Also: Birkenstock IPO, Prosus CEO steps down, profits trapped in Russia. 
Good morning.
It’s Climate Week in New York, which means the city has become a parking lot for gas-fueled limos ferrying executives and diplomats to an endless series of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners featuring earnest conversations about how to fix the climate.
There are also a lot of reports coming out, including one this morning from Climate Impact Partners, assessing business efforts to address the challenge. And it’s not good news. After an explosion of commitments to net zero in 2020 and 2021, business momentum stalled. According to the report, there were no new commitments made in the last year, stalling the percentage of Fortune Global 500 companies that have made significant climate commitments at 66%. Here’s what Sheri Hickok, CEO of Climate Impact Partners, told me in previewing the report:
“The backlash (against ESG) is having an effect…The uncertainty—whether due to lack of clarity around SEC reporting, around the expense, around how you link these actions to the company’s bottom line—is causing everybody to pause.”
Still, the actions of the last few years have been significant and lasting. The report shows 76% of the Fortune Global 500 now report on annual emissions, with 55% of them even reporting on the vexing Scope 3 emissions (emissions from suppliers and customers). And the 66% of companies that have made a “meaningful commitment”—which this report defines as a target of 2030 or sooner—saw their emissions decline 7%, compared to a 3% increase among companies without a 2030 target. The UN says annual emissions reductions of 8% will be needed throughout the decade to meet its goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees centigrade. “We don’t have time for a pause,” Hickok says. You can read the full report here.
Separately, the folks at Deloitte, who sponsor this newsletter, have a new report out showing the importance of women’s sports in developing business leaders. Some 85% of surveyed women who played sports say the skills they learned were important to success in their professional careers. (Deloitte also sponsors the WNBA.)
Other news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
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Functional footwear
German sandal maker Birkenstock thinks a “breakthrough of modern feminism” will be a consumer trend in its favor. The company, which filed for a U.S. IPO last week, is telling investors that once consumers switch to its “functional apparel and footwear,” they won’t go back to less comfortable shoes. Analysts think Birkenstock can hit a valuation as high as $8.7 billion, as the IPO market comes back to life after Arm’s blockbuster debut. Fortune
Prosus’s CEO steps down
Bob van Dijk is stepping down as CEO of South African tech company Naspers and its Netherlands-based affiliate, Prosus. Naspers was an early investor in Chinese tech giant Tencent, and the company has struggled to manage what's now a valuable stake. Prosus, which owns the Tencent stake, has a market capitalization of $82 billion—less than the value of its 26% stake in Tencent, worth $98 billion. The Wall Street Journal
Locked profits
Around $18 billion in profits earned by overseas companies in Russia last year are now stuck in the country, according to figures compiled by the Kyiv School of Economics. Companies from “unfriendly” countries—a category that includes the U.S., the U.K., and the EU—can’t transfer their earnings out of the country without permission from the Russian government, after Moscow imposed a ban last year in retaliation for Western sanctions. Financial Times
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Deloitte Holiday Retail Forecast Holiday retail sales are likely to increase between 3.5% and 4.6% in 2023, according to Deloitte’s annual holiday retail forecast. So, how much can retail companies expect consumers to spend this holiday season? Read here.
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Design for the rapidly changing world of work This week, Alan Murray and Michal Lev-Ram chat with Gensler co-CEOs Diane Hoskins and Andy Cohen about return-to-work trends, the design of office spaces, opportunities and challenges of converting empty office space into housing, and the state of commercial real estate. Listen now |
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