Evangelicals, Art, SCOTUS American Divisions.
Micro-grant award. Pandemic preparedness (or lack of). UK Energy security. Disinformation.Transition, SEC, Climate wars. UK, Bill of (lack of) rights. Podcasts. SCOTUS and the US divisions.
Had an excellent chat with Francesca Sanderson on arts and social impact investing, and what she learned living off grid for a year. Transcript/video/podcast here.
Micro-grant award for tourism education and outreach in Botswana
Pandemic preparedness (or lack of)
UK Energy security
Disinformation, Meta oversight board
Transition investing
SEC + climate wars
Tariq Fancy against asset management ESG
SCOTUS and the fall out from America to the world and progress.
UK Bill of (lack of) rights
Jason Mitchell sustainability podcast
Fran Sanderson: impact investing, social and creative arts
Events for London climate action week
Links: Aging research in turtles; Child care, Crazy ideas for homes; Perfume, Packing guide, growing veg, guerilla gardening
Nothing I heard this week changed my short term gloomy view that I expressed last week re: recession, inflation, geopolitics and health. In fact, my long-term was degraded slightly on public health (as pandemic preparedness for the next pandemic is looking poor).
I listened to public policy healthcare thinking at the Chatham House conference, and my conclusion is we are still underinvesting in pandemic preparedness - for the next pandemic. We are also broadly under-invested in health.
I did have a think about investing and transition companies. There are many companies of all sorts involved in transition and it seems - long-term - still a fruitful area. But, in many respects it’s part of the wider thinking on what innovation means to us. (Long-term positive)
I listened to Kwasi Kwarteng the UK business minister talk on UK energy security and transition/decarbonisation.
You may disagree with him, but he was fairly clear on his thinking (although I think he might have been a little confused on blue/green hydrogen and no chat on pink!) He plots a path between steady decarbonisation, and short-term energy security issues. Emphasises gas as a transition fuel and remains (techno)optimist on innovation. Will not touch “behavioral changes” eg showers vs baths. Russia has really changed the equation here re: energy security. Climate progressives will argue this is too slow. Climate skeptics will argue this is too costly.
I listened to Alan Rusbridger, Zoe Dwarme on the Meta oversight board. This is a tough one, but I concluded that it was probably better to try this experiment than not, even if it leaves many people on all sides of the debate quite unhappy. AI is not yet at a state where it can handle things.
On arguments against ESG. Tariq Fancy argues constantly that asset management ESG and corporate ESG as expressed by most major entities and the tick box approach they take is a placebo against further government regulation / action. He has another essay on this argument. (Link end1)
Fancy argues mostly from the climate/E side of things, and puts a lot of weight on regulation [with no clear proposals; although that is arguably because there are no clear democratically acceptable proposals around. I think you would get a strong view on the policy regulation frontier from my podcast with Chris Stark - CEO of the UK climate change committee. The UK is (perhaps surprising to some) quite advanced in many areas here but in a democratically elected nation, there is a political reality to deal with. ]
Fancy’s essays have a lacuna on this. [eg 30-35% of US do not believe in man-made climate change.] People who argue against Fancy will point to the “walk and chew gum” fallacy and note that regulation has typically gone hand-in hand with private sector involvement. (And perhaps protest movements cf. women’s rights…. hmmmm… this week). I am still gearing up to write a full essay in this area although I am probably more interested in certain other aspects of the debate. I would note, as I am wont, on health. Life expectancy is the highest it has ever been in most countries and continues to rise. This is universally accepted as a win. And if you look at how it has come about, it’s been from a mix of government public health innovations and doings, and private companies, and NGOs, and third sectors. The triumvirate of Private, Public, NGO… This is all as introduction to the SEC climate wars, as I am calling them.
The submissions to the SEC rules on climate reporting seem to encompass this whole wider debate.
Many entities have produced wide ranging documents, essays and thought pieces. There are even essays on how this interacts with first amendment legislation, which had not occurred to me. For those of you climate / ESG specialists I recommend you read the arguments. Mostly I suggest you read the negative arguments (as they will be the other side of you, like Tariq Fancy is), of which I outline three submissions here (click for PDF below).
There are plenty on the other side too eg Carbon tracker.
It is so globally relevant that although I am not normally vocal on the Current Thing, I should make a comment on the US and SCOTUS overturning Roe vs Wade. I have three perhaps unusual observations.
First. The power of art. While the decision has come about by a confluence of many factors, one causal initial catalyzing factor was a set of documentaries by Frank Schaeffer (the son of a Christian theologian) in the 1970s. These stories seemed to be - and the history seemingly holds on this - a large catalyzing factor for the US evangelicals to take this up as a cause. Before these documentaries, it seems the evangelicals - or at least certain important leaders of the movement - were not so interested. There may well have been other catalysts for the movement. But upstream, it was these movies which were the actual catalyst.
Much like, how white Texan lawyer, Charles Black became a leading winning advocate for civil rights after listening to Louis Armstrong. Or, how Putin sees Russia in the context of the stories he understands or uses. The power of art and stories is strong, and can be used for all purposes.
Jon Ronson has a 30 min podcast on Frank Schaeffer and this is part of where we have got to today.
Second. This is medium term bad news for the US in that it will take up much political energy, and increase divisiveness on a matter which is mostly settled in the rest of the world. This weakens the social capital of the US. The conflict is also a large opportunity cost for resolving the politics of other matters such as climate, and health. What is bad for the US here is also bad for the world.
Third. This is bad for a vision of progress that can treat historic laws and ideas as “living” and subject to update for current human progress. This is the notion of a “living constitution” in the US. It is literally correct to say the word “abortion” does not appear in the US constitution, and so those who weight literalism and originalism will point to that. But, that is to deny the principle of a living Constitution that evolves - and I would argue progresses - to expand liberty and equality. The SCOTUS also questions the idea of following precedent. If a constitution or any set of statements made 100, 200, 500, 2000 years ago is not living - it is ossified - it is dead.
Short note, that UK has introduced a “Bill of Rights” that has fewer rights in it than the Human Rights Act that the Bill replaces.
I’ve awarded a grant to Otto Kgosiemang. Otto leads Heritage Adventures Botswana [H/T Thomas O’Neill via Forbes U30.]
Otto writes:
See the Botswana that other's don't... This is a slogan that drives a business that looks to give authentic heritage experiences to all those who travel to Botswana. With this grant we will expand our reach to communities and individuals within the country that are open to sharing their history and culture with the rest of the world.
Link to blog below:
Francesca Sanderson managed an ethical equities fund at JPMorgan as an asset manager but quit that to live off grid for a year. She then became a social impact investor with Big Society Capital and now runs the Arts Impact programmes at Nesta.
We chat about what she learned, missed and loved about living off-grid. How she has a more pluralist world view.
Fran talks about what she learned at JP Morgan. The power and the weaknesses of institutional and organisational strength.
“When I was at JP Morgan, I would be watching people move from their CFA and then go now I'm going to do an MBA and I'll be “why do you want to do an MBA? That's not interesting.” Now, with the benefit of 20 years hindsight, I don't think there's anything more interesting or crucial than how organizations work and how stuff gets done…”
We discuss social impact, its opportunities and risks and highlight some brilliant projects.
We chat on the the tyranny of numbers and data and the tension between process and oversight, and over burdensome bureaucracy and slowness.
We play overrated/underrated addressing stakeholder capitalism, the settlement movement, and cycling.
Fran ends on her advice, be trustworthy:
“I think that this is a reflection on life and society and where we are today. Trust is underrated. I think I just behave in a trustworthy fashion. It's a long termist thing. It's not freewheeling, can we get away with its culture at all, but ultimately for the benefit of the planet of society, just be honorable when it's not an easy thing to do.”
Available wherever you get podcasts, or below.
For ESG podcasts, I will recommend again Jason Mitchell
We spoke last year.
Links:
Wouldn’t happen in the UK…?
Ageing research in turtles
Perfume
No money for defence lawyers
Child care - meta science (age, income, time <30hours all matter)
Crazy ideas for homes.
UK teacher pay
Packing guide
Growing veg
https://medium.com/@sosofancy/the-secret-diary-of-a-sustainable-investor-part-4-epilogue-f18304fd9db7