of investors aged 46–61 and 16.2% of those aged 62–80. Women also selected the policy more frequently than men. Participation in Vanguard’s Investor Choice programme increased from 82,000 people in 2025 to 507,000 in 2026.

Funding rounds

🔋 Reverion raised $175 million to scale production of power plants capable of providing dispatchable electricity and, when combined with biogas and permanent carbon storage, generating negative emissions. Its reversible solid-oxide fuel-cell systems can produce electricity from biogas, natural gas or hydrogen and switch to electrolysis when surplus renewable power is available

🏭 Hertha Metals raised $133 million, including a $65 million US government investment, to build a domestic high-purity iron and steel facility in Texas. The planned Hertha Chalyx plant will produce 10,000 tonnes annually for steel and rare-earth magnets used in electric vehicles, data centres, aerospace and defence equipment.

💻 Efficient Computer raised $97 million to increase shipments of its energy-efficient processors and develop chips for data centres. The Carnegie Mellon spinout’s data-flow architecture is designed to perform general computing tasks while using 10 to 100 times less energy than conventional processors, according to the company.

🏢 Novele raised $17 million in Series A financing to scale its AI-powered energy-management and distributed-storage platform for commercial buildings. Its BoardOS software and EnergyBoard hardware enable buildings to predict, reshape and optimise power use in real time, allowing them to operate as flexible grid assets; its RippleBoard product extends the platform to data centres.

🏠 NOX Energy raised €3 million to expand software connecting household heat pumps, solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles with energy markets. The platform adjusts how devices operate according to electricity prices, weather forecasts and grid conditions, helping utilities access flexibility from distributed energy resources.

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