Among the unparalleled most enjoyable pairings (tea and biscuits, baths and candles, beer and football), one of the greatest, certainly, is reading and sunshine. To spread ourselves out under a clear blue sky, with the sun’s warmth resting softly on our skin, and lose ourselves in a truly great read, suspended somewhere between waking and dreaming… few circumstances bring us closer to a feeling of inner peace and happiness.
At Candriam, we’ve always believed in the value of small pleasures: treating ourselves to regular, inexpensive reminders of the pure magnificence of life. We’ve compiled a list of articles that are best enjoyed in the sunshine – pieces that gently instruct us on the art of responsible investing, and remind us of how pleasurable our days can (and should) be.
Every Friday, a new Summer Reading article will be posted on our website and to our social media channels. Stay tuned.
SUMMER READING #9
Access to medicines, or how equality has become a central issue for pharma businesses - 04/2021
The health crisis has caused more than 900,000 deaths in Europe1. But it has also illustrated the health sector’s tremendous drive for innovation in its search for solutions to the pandemic. Candriam’s aim in its investments in the health sector is to identify, amongst those companies capable of discovering and producing the solutions of tomorrow, the most innovative.
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SUMMER READING #8
Hydrogen: Sustaining renewable energy production - 20/01/2021
Hydrogen has long been talked about as a source of energy of the future. However, while scientists have expected hydrogen technology to become an important tool in the provision of “clean energy”, technology did not exist to make that happen at an affordable cost and on a wide scale. This is changing fast and governments are moving to support hydrogen-based power with substantial public investment and business incentives, presenting a multitude of opportunities for investors.
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SUMMER READING #7
Artificial intelligence: a revolution is underway - 06/01/2021
In honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October, Rudi Van Den Eynde, Head of Thematic Global Equity, gives us an overview of the disease and the challenges created by the epidemic. He is pleased to see that patient care is getting back to normal in hospitals, and that pharmaceutical innovation is still going strong, driven by better understanding of the disease.
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SUMMER READING #6
Financial Institutions Climate Change Survey - 02/2021
The impacts of Climate Change on the financial sector are already measured in the billions, just for extreme weather events. Add in other elements such as credit risks for banks, and delays in tackling climate change could cost financial companies up to $1.2 trillion over the next 15 years.
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SUMMER READING #5
One small click, one major problem? - 03/01/2021
We first took an interest in the environmental consequences of the rise of online retail back in 2017. At the time, we wrote that, depending on the situation, e-commerce could “represent the tip of the green IT iceberg” and “demonstrate the relevance of new technologies to energy transition”.
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SUMMER READING #4
Collective Efforts: the Workforce Disclosure Initiative
The Covid Crisis has put a renewed spotlight on the ‘S’ in ESG. Investors need more transparency to analyze not only the employee stakeholder, but the flexibility and preparedness of companies in crises such as Covid.
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SUMMER READING #3
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (and Ships): technological advances in hydro for transport - 07/01/2021
The transport sector is responsible for 25% of all direct CO2 emissions on our planet, with cars, buses and motorbikes accounting for three quarters of them. The rest of the pollution comes from aviation and freight transport, the sectors that have experienced some very strong growth recently. Rail transport is the most efficient mode of transport and accounts for only 2% of the energy used in transport.
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SUMMER READING #2
Autonomous driving: a slow emergence - 25/02/2021
In recent years, marketers and product developers have done their fair share of using terms like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Internet of Things as if they interchangeably stood for the future of our world. Equally branded revolutionary has been the emergence of autonomous driving. One should absolutely not downplay the huge investments technology and automotive companies are making into research and development to ensure their future autonomous driving supremacy. Some of it is already here – consumers can already obtain vehicular hardware and software through platforms such including Tesla’s Autopilot, Mercedes-Benz’ Drive Pilot or Nissan’s ProPilot. Although these systems offer autonomy to a certain extent, they are still designed to support the driver rather than replace them. Full autonomy, as seen in Spielberg’s Minority Report, still lies quite a few years ahead of us. But when and how will it emerge?
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SUMMER READING #1
Ethnic diversity: why investors cannot afford to remain silent - 03/02/2021
The event which pushed Covid out of the global news headlines for part of 2020 was the death of George Floyd while in the custody of police. Only one of a series of controversial police actions in the US in recent years, this time the event triggered a global campaign against racism. The Black Lives Matters movement has been revived with knock-on effects for the corporate world. These ongoing reactions demonstrate that in the era of responsible capitalism, corporations are increasingly affected by societal debates.
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