News in the spotlight: CDPQ Commits $400 Billion to Climate-Aligned Investments by 2030 — A New Benchmark in Green Capital Allocation
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) has unveiled its 2025–2030 climate strategy, pledging CAD $400 billion toward climate-aligned investments. The commitment marks one of the largest institutional moves in green finance, targeting sectors like renewables, infrastructure, and low-carbon technologies — and firmly positions CDPQ as a global climate finance leader.
Products and Services
SAP & Climeworks Launch Carbon Removal Portfolio Tool for Corporates
SAP has partnered with Climeworks to launch a comprehensive carbon removal portfolio tool, designed to help corporations manage and integrate carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies directly into their sustainability workflows. The tool is embedded within SAP’s Sustainability Control Tower, allowing enterprises to plan, purchase, and monitor carbon credits within their existing systems.
As part of the initiative, SAP has committed to removing 37,000 tons of CO₂ by 2034, demonstrating the platform’s real-world application and impact. This solution streamlines access to verified carbon removal projects, provides transparency across reporting, and aligns with corporate net-zero goals.
The tool empowers sustainability and compliance teams with live dashboards, performance tracking, and integration capabilities that connect carbon removal to broader ESG metrics. By embedding CDR into digital operations, SAP and Climeworks are redefining how businesses approach climate accountability (source: climeworks.com).
Nasdaq Launches Education Platform to Demystify Carbon Markets
Nasdaq, in collaboration with AirMiners, has launched the Nasdaq Carbon Academy — a free, online learning platform designed to help companies understand carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and carbon credit markets. The initiative aims to close the knowledge gap for corporate sustainability teams and procurement professionals.
The Academy includes on-demand modules covering the full CDR value chain: from scientific fundamentals and technology types to procurement frameworks and long-term portfolio building. Participants learn how to evaluate carbon credit quality and integrate offsets into climate strategies responsibly.
Nasdaq’s move reflects the growing complexity and interest in voluntary carbon markets. By educating market participants, the platform encourages more informed, confident engagement and supports the broader transition toward net-zero (source: nasdaq.com).
Datamaran Unveils ESG Intelligence Tool for Legal & Compliance Teams
Datamaran has launched Core, an advanced AI-powered ESG intelligence tool specifically built for legal, compliance, and corporate governance teams. Core helps companies stay ahead of regulatory expectations by automating ESG materiality assessments, monitoring stakeholder signals, and generating audit-ready reports.
The platform supports alignment with global reporting frameworks such as CSRD, ISSB, and SFDR. Its ability to analyze dynamic ESG trends and benchmark peer performance makes it a strategic asset for decision-makers seeking transparency and accountability.
By integrating ESG into the legal and risk function, Core helps embed sustainability into core business operations. It transforms ESG from a communications challenge into a compliance-ready process that aligns risk, reputation, and regulation (source: datamaran.com).
Regulations, Law and Frameworks
EU Set to Cut ESG Reporting Metrics by 50% Under ESRS Reform
The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has released a progress report proposing a major simplification of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). The proposed reform would reduce the number of mandatory datapoints by over 50%, with a strong focus on reducing complexity for small and mid-sized companies subject to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
Key measures include simplifying double materiality assessments, minimizing topic-specific disclosures, and allowing greater flexibility in how companies structure their sustainability reports. EFRAG emphasizes that while reporting becomes more manageable, core transparency and comparability objectives of the CSRD will be preserved.
The final version of the simplified ESRS is expected to be adopted by the end of 2025. This move reflects the EU’s response to concerns about reporting overload and demonstrates its commitment to scalable, risk-based ESG regulation that can be realistically applied across diverse industries (source: efrag.org).
Australia Launches Official Sustainable Finance Taxonomy
The Australian Sustainable Finance Institute (ASFI) has published the country’s first official sustainable finance taxonomy, a voluntary classification system that defines green and transition-aligned economic activities. Developed over 20 months in consultation with banks, asset managers, regulators, and civil society, the taxonomy is designed to help investors align capital with Australia’s net-zero targets by 2050.
The framework provides detailed criteria for sustainable investments in sectors such as renewable energy, agriculture, manufacturing, and mining. It mirrors global best practices while reflecting local environmental priorities and economic contexts.
Major financial institutions will begin piloting the taxonomy in 2025, with the aim of integrating it into disclosure requirements, investment analysis, and risk frameworks. The initiative sets a precedent for national-level sustainable finance tools in the Asia-Pacific region and reinforces Australia’s positioning as a leader in ESG finance infrastructure (source: tnfd.com).
ESG and Green Bond Issuances
Nigeria’s Return to Green Bonds Oversubscribed Nearly 2x
Nigeria has returned to the sovereign green bond market after a six-year pause, issuing NGN50 billion (approximately $32 million) to fund climate-aligned projects. The bond was met with overwhelming demand, with the order book nearly double the amount offered.
Proceeds will be allocated to renewable energy, afforestation, clean transportation, and climate-resilient infrastructure, all part of Nigeria’s broader national sustainability strategy. The Ministry of Finance emphasized that green bonds will become a key tool for achieving long-term development and climate goals.
This successful issuance reinforces Nigeria’s leadership in African green finance and signals growing investor confidence in well-structured ESG debt from emerging markets. It also highlights a wider trend: the global appetite for climate-linked sovereign instruments continues to rise as investors seek both impact and returns (source: dmo.com).
Goldman Sachs Launches Sustainable Bond ETF for Emerging Markets
Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) has launched a new ETF focused on green and social bonds from emerging markets. The fund aims to give investors diversified exposure to high-impact projects aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
It invests in debt instruments issued by governments and corporations supporting areas such as renewable energy, affordable housing, education, and healthcare. The actively managed ETF reflects GSAM’s growing push into sustainable investment strategies that serve both financial and societal goals.
By targeting underfunded geographies like Latin America, Africa, and Asia, the fund opens up ESG fixed income opportunities where capital can create the most transformation. The product responds to increasing demand from institutional and retail investors seeking to align portfolios with global impact goals (source: gs.com).
Net Zero Commitments
CDPQ Sets $400 Billion Climate Investment Target by 2030
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), one of the largest institutional investors in North America, has committed CAD $400 billion to climate-aligned investments by 2030.
The fund plans to allocate capital to sectors such as renewable energy, green infrastructure, decarbonization technologies, and sustainable transportation — across both developed and emerging markets. The goal is to ensure that climate resilience becomes a core component of every investment decision.
CDPQ’s strategy supports global net-zero goals and reflects a long-term vision of financial and environmental sustainability. The fund has already divested from thermal coal and is increasingly integrating ESG metrics into portfolio evaluation. With this bold target, CDPQ sets a new benchmark for large-scale institutional climate action and positions itself as a catalyst for accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy (source: lacaisse.com).
Norway Launches World’s First Full-Scale CO₂ Capture & Storage Chain
Norway has officially launched Longship, the world’s first international full-scale CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) value chain. The project, developed under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, enables the capture of CO₂ from industrial emitters, transport via ship to the west coast of Norway, and permanent storage beneath the seabed of the North Sea.
Supported by Swiss institutions including UBS and Swiss Re, Longship is designed to serve as a blueprint for future cross-border CCS systems and scalable global carbon markets. It allows countries to report and exchange verifiable emissions reductions across jurisdictions.
This milestone represents a major technological and political breakthrough in industrial decarbonization infrastructure. By operationalizing the full CCS value chain, Norway positions itself as a global climate technology leader and offers a practical path to help nations meet their net-zero targets through permanent carbon removal (source: regjeringen.com).
India’s HPCL to Build 24 Biogas Plants in $231M Green Push
India’s Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has announced a $231 million investment to develop 24 compressed biogas (CBG) plants across the country, supporting India’s SATAT initiative for clean energy.
These plants will process agricultural waste and organic residues into clean-burning fuel for use in transport and industry. They are expected to significantly reduce methane emissions and offer decentralized energy access to rural communities. The initiative not only contributes to India’s decarbonization goals but also promotes circular economy principles by turning waste into usable energy. The plants will create local jobs and reduce fossil fuel dependency in transportation sectors.
HPCL’s investment is one of the largest public-private bioenergy commitments in India and highlights the growing importance of domestic biogas in national energy security and climate planning (source: gasprocessing.com).
ESG Data & Analytics
TNFD Pilots Nature Data Principles Ahead of COP30
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has launched a pilot initiative to test “nature data principles,” aiming to improve how companies and investors assess biodiversity-related risks and dependencies.
The principles focus on transparency, quality, and usability of nature-related data and will inform the development of the upcoming Nature Data Public Facility — a global open-access platform planned for COP30.This facility will support companies in meeting nature disclosure requirements by providing verified and standardized environmental data. It’s seen as a crucial tool in scaling nature-positive finance and aligning investment flows with global biodiversity goals.
As regulators and investors grow more attentive to nature-related risk, TNFD’s initiative helps set the foundation for future disclosure frameworks — ensuring that nature gets equal consideration as climate in ESG reporting (source: tnfd.com).