FUND MANAGERS should be subject to more rigorous standards to ensure their disclosures about environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing are accurate.

Stoic Venture Capital partner Geoff Waring said Australia should take the lead of the United States, European Union and United Kingdom by ramping up its scrutiny of ESG disclosure and compliance.

Investors are becoming increasingly ESG-aware and correspondingly more distrustful of greenwashing funds that claim to comply with ESG investing principles but in reality do not.

“Many investors are concerned about the hazy reporting of fund managers when it comes to their ESG investments,” Dr Waring said.

“There is a lack of consistency and regulation in how funds report ESG investments and how ESG principles are integrated into their investment decisions and strategy and the impact this has on their returns.”

Dr Waring said it was time the investor industry associations such as the Institutional Limited Partners Association stepped in to address the growing concerns of investors about the problem of greenwashing.

Rather than just educating participants about ESG standardised processes they should act as a centralised platform for independent ratings and benchmarks of fund managers’ ESG compliance. Cambridge Associates calculate benchmarks for financial returns so could do it for social impact too, he said.

It was also important given the ongoing growth in responsible investing which represents around 37 percent of total $3.135 billion assets under management according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The responsible investment market grew 17 percent in 2019 to $1.149 billion.

“Stronger, more consistent guidelines and more information sharing would reduce the risk of misleading marketing claims about ESG investing,” Dr Waring said.

“It would also push investor ESG preferences more effectively through fund managers down to the individual investee companies where many key decisions are being made.”

Dr Waring said investors were turning to venture capital as an alternative to invest more responsibly as they wake up to the unsubstantiated claims of some public and private equity funds about ESG investing. 

“Early stage venture capital is by nature socially responsible and can generate attractive returns. But it is important that investors select high performing venture capital managers,” he said.

“The higher performing firms are those that concentrate on innovative solutions to environmental and societal challenges such as addressing climate change by transforming carbon intensive industrial practices or treating large chronic public health concerns such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

“Higher performing venture capital managers will also be more proactive in encouraging better ESG outcomes from their investee companies.

“Investors can take comfort that both attractive returns and the greater good are possible.”

Stoic Venture Capital’s investments include Cardihab (digital cardiac rehab); Ena Therapeutics (enhancing immunity to fight respiratory diseases); Certa Therapeutics (drug for treating kidney disease); Wildlife Drones (aerial drones tracking animals); Agerris (agricultural robots); Kinoxis (addiction rehabilitation); Occurx (drug to treat eye damage from diabetes); Que Oncology (breast cancer side effects treatment); Ferronova (magnetic nanoparticles for cancer diagnosis); Q-Sera (blood collection); and PERKii (probiotic drink).

About Stoic Venture Capital

Stoic Venture Capital provides financing for early-stage companies, particularly those arising from university research. Stoic is unconditionally registered as an Early-Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership (ESVCLP) and takes a collaborative approach to investing in the highest potential companies. Atlas Advisors Australia AFOF is the major limited partner for the Fund. www.stoicvc.com.au

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AUSTRALIAN AUTHORITIES have issued a record ban to the owners of Panama-flagged bulk carrier MV Maryam, preventing the vessel from entering any Australian port for three years in response to major safety and maintenance issues, along with crew welfare abuses.

The ban comes a month after a second bulk carrier owned by the same company, Aswan Shipping, was issued an 18-month ban for similar deficiencies after being detained by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority at Weipa, in far north Queensland.

The MV Maryam was detained in Port Kembla in February after an inspection identified dozens of serious safety, maintenance, and crew welfare breaches. In recent weeks it sailed to Brisbane.

The 23 seafarers onboard were owed tens of thousands of dollars in outstanding wages, while a lack of fuel had left the vessel without lighting, air-conditioning, or power for refrigerators. Urgent supplies of fuel, food and drinking water were delivered to the desperate crew.

The International Transport Workers' Federation said the MV Maryam was now sailing to Vietnam to undertake urgent repairs following the replacement of the remaining crew members.

“After more than three months in detention, with much of that time spent floating off Port Kembla and Brisbane, the remaining seafarers have finally been able to leave the vessel and fly home, with a replacement crew taking the bulk carrier for urgent repairs,” ITF Australia coordinator Ian Bray said.

“The situation facing seafarers onboard was absolutely appalling, with the 23 crew members critically short of food, water, and fuel.

“The ITF found that many of the seafarers were working well past the expiry of their contracts, desperate to go home, and owed thousands of dollars in unpaid income.

“The extremely poor state of maintenance was also highlighted when the vessel’s one remaining anchor broke free, resulting in Australian authorities having the crew sail 50 nautical miles offshore to reduce the risk of an engine failure causing the vessel to run aground.

“Throughout the crew’s ordeal, ITF inspectors and local branch officials from the Maritime Union of Australia remained steadfast in their support, providing practical welfare assistance and holding the company to account over their breaches of the Maritime Labour Convention.

“The repatriated crew members have now confirmed that they are safely home and have offered their sincere thanks to everyone in Australia who was involved in assisting them.”

Mr Bray said the ITF welcomed the record ban imposed against Aswan Shipping, but warned that the significant abuses were becoming increasingly common in Australia’s maritime supply chains.

“Australia is one of the most significant users of shipping on earth, with thousands of vessels delivering Australia’s imports and exports, including containerised freight, resources, agricultural products, fuel, and manufactured goods,” Mr Bray said.

“Unfortunately, the situation on these Aswan Shipping vessels is becoming increasingly common, with Australia’s maritime supply chains increasingly reliant on flag-of-convenience vessels, registered in notorious tax havens and crewed by exploited workers paid as little as $2 per hour.

“While the situation onboard the Maryam was particularly shocking — resulting in the crew resigning and seeking support from Australian authorities to be repatriated home — we are seeing a constant stream of similar cases in Australian ports.

“Vessels with similarly appalling labour conditions continue to be used to transport goods to and from Australian ports, forming part of the supply chains of major Australian businesses.

“The Australian Government needs to do more to crack down on these abuses, with more resources for inspections, tougher enforcement of Australian laws and the Maritime Labour Convention, and a tightening of the temporary license system for coastal shipping.

“The situation with these two vessels from Aswan Shipping isn’t a one-off, it’s a systemic feature of the deregulated global shipping industry which is seeing a race to the bottom when it comes to safety, maintenance, and the treatment of seafarers.

“Australia’s economy is built on shipping — with 98 per cent of the nation’s imports and exports moved by sea — which is why the country has an obligation to take stronger action to stamp out the abuses happening in its maritime supply chains.”

About the ITF and ITF Inspectorate

The International Transport Workers' Federation is a democratic global union federation of 670 transport workers trade unions representing over 20 million workers in 140 countries. The ITF works to improve the lives of transport workers globally, encouraging and organising international solidarity among its network of affiliates. The ITF represents the interests of transport workers' unions in bodies that take decisions affecting jobs, employment conditions or safety in the transport industry. The ITF Inspectorate is a network of 147 inspectors and contacts, based in ports all over the world, whose job is to inspect ships calling in their ports to ensure the seafarers have decent pay, working conditions and living conditions on board. They conduct routine inspections and also visit ships on request of the crew. If necessary they assist with actions to protect seafarers' rights as permitted by law.

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INTERNATIONAL FINANCE FORUM (IFF) started its two-day 2021 Spring Meetings yesterday.

Entitled Global Governance and Development in the Post-Pandemic Era, the meeting aims to provide a platform for in-depth discussions on international cooperation and global governance, while promoting development and collaborations in low-carbon initiatives, sustainable finance, climate change, public health issues, as well as Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI).

Global audiences can attend the virtual meetings.

"We have seen progress with our fight against the pandemic, however, we still face a lost decade for development and grave setbacks to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during his opening remarks.

"Reversing this trajectory requires a more concerted global and multilateral response on several fronts, which includes urgent actions to close the global vaccine gap, more support for developing countries that are on the brink of a debt crisis, and resilient recovery from the pandemic and climate change crisis," Mr Guterres said.

IMF President Kristalina Georgievain said in her speech, "The global recovery is underway-but the paths and pace are diverging dangerously. We face high uncertainty until this pandemic truly ends.

"Policymakers must take the right actions now by giving everyone a fair shot at the vaccine, recovery, and future."

Ms Georgievain said China has played an important role in the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative and the Common Framework for orderly debt restructuring. The country has also proved the action by supporting the IMF's concessional lending facilities. China is showing efforts on a scale not seen before to accelerate vaccination, while delivering fair vaccine supply to other countries.

"Public health is a global public good," said Jose Manuel Barroso, IFF Co-chairman and Chair of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization in his speech. "We have to face it also at global level and if possible, with the true sincere spirit of cooperation and solidarity."

Nearly 500 leaders from the worlds of governance, finance, business and academia participate in the meeting.

About International Finance Forum (IFF)

Established in 2003, the International Financial Forum is a non-profit and non-governmental unofficial international forum organization. Headquartered in Beijing, it is a high-level dialogue and academic exchange mechanism co-sponsored by business leaders and scholars in the global financial community and academic circles. www.iff.org.cn

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SYDNEY'S pop-up cycleways will be in place for up to two years and two popular cycle routes will become permanent under plans approved by the City of Sydney. 

The city is now drawing up designs for permanent separated cycleways on Pitt Street in the CBD and Henderson Road, Railway Parade and Bridge Street in Erskineville. 

The remaining cycleways on city-controlled roads will stay in place further monitoring, consultation and evaluation takes place. 

Concept designs for a cycleway along the missing link on Liverpool Street outside the Downing Centre and the return of the popular College Street cycleway have also been given the green light. 

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said Sydney’s pop-up cycleways were offering people more transport options, while helping to reduce road congestion and over-crowding on public transport.  

“When Covid hit, we worked with the state government to install pop-up cycleways – a key element of its emergency transport response,” the Lord Mayor said. 

“These cycleways have shown us we can make roads safer for riders, calm traffic and create attractive environments that leave room for people, provide space for outdoor dining and support surrounding businesses. 

“Recent Covid outbreaks underscore how important our investment in wider footpaths and separated cycleways will be in helping to prevent the disease from spreading. 

“Across Greater Sydney there has been a 40 percent increase in people riding since the pop-ups were installed, and many who took to cycling through the pandemic will continue to ride. 

“The growth in people using the Pitt Street cycleway is unprecedented, with a 500 percent increase in the number of people riding there.” 

The cycleways are part of the planned bike network in the City’s cycling strategy and action plan 2018-2030.

Justin Hamley has been a bicycle courier for 10 years and has seen the installation of Sydney’s cycleway network firsthand. He said the Pitt Street cycleway has “transformed” the inner-city for people on bikes. 

“Before the pop-up cycleway it was very difficult for bike riders to navigate the area safely. The Pitt Street path is great and is now a favourite route for commuters, couriers and food delivery riders,” Mr Hamley said. 

“Ten years ago there were no bike paths and only very confident riders were on the roads. The Sydney network still needs work to connect, but there a lot more people of all levels enjoying riding.” 

Jo Lees, construction manager at global property firm Hines, regularly cycles to her Hunter Street office from Rockdale. She said Pitt Street provides a “missing link” in her journey and welcomes it becoming permanent. 

“As cycleways become more prevalent, people are more educated about safety. You still get some phone zombies and people turning never seem to look, but I think people are getting better at sharing the roadways and by and large there’s growing tolerance of people on bikes,” Ms Lees said. 

“I started riding to work when I lived in Marrickville to get fit. Since Covid, I’ve chosen to ride to avoid public transport. It’s 50 minutes door to door, which is not much more than public transport, and I really feel it’s the healthiest transport choice.” 

Extensive monitoring, evaluation and rider surveys show a rise in cycling across all the pop-up cycleways: 

Pitt Street

• This two-way separated cycleway sees 6,000 weekly bike trips on average;
• Before the pop-up cycleway was installed, around 89 percent of people riding a bicycle on Pitt Street were using the footpath;
• The road space changes have significantly enhanced the amenity for people walking and provided more outdoor space for businesses to operate;
• A survey of pop-up cycleway users found the perceived safety of people has also improved, with 97 percent of people surveyed feeling safer riding on the separated cycleway.

Henderson Road, Railway Parade and Bridge Street, Erskineville

• This route was selected to address a missing link between Erskineville-Ashmore and the city;
• Since the first week of opening in July 2020, the number of bike trips has increased more than 30 percent to an average of 2,900 trips a week and the number of women riding has increased;
• A survey of pop-up cycleway users found perceived safety has also improved. Over 90 percent of people surveyed felt safer riding on the separated cycleway.

Dunning Avenue, Rosebery

• The pop-up cycleway on Dunning Avenue connects to Green Square town centre and to George and Bourke streets cycleways, which are key connections into the city centre. It also connects to the south with a shared path on Gardeners Road;
• Plans for a permanent cycleway in a different arrangement are being developed following monitoring and feedback from riders. Consultation on the concept plan is planned for later this year.

Fitzroy Street and Moore Park Road

• The City of Sydney is working with the state and federal governments and Woollahra Council to develop a cycleway on Oxford Street between Hyde Park and Centennial Park. The community will be consulted on concept designs;
• Once the Oxford Street cycleway is completed, the City of Sydney plans to remove the pop-up cycleways on Moore Park Road and Fitzroy Street.

A free Sydney cycling map, including all pop-up and permanent cycleways, can be ordered from the City of Sydney’s website or download as a digital copy. The City of Sydney also offers low-cost bike maintenance and cycling skills courses and free guided ride services to support new riders.

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