Sustainable investing – Moving from compliance and risk management to creating societal impact

This thesis aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the connection between sustainable investing, corporate sustainability and sustainable development. Growing environmental and social concerns have increased the role of sustainability in society. Due to this development, sustainable investing has gained popularity and it has become a mainstream investment strategy for large institutional investors. Sustainable investing integrates environmental, social and governance factors into investment process aiming to improve the risk-return profile of the investment. This thesis builds a theoretical framework to assess companies’ sustainability performance based on their ESG footprint and ESG handprint performance. Footprint refers to negative impacts and externalities caused by business activities. Handprint refers to positive impacts that companies are able to create through their core business, especially through their products and services. To my best knowledge, this study is the first one to present a framework, which separates companies’ ESG performance based on the footprint and handprint dimensions. Moreover, this thesis provides an overview of existing literature around corporate sustainability and sustainable investing. To test empirically the framework, I obtain ESG data from Thomson Reuters and build a sample covering the years from 2003 to 2018 using stocks that are listed in the STOXX600 Europe index. By utilizing ESG scores, I create footprint and handprint scores for each company in the sample to assess stock market performance based on these scores. I utilize a portfolio study methodology and Fama-French three-factor model to analyze whether ESG data provides value relevant information for investors. I create four portfolios by classifying stocks based on their footprint and handprint scores. I find that portfolio including stocks with high ESG footprint score and low ESG handprint score creates excess returns of 0.387% at 1% level. Other three portfolios create also a positive but insignificant excess returns. This signals that investors receive value relevant information by utilizing especially ESG data considering stocks’ ESG footprint performance. Moreover, I found that those stocks that have improved their ESG ratings during the past 12-months outperform the market. High-ESG portfolios create excess returns of around 0,5% at 1% level, and this finding holds whether using ESG total scores, ESG footprint scores or ESG handprint scores

Ärjänsaaren rakennusten kuntoarviot

Opinnäytetyö tehtiin osana UPM Kymmene Oyj:n ja Kajaanin ammattikorkeakoulun sopimaa kaksivuotista hanketta. Hankkeessa tarkastellaan Ärjänsaaren infrastruktuuria, matkailu ja virkistyspalveluiden kehittämistarvetta. Opinnäytetyö käsittelee Ärjänsaaren rakennusten kuntoarvioita ja korjaustarpeita. Työ aloitettiin tekemällä kuntotarkastukset saaren rakennuksiin. Tarkastusten jälkeen tarkastuksista kirjoitettiin raportit. Käytännön kuntoarviointityö tehtiin syys-lokakuussa 2014 yhdessä insinööriopiskelija Marko Sarkkisen kanssa. Tässä opinnäytetyössä käsitellään tarkemmin kahdeksaa rakennusta ja niiden kuntoarviota, muut saaren rakennusten kuntoarvioista käsitellään Marko Sarkkisen opinnäytetyössä. Kuntoarvioiden lisäksi työssä käsitellään yleisesti Ärjänsaarta ja saaren virkistyskäytön kehittämistä. Työ sisältää myös tietoa kaavoituksesta Ärjässä ja sen vaikutuksia rakennusten korjaamiseen ja saaren kehittämiseen. Työn tuloksena saatiin kuntoarvioraportit 24:stä rakennuksesta. Raporteista selviää rakennusten kunto ja niiden korjaustarve. Lisäksi tässä opinnäytetyössä on tietoa eri rakennusten korjaamisesta ja korjausten hinnoista. Työ esittelee myös loma-asuntojen rakenneratkaisuja, joita voidaan hyödyntää rakennuksia korjatessa tai uusia rakennuksia rakennettaessa. Rakennusten korjaamiseen ja saaren kehittämiseen vaikuttavat myös tässä työssä käsiteltävät kaavoitusasiat. Lisäksi saari on Natura aluetta ja kuuluu valtakunnalliseen rantojensuojeluohjelmaan. Kaavoitus ja suojeluasiat on huomioitava saaren kehitystyössä ja rakennuksia korjatessa.The purpose of this thesis is to study the development of Ärjä island in Oulujärvi, in the lake near the town of Kajaani. This study was carried out as a part of a two year project planned by UPM Kymmene together with Kajaani University of Applied Sciences and focused on both commercial and noncommercial development of Ärjä island. In the project consideration was given to the infrastructure, i.e. the buildings, water supply and so on, and the needs to develop the tourism and vacation planning. This work considers the buildings of the island i.e. the cottages and their condition assessment and repair needs. We started this project by doing a condition assessment report of the buildings. This was carried out in September and October 2014 with Marko Sarkkinen, an engineering student from Kajaani University of Applied Sciences. The task of the writer of this work was to make the condition assessment and repair needs for eight buildings on the Ärjä island. The condition assessment and repair needs for the rest of the buildings were made by Marko Sarkkinen. In addition to making the condition assessment for the buildings on the island, the aim of this work is to consider the development of Ärjä island mostly from a recreational point of view. Moreover, this work contains the information about the planning and zoning of the island, and their effects to the repairs of the buildings and the development of the island. The main purpose of the planning and zoning is to avoid the negative effects of visitors to the island. The condition assessment report that the author together with Marko Sarkkinen made on 24 targets i.e. buildings located on the island contains data from the condition of the buildings and their repair needs. This work also contains the information of a single target and its repair costs. In this work we also present the structural solutions for holiday homes that can be applied and utilized to repair the old buildings and to build the new ones. The planning and zoning also effect the needs to repair and the need of development of the island of Ärjä. But what is important to note is that the island of Ärjä is a Natura 2000 area and belongs to a shore conservation programme, and therefore gives the restrictions for the use and development of the island. The conservation restrictions must be taken into account when developing the infrastructure of Ärjä and also when repairing the buildings

Nordic TCFD workshop : Key takeaways and recommendations

During the course of 2020-2021, South Pole and Gaia have organized the Nordic Platform on Mobilising Climate Finance on behalf of NKL (Climate and Air Pollution Group -Nordic Council of Ministers). This factsheet summarizes the results from phase 2: the results of a Nordic TCFD workshop, incl. recommendations to the Nordic governments

Final report: Financial instruments to support a green economic recovery post-COVID-19

The narrative of recovering from the impacts of COVID-19 by way of ‘building back better’ has dominated discussions on COVID-19 recovery. However, current efforts are lagging behind the IPCC’s recommendations. This report explores how the Nordic countries' recovery financing plans have been tied to "green" principles and what financial mechanisms could further support and ensure a greener recovery.  The Nordic countries developed recovery plans with significant acknowledgement of the green transition in mind. The Nordic countries have supported economic recovery through a wide range of financial instruments. In the long term, fiscal reforms are necessary to embed climate-related criteria in economic growth. Moreover, it is also important to strengthen capacities to plan inclusive green transitions and monitor finance flows for its impact on the green transition.