The following feature is a write-up of the London-based Environmental Finance’s ESG in Fixed Income EMEA 2023 conference on April 17th 2023.

The past year has been a challenging time for sustainable finance professionals, with evolving regulations, criticism of 'woke investing', and the visible impacts of climate change. However, the 2023 EMEA ESG in Fixed Income conference in London, hosted by online news and analysis services Environmental Finance, provided evidence of the industry's growing maturity and comfort with ESG investing.

The conference offered a rare opportunity for a frank discussion on what is wrong with ESG in the bond market and what needs to change. Such candidness was a breath of fresh air given the ESG fixed-income market’s notoriety for alleged over embellishment of sustainability claims. The audience did not hold back in questioning the panellists' sustainability credentials, as a representative from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia quickly discovered when discussing transition plans.