Corporate America Retreats from ESG Rhetoric

By ZeroHedge - Feb 08, 2024

• ESG funds in the US experienced net outflows of $13 billion in the last year, marking a significant downturn in investor interest.
• 
  
• Accusations of greenwashing and increased political scrutiny have contributed to a "chilling effect" on demand for ESG investments.
• 
  
• Corporate mentions of ESG and related terms have dramatically decreased in earnings calls, indicating a shift in focus away from ESG rhetoric amid the current economic and political climate.

Investors are pulling funds from sustainable investments as the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) bubble deflates, triggered by high interest rates, poor returns, plummeting stocks in renewable energy, stricter SEC regulations, political backlash, and Elon Musk's war on woke capitalism. At the same time, ESG mentions on earnings calls by corporate America have plunged. 

In 2021, during the pandemic boom, US ESG funds hit a record $358 billion in assets, up from $95 billion in 2017. But since then, investor interest has waned as higher borrowing costs impact capital-intensive clean tech stocks. 

Last week, Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld published a stunning graphic, citing Morningstar data. It shows investors dumped $5 billion from ESG exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the fourth quarter, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of net outflows. For the full year, investors disposed of $13 billion in US ESG ETFs, more than offsetting positive flows in Europe and sending the entire global industry into turmoil. This was the worst calendar year for these funds since Morningstar began tracking a decade ago.

"We're at a bit of an inflection point within the sustainable investing landscape in the US, where it's really incumbent upon sustainable investing advocates to be very clear about what they're doing within their investment processes to regain investor confidence in the sector," Alyssa Stankiewicz, associate director of sustainability research at Morningstar, told Yahoo Finance while referring to the Morningstar report. 

Stankiewicz said that political scrutiny over ESG funds has surged primarily because of "greenwashing," which has had a "chilling effect" on demand. 

The underperformance of ESG investing comes as corporate America has dialed back the number of mentions of "ESG" or synonyms related to ESG on investor calls this earnings season.

For some context, peak ESG and related synonyms, such as "climate change" and "clean energy" and green energy" and net zero," among other terms, peaked at 28,000 mentions in the first quarter of 2022. Ever since, the number of mentions has rapidly plunged. Halfway through the first quarter earnings season, mentions are around 4,800. 

Andy Wiechmann, the Chief Financial Officer of MSCI, mentioned during his earnings call that "Clients are taking a more measured approach to how they integrate ESG."

On a Jan. 12 earnings call, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink explained how his firm plans to purchase private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners without mentioning ESG. This makes sense since BlackRock dropped the ESG term after blowback last summer. 

Woke capitalism is undergoing a rebranding, and the term ESG is being phased out by corporate America.

By Zerohedge.com 

 

UN Accuses North Korea of Stealing $3 Billion in Crypto

PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION OF CAPITAL

By Harsh Notariya

8 February 2024, 

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In Brief

• North Korea is under UN investigation for cyberattacks aimed at stealing $3 billion in crypto, believed to fund its missile programs.
• The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) reportedly engaged in 58 cyberattacks on crypto firms from 2017 to 2023.
• Lazarus Group, a state-sponsored hacking collective, is at the forefront of these operations, with recent heists on crypto exchanges.

The United Nations (UN) has unveiled that North Korea is under rigorous investigation for a series of cyberattacks aimed at pilfering $3 billion in crypto.

International watchdogs believe that the cyber heists are part of a bigger plan to support the isolated nation’s nuclear and missile programs.

North Korea Conducted 58 Attacks on Crypto Firms

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has reportedly engaged in 58 cyberattacks targeting crypto firms from 2017 to 2023. Consequently, these illicit activities are believed to have funded the nation’s weapons of mass destruction development.

“The panel is investigating 58 suspected DPRK cyberattacks on cryptocurrency-related companies between 2017 and 2023, valued at approximately $3 billion, which reportedly help fund DPRK’s WMD development,” the UN wrote.

North Korea continues to defy international norms with ballistic missile tests, satellite launches, and a new tactical nuclear attack submarine. Its last nuclear test was in 2017. Yet, Pyongyang keeps advancing its nuclear and missile capabilities, which has led to increased attention on its cyber warfare tactics.

Hackers switching to centralized exchanges to fund crypto attacks

 Feb 08, 2024
—by Protos Staff



There is growing concern about the number of crypto hackers using centralized exchanges to fund their attacks.

In order to pay the transaction fees necessary to carry out attacks, hackers must first fund their wallets. However, given the transparency of a public ledger, they have to carefully consider how to do this without linking themselves to the crime.

Tornado Cash used to be the industry standard for covering one’s tracks, used by hackers and privacy advocates alike.

Now, it appears that in many cases, hackers simply opt to skirt their way around exchanges’ know-your-customer (KYC) procedures when funding their accounts.

Blockchain monitoring firm Forta Network’s analysis of funding sources for recent attacks shows that the hacker’s favourite Tornado Cash now represents just under half the hacks studied, with funds coming from centralized exchanges (CEXs) in a third of cases.

Other funding methods included novel privacy tool Railgun and ‘middleware operations software’ UnionChain, making up 6.7% apiece, as well as cross-chain swaps via Squid router, which accounts for 3.3%.

Read more: Explainer: What to know about crypto mixer Tornado Cash

The dataset is made up of addresses used in 30 recent flash-loan attacks, including November’s intricate $48 million hack of decentralized exchange KyberSwap, back-to-back attacks on Arbitrum projects Radiant Capital and Gamma Strategies, and a thwarted $1 million governance attack on NFT project Loot last month.

Although Tornado Cash remains the dominant source of funding for on-chain hacks, matters have been complicated for hackers trying to cash out after the US Treasury placed sanctions on the crypto mixing service in August 2022.

After the sanctions, addresses that have touched any ‘tainted’ funds originating from the mixer are generally flagged by exchanges, making it a poor choice when needing to convert any ill-gotten gains to fiat currency.

A recent article from 404 Media claims to have used a $15 AI-generated fake ID from a website named OnlyFake to pass KYC checks on OKX, the funding source of one of the attacks studied by Forta.

With these AI tools, there is no need to purchase stolen credentials, or ‘fullz’ on the darknet, hackers can simply generate an entirely new person, and all their corresponding documentation.

Such a significant proportion of attacks being exchange-funded shows just how easy bypassing KYC has become, a trend that is likely to continue with more widespread use of similar tools.

Read more: Iranian crypto exchange Bit24 reportedly leaks 230,000 users’ KYC data

Although the hackers run the risk of the CEX blocking their funds, they might feel somewhat safer leaving less of a trail on-chain.

While dodging genuine KYC checks may present a problem to the crypto industry in on-ramping hackers, the problem is bound to affect many other industries. Ironically, the widespread use of cryptographic proofs, the technology underlying cryptocurrencies, may be the solution to these kinds of issues in the future.

However, for now, there are reasonable doubts over how seriously exchanges take their role and how stringent KYC controls really are.

Meta platforms are ‘hotbeds’ for financial scams, says Revolut exec

60 per cent of scams in the UK reported to Revolut came from Instagram, Fscebook and Whatsapp, the fintech said

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M; BUSINESS AS USUAL


BUSINESS POST

Tech companies, meanwhile, signed a voluntary online fraud charter last year to try and block more scams from reaching customers, with some institutions complaining have that Meta isn’t doing enough. Picture: Bloomberg

Most scams reported to finance app Revolut in the UK last year started their journey on Meta’s social media platforms, with most money lost to “get-rich-quick” investment schemes.

The London-based fintech found 60 per cent of UK scam cases came from Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, dwarfing other platforms and frauds conducted by telephone. Revolut found a similar trend across Europe, where 61 per cent of scams originated on Meta services.

Woody Malouf, Revolut’s head of financial crime, said Meta platforms were “being used as a hotbed for scams,” and urged Revolut customers to avoid so-called investment opportunities. “Banks and financial institutions should be the last line of defence, not the only line of defence.”

Malouf appeared alongside finance and technology executives this week at the UK’s home affairs committee in parliament, which is scrutinizing the surge in authorized push payment fraud. These scams trick customers into moving their money to accounts controlled by criminals and were responsible for almost £500 million in losses in 2022, according to the Payment Systems Regulator.

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Online fraudsters con consumers out of €8.6m in first half of 2023

Starting in October, payment firms that allow fraudulent payments to be sent and received must reimburse victims, unless they can show they were grossly negligent.

The rule change will affect newer, smaller finance companies in particular. The PSR found Monzo, Starling and Metro Bank Holdings Plc were among firms with the greatest proportion of APP fraud, with over 100 frauds per million transfers sent.

Tech companies, meanwhile, signed a voluntary online fraud charter last year to try and block more scams from reaching customers. Starling and others have complained that Meta isn’t doing enough about the problem.

“We don’t want anyone to fall victim to these criminals, which is why our platforms have systems to block scams, financial services advertisers now have to be FCA authorized to target UK users and we run consumer awareness campaigns on how to spot fraudulent behavior,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.

“We also work closely with law enforcement and regulators and encourage our community to report scams immediately so we can take action against this kind of content swiftly.”

Meta accused of not taking Facebook Marketplace fraud seriously


Meta has been accused by MPs on the Home Affairs Committee of not taking the problem of online fraud on its platforms seriously (Tim Goode/PA)

By Martyn Landi, 

PA Technology Correspondent

Yesterday 


Meta has been accused by MPs of not taking the problem of online fraud on its platforms seriously.

The parent company of Facebook and Instagram came under scrutiny from the Home Affairs Select Committee after representatives from the banking sector said the “majority” of scams they see start on Meta platforms.

Paul Davis, financial crime prevention director at TSB, told the committee that Facebook Marketplace is the “main place” where purchase scams originate, which, along with investment and impersonation scams, are the most common types of fraud affecting bank customers.

“For those three types, which as I say are the main ones, we see about 80% start on social media,” Mr Davis told MPs.

“Indeed, let’s not walk past the fact that, when I say social media there, the majority of them start from the channels owned by one company in particular, which is Meta.”

He added: “Facebook Marketplace doesn’t have a payments channel attached to it, it’s not like a website you might use to buy something off a high street shop, for example, or Amazon. So, you have to get bank details from the seller of that item.



“What we see are customers telling us that they get bank details from the seller, send them money and then the item never turns up.”

In response, Philip Milton, public policy manager for fraud at Meta, told the committee that the tech giant takes the issue “extremely seriously”.

When suggested by the committee that evidence given to MPs by the banks shows Meta is not doing all it can to prevent online fraud, Mr Milton said: “I disagree with that.”

He went on: “To give you an idea of the scale that we’re putting in place to tackle this kind of thing, since 2016 we’ve invested 20 billion dollars on safety and security, and that’s not slowing down – five billion of that was in the last year alone.

“We have 40,000 people working across the company on safety and security. Half of that number are involved in directly reviewing content, so we invest significantly in trying to prevent this kind of thing from happening.”

He added that fraud “fundamentally undermines the experience we’re trying to provide for people” and said this, combined with fraudulent advertising affecting trust in the company from advertisers and its wider reputation, means the firm is “directly incentivised” to do all it can to prevent criminal activity.

However, committee member Tim Loughton, Conservative MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, argued that the five billion dollars Meta said it spent last year on safety and security equates to less than 4% of the firm’s annual revenue for the year – a figure he suggested is “not very high”.

You apparently have no financial skin in the game for clamping down on fraud on Facebook Marketplace other than potential reputational damageTory MP Tim Loughton to Meta's Philip Milton

Mr Loughton also questioned whether the 20,000 people reviewing content for Meta is an adequate number given the site has “four billion active accounts”, and suggested the social media giant is not taking the issue “terribly seriously” because, as Facebook Marketplace does not have a payments channel linked to it, the site is not financially liable if fraud takes place there.

“You apparently have no financial skin in the game for clamping down on fraud on Facebook Marketplace other than potential reputational damage,” he said.

“Unless there’s a clear link with advertisers walking away with their revenue because they’re concerned at (banking sector research showing) 80% of fraud starting on (social media platforms) and 68% of it specifically your platforms, then you don’t really have to take it terribly seriously – and the fact you’re spending five billion dollars out of an annual revenue of 134.9 billion, which, as I say, is three and a bit percent for a people-based service, is tiny.

“So you’re not taking this problem seriously, are you?”

In response, Mr Milton said: “I don’t agree with that at all”, and argued that “the scale of our investment demonstrates how seriously we take this problem”, adding that it is “market-leading” levels of funding for safety and security.

He added that, in response to tactics from fraudsters who demand payment or ask for an item to be sent before it is paid for, Meta has “removed the ability to ship an item on Facebook Marketplace”, and that there is “no way to pay for an item” on the platform because the firm is trying to “design out” the ability for criminals to use the platform for fraud.

NORTHERN IRELAND

OutsideIn Launches First Outlet Store at The Boulevard to Support Homelessness Initiatives

By Terry Clark
-8th February 2024

OutsideIn, a socially conscious fashion retailer founded in Belfast in 2016, is set to open its first outlet store at Northern Ireland’s premier designer outlet, The Boulevard in Banbridge, on Saturday, February 10, 2024. Known for its unique approach to fashion with a cause, OutsideIn operates on the principle of aiding those experiencing homelessness through its ‘Wear One, Share One’ model. This initiative ensures that for every item sold, a new piece of essential clothing is donated to someone in need via a network of Giving Partners.

This new venture will take form as a pop-up store, spanning across four weekends in February and March 2024, and will occupy a space of 1,314 square feet. The store is set to offer a wide range of popular clothing and accessories from OutsideIn’s current collection at reduced prices. Among the items for sale are fleeces, outerwear, sweatshirts, poms, and beanie hats, allowing customers to purchase high-quality fashion while supporting a noble cause.

Since its inception, OutsideIn has demonstrated remarkable growth and commitment to its mission, having distributed over 212,000 items of essential clothing to individuals in 41 cities across seven countries. The brand has ambitiously pledged to donate two million products over the next five years, reinforcing its dedication to making a significant difference in the lives of those affected by homelessness.

Chris Nelmes, Retail Director at The Boulevard said: “Responsible retail is hugely important to us at The Boulevard and so we are delighted to welcome the socially conscious business, OutsideIn onsite and fully support its homelessness initiatives.

“We put a large focus on our ESG outputs, and understanding how important it is to our customers, we feel Oi will be the perfect fit for our shopper demographic and wish them every success in this new outlet venture.”

David Johnston, Founder of OutsideIn said: “Whilst we mainly operate online, we are passionate about people and relish in the opportunity to have conversations in our new store and give our customers the chance to hear some of the stories behind our unique designs and the people they are helping with every purchase.

“This is a huge milestone for us as a company to open a store within a premier outlet like The Boulevard. The support from our customers has taken us from strength to strength and made this possible. The Boulevard has a fantastic retail offering and we are really looking forward to opening our doors and trading alongside these top brands, meeting a lot of new customers and helping even more people in need.”

 

Glen Dimplex To Cut 300 Jobs And Close Two Irish Sites

NEWS

/ 8TH FEBRUARY 2024 /

GEORGE MORAHAN

Heater manufacturer Glen Dimplex is to cut up to 300 jobs on the island of Ireland over the next two years after announcing it will close two sites.

At present, Glen Dimplex has manufacturing locations in Newry and Portadown, two sites in Dunleer, Co Louth and a sales and distribution operation in Cloghran, near Dublin Airport, where it also has its head office.

The company plans to transfer panel and storage heating manufacturing from its Newry and Portadown locations to Lithuania, and the Portadown site will be shuttered, most likely next year.

Glen Dimplex will also relocate its sales and distribution arm from Cloghran to Dunleer in the next two years. Its head office will also be moved to another Dublin location with a more sustainable footprint.

The three remaining Irish sites will be reconfigured around higher value manufacturing and creating a centre of excellence and R&D hub for zero-carbon heating and ventilation technologies.

There will be no redundancies made in the next six months, and the job cuts will be made on a phased basis from late 2024 to the end of 2026.

The job losses were announced following strategic review of Irish operations, and staff were brief on the company's plans earlier today (8 February).

Glen Dimplex will invest €50m to "re-orientate" its manufacturing operations in Ireland and Europe, including €40m ringfenced for manufacturing, R&D and new sales and distribution facilities in Newry (€25m) and Dunleer (€15m).

The Newry site will be repurposed into a centre of excellence for manufacturing renewable heating solutions including heat pumps, and the firm's two Dunleer sites will be consolidated into one multi-purpose facility on Ardee Road that will incorporate sales and distribution, a new showroom, R&D and ventilation manufacturing.

The remaining €10m will be invested to increased the existing manufacturing capacity of the company's Lithuanian operations, and Glen Dimlex will also transfer the manufacturing of Flame products from Dunleer to a third party in China.

Despite the planned job cuts, employment at Glen Dimplex in Ireland is expected to increase by 20% to over 1,000 over the next five years. The firm currently employs over 8,000 people globally.

“Glen Dimplex has always been a leader in electric heating solutions for homes and businesses," said Fergal Leamy, CEO of Glen Dimplex.

"The drive for zero carbon renewable electricity requires a transition in the technology and appliances used in our homes and businesses, especially in smart and sustainable heating and ventilation solutions such as next generation heat pumps, ventilation and storage solutions using renewable energy sources. 

GLEN DIMPLEX WILL CUT 300 JOBS BY THE END OF 2026.

“By signalling these proposed changes significantly in advance of proposed implementation we aim to mitigate the impact on staff and minimise redundancies through training and redeployment and affording the opportunity to apply for hundreds of new roles that will be created over the coming years."

Glen Dimplex reported revenues of €944m and profit of €37.6m in 2022, and the company has net assts of €325.7m.

Photo: Fergal Leamy (left). (Pic: Chris Bellew /Fennell Photography)

"PAUSING FOSSIL FUELS"(SIC)

Another Merger Being Explored in the U.S. Shale Space

By Julianne Geiger - Feb 08, 2024

As mergers and acquisitions heat up in the U.S. shale industry, U.S. oil and gas producer Devon Energy is looking to purchase Enerplus, anonymous sources told Reuters on Thursday.

The potential tie-up would see the $3 billion valued Enerplus acquired by  $30 billion Devon Energy, adding to the string of other mergers and acquisitions in the North American oil and gas industry, including megadeals such as Exxon’s acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources and Chevron’s acquisition of Hess, along with Occidental’s purchase of CrownRock, Exxon’s purchase of Denbury, and Chevron’s acquisition of PDC Energy.

The sources were clear that a deal was being discussed, but there was no certainty that a deal would for sure be reached.

Enerplus has assets in North Dakota’s Bakken and Pennsylvania’s Marcellus basin. Devon already has a presence in North Dakota, and an acquisition of more North Dakota assets will help spread out its reliance on other basins, such as the Delaware.

Enerplus already sold its Canadian assets back in 2022 as it shifted focus on its assets in the United States—in retrospect a seemingly wise move that allowed it to return more than $300 million to shareholders last year. Enerplus, however, has been criticized for its high spend on maintaining current levels of production.

Devon, too, ditched its entire Canadian business back in 2019 to Canadian Natural Resources—like Enerplus, it wanted to shift focus to the United States.

Enerplus is trading down year over year but perked up on Thursday on news of the possible deal, climbing by 7.54% on the day. Devon shares are also down from this time last year, but were trading up by nearly 2% on Thursday afternoon.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

Westmount Energy cheers new discovery offshore Namibia

08 Feb 2024 

Exciting times lie ahead according to Westmount Energy Limited (AIM:WTE, OTCQB:WMELF) chair Gerard Walsh following news of a new discovery offshore Namibia.

Westmount, a small-cap investor in the oil and gas sector, has a minority shareholding in Africa Oil which in turn has an economic interest in TotalEnergies discoveries in Block 2913B.

Africa Oil earlier today highlighted the results from the Mangetti-1X which unearthed a new discovery and also confirmed the presence of the recently discovered Venus reservoirs in another location.

“Today's positive update by our investee AOC confirms our view that the Orange basin is a major emerging, prolific, hydrocarbon province which offers Westmount shareholders continuing exposure to high impact exploration and appraisal drilling outcomes," Walsh said.

“We also note the commentary provided yesterday at the TotalEnergies 2023 Results and 2024 Objectives presentations2, with the operator of the giant Venus Discovery indicating that the appraisal program and development planning was now focussed on the optimisation of the location of the first Development FPSO with respect to reservoir sweet spots in terms of permeability and productivity.

“In addition, the operator signalled a continuing aggressive exploration and appraisal program in 2024, with a Namibian E&A budget of circa $300M, and with another potential exploration drilling target already identified to the south of Venus.

“So an exciting program of drilling and testing lies ahead and we look forward to further newsflow in this regard."

Africa Oil has a material economic interest in the new discovery via its 31.1% shareholding in Impact Oil & Gas, which in turn holds a 20% stake in the TotalEnergies-led project.

Mangetti-1X has intersected hydrocarbon-bearing intervals in the Mangetti fan prospect, which is a similar but separate system to the Venus oil discovery (unearthed previously by the exploration joint venture).

This latest well also achieved its secondary objective, which was to intersect and appraise the Venus system in this location which is a northern extension area of the original discovery.

Africa Oil told investors that Mangetti has the potential to add additional recoverable resources to the project, and, that Impact and its partners are now working to determine the next step in the evaluation process.

"The positive results of the Mangetti-1X well present us with a new fairway opportunity, potentially adding a new recoverable resource base on Block 2913B,” Roger Tucker said in the Africa Oil statement.

“Our involvement in Block 2913B continues to be exciting, with further work underway to understand the potential of Mangetti, alongside the Venus-2A appraisal well, currently drilling.”

Elsewhere, the company noted a separate update from TotalEnergies related to the Akpo West field offshore Nigeria – where, as operator, the French major has now confirmed the start of production.

Africa Oil holds an economic interest in Akpo West via a 50% shareholding in Prime Oil & Gas, which in turn owns a 16% stake in the field.

Akpo West is expected to produce some 14,000 barrels of condensate per day, followed by 4 million cubic meters of gas per day starting in 2028, Africa Oil noted. “Akpo West presents us with advantaged and high netback production in a low operating cost and with a low emission project,” Rogers added.