Knowledge and Insight

Join us and our Rathbones colleagues in Bristol for drinks, food and exciting conversations featuring experts from across three key sustainability areas: Climate, Nature and Human rights.

Greenbank and Rathbones are delighted to partner with 5x15 for The Earth Convention 2025, a three-part series offering insights into the urgent issues facing our changing world. The second session 'Oceans and Rivers' will explore the relationship between human civilisation and the Earth’s oceans and rivers.

2025 is set to be a pivotal year for oceans on the global stage. David Attenborough’s new documentary ‘Ocean’ launched to great fanfare last month, the UN Ocean Conference is currently taking place in France, the UN Global Plastics Treaty negotiations reconvene in August with major implications for our oceans, and the COP30 climate conference in Brazil in November is expected to place significant emphasis on the role of oceans in climate action. Greenbank’s ethical, sustainable and impact researcher, Charlie Young shares his take on what he describes as “the world’s most undervalued natural asset”.

Our annual engagement review provides an opportunity to reflect on the past year and share the impact our engagement has helped create, as well as to outline our focus areas as we continue our work in 2025.

UK food industry experts warned companies are downplaying food security risks and treating nature-related disclosures as mere formalities, lacking transparency and long-term planning. In parallel, EU lawmakers voted to delay and scale back sustainability reporting rules, sparking backlash from NGOs concerned about weakening environmental protections, and at UK and International Energy Agency-led talks in London, leaders emphasised that energy security is vital for national stability.

Can the energy transition stay on track? Our recent live lunchtime webinar ‘Renewables at a crossroads’ explored the opportunities and risks within the renewables sector and the effects that current global politics have on the global clean energy transition.

The Cali Fund, established at COP16, has been launched to support biodiversity conservation through contributions from industries using genetic data. An updated biodiversity plan from the UK aims to meet global targets by 2030 despite concerns about progress, and ahead of COP30, Brazil's climate summit CEO called for year-round action, while the UK considers linking its carbon market with the EU to address revenue shortfalls.

Greenbank and Rathbones are delighted to partner with 5x15 for The Earth Convention 2025, a three-part series offering insights into the urgent issues facing our changing world. The first session ‘Energy and Finance’ will reflect on the future of energy.

2025 has so far seen a significant shift in the political backdrop for ESG and sustainable investing. While some financial institutions pull back from climate initiatives amid increasing political opposition, a rollback on DEI programmes emphasises the need for diversity, equity and inclusion to evolve beyond good intentions. The UK and US have refused to sign a declaration on “inclusive and sustainable” artificial intelligence (AI) following the landmark AI Safety Summit, and the EU’s Omnibus proposal to reduce the scope of regional sustainability reporting has been criticised as a deregulation setback.

Healthy societies, resilient economies and thriving businesses all rely on nature and its biodiversity. Greenbank sets three nature targets as we work to further understand how, as investors, we can contribute to the global effort to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.

An unexpected contraction in retail sales dampened UK growth expectations in January, while Eurozone GDP stagnated as political instability and rising unemployment hit France and Germany. In the US, President Donald Trump fulfilled his promise to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and his executive order encourages domestic energy exploration and the elimination of the electric vehicle mandate. Meanwhile, the EU looks to boost its global tech and clean energy position with a new strategic business initiative.

Greenbank’s 2025 action plan highlights our programme of thematic engagement, which is divided into priority and secondary groupings. Our priority themes for 2025 are climate change, nature, and human rights, and our secondary themes include health, workforce, circular economy, and animal welfare.