Understanding ESG: what is ESG data, and how can I use it?

Nearly all major corporations release ESG reports, and global ESG (environmental, social, governance) assets under management are projected to pass $50 trillion in 2025. Some see ESG data as an essential tool to guide corporations toward positive social impact. Yet the investment strategy has become controversial, and some states have banned the use of ESG standards for government funds. What is ESG, how can I get and use ESG data, and why is a seemingly niche investment strategy suddenly so political?

Find out at this hands-on workshop:
Date: October 30, 6:00-9:00
Place: Blau Colloquium

The workshop, sponsored by Ross Business+Impact, Business+Tech, and Just Capital, provides hands-on experience with ESG data to answer three questions:

How can I evaluate a specific company’s ESG performance (e.g., a potential employer)?
How can I assess ESG mutual funds and ETFs that I might invest in?
How can I use ESG data to create a portfolio that matches my values?

The workshop assumes no prior knowledge of ESG.

Dinner will be provided. Please RSVP at: https://forms.gle/Z77jLnd9vJxY2mNY9

(Note: participation is limited to the first 50 registrants.)

Creating Green Energy and Equitable Enterprise in Detroit

Part of the Real World Perspectives on Poverty Solutions Speaker Series which introduces key issues regarding the causes and consequences of poverty through an in-person lecture series featuring experts in policy and practice from across the nation.

HarvestFest 2023

The University of Michigan Sustainable Food Program and the Campus Farm invite you to the HarvestFest 2023 on Sunday, Sept 24 from 1-4pm. This celebration of all things sustainable food at U-M is located at the UM Campus Farm and Matthaei Botanical Gardens (1800 N Dixboro Rd). Join us for games, music, food, farm tours, and connections to many organizations on campus and in our local community working to make our food system more just and resilient.

This event is FREE and open to the community so bring your friends and family.

Free bus transportation will run every 20 minutes from the Central Campus Transit Center to Matthaei Botanical Gardens / U-M Campus Farm and back again.

Detroit Land Lab

Presented by Detroit Vacant Land CDC in collaboration with University of Michigan’s School of Environment and Sustainability and Department of Landscape Architecture, this community empowerment workshop is dedicated to sustainable creative land use and landscape design. This exciting event will educate and empower residents interested in land stewardship, preservation, and the beautification of Detroit’s vacant land, which can be transformed into one of the City’s greatest assets.

The session will feature experts including landscape designers, land use advocates, and resident land stewards that have led successful landscape design projects in Detroit, and will also include invited guests: City of Detroit, Detroit Black Farmers Land Fund, Keep Growing Detroit, and the Detroit Land Bank Authority. Together, we will reimagine open spaces through topics such as vacant lot design and open space visualization, landscape design, plant identification, soil and compositing basics, creative land use ideas, and tips and tricks to working with the Detroit Land Bank.

We will also host a bus tour of several vacant lot transformation projects in Detroit from urban farms, art parks, and community gardens, and other creative land uses. Bus will leave at 2:30p.m. (Due to limited seating, registration through our Eventbrite page is required.)

The workshop event will be held at House of Imagination & Gardens, a creative land transformation project located on Heidelberg Street, in the Historic McDougall-Hunt Neighborhood. The space includes a community gathering space, butterfly garden, public art, and native habitat.

Click here to RSVP

Earthfest

Earthfest celebrates sustainability initiatives across U-M and the surrounding communities, while providing an inclusive platform to educate and engage the campus community on opportunities to support sustainability and environmental justice on campus and in our daily lives. Come learn about sustainability on campus and participate in fun engagement opportunities.

MICDE Ph.D. Student Seminar: Mingyan Tian

MICDE Ph.D. Seminar Series: Mingyan Tian

Topic: Pricing Physical Water Risk: Machine Learning Approaches to Quantify the Impact of Corporate Water Use Efficiencies in the Financial Markets

Corporate financial risk in their operations resulting from climate change and water resource limitations result in volatility in the capital markets. This has become a regulatory focus under the Task for Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), forcing companies to disclose how climate is impacting their financial performance. This includes water risk exposures in water security and the impact of floods in supply chains, logistics, and operations resulting from water access. Corporate water intensity, a proxy for climate transition risk, relates water use efficiency to operational and capital asset risks. This information is generally not disclosed in financial or sustainability reports and is difficult for investors or regulators to assess, and for risk managers to address. This seminar focuses on the development of econometric models to price water risk in equities with the aim of informing corporate decision-makers and external stakeholders to assess and benchmark the financial valuation of water risk and to allow for comparison across industry sectors.

Zoom link

Understanding NAAQS (Non-)Attainment: Science, Policy, & Implications for Environmental Justice

Residents and Researchers webinar showing shaking hands with headshots of the 3 panelists and the moderator

Zoom registration required https://bit.ly/4368BGa

Please join us for a Residents & Researchers ‘Tuesday Talks at 12’ webinar on environment, health and community and more specifically on whether the EPA’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) are protecting public health.

Panelists include: Nick Leonard (Great Lakes Environmental Law Center); Simone Sagovac (Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition); and Stuart Batterman (University of Michigan School of Public Health). Moderated by Natalie Sampson (University of Michigan, Dearborn).

Recordings of previous webinars in the R & R series can be viewed here: https://mleead.umich.edu/Video.php

Organized by the Community Engagement Core (CEC) and the Integrated Health Sciences Core (IHSC) of the University of Michigan Lifestage Environmental Exposures and Disease Center (M-LEEaD).

Leveraging Interdisciplinary Lenses to Advance Environmental Justice

The University of Michigan Law School welcomes you to the following event, hosted by our Environmental Law & Policy Program:

Despite 50 years of federal regulation, environmental burdens ranging from pollution to climate-change driven health harms, remain inequitably distributed by race, income, and gender. Professor Sara Colangelo will explore how advocates can creatively leverage interdisciplinary lenses to advance environmental justice and serve populations disproportionately burdened by environmental harm. She will unpack examples from the environmental justice/reproductive justice nexus, as well as equitable remedies in the environmental enforcement context.

At this event, students interested in a spectrum of social justice issues can expect to engage in creative thinking about impactful lawyering and new advocacy strategies. Students, faculty, and staff interested in environmental justice, reproductive justice, and broader issues of environmental law implementation and enforcement are warmly invited to attend.

Sara Colangelo is Director of the Environmental Law & Justice Clinic at Georgetown Law where she teaches environmental law and environmental justice courses. Professor Colangelo has published articles in leading law reviews, authored multiple Supreme Court briefs, advised domestic policy-makers, foreign delegations, and state Supreme Court Justices; testified before Congress; and is a frequent contributor to media outlets. Before joining Georgetown, Professor Colangelo was a Trial Attorney in the Environment & Natural Resources Division of DOJ in the Environmental Enforcement Section. She is the recipient of the Georgetown Law Fahy Teaching Award, of a Presidential Commendation from the American Thoracic Society for her Clinic’s public health advocacy, and of numerous awards from DOJ and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Free vegetarian and vegan lunch from Jerusalem Garden to be served.

A2 Climate Teach-In

The First Annual A2 Climate Teach-In builds on this legacy by addressing another critical issue which has been clouded by misinformation and a lack of coordinated action.

As in 1965 and the many subsequent Ann Arbor teach-ins, this teach-in is not just about teaching and learning — it’s about about community building and creating momentum for action. It’s about bringing together individuals, climate action organizations, congregations, local government, and higher education to learn from each other, support each other, and find new ways to collaborate.

1:30 p.m. Opening keynote speaker: Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor

3:30 p.m. Closing Presentation: Shelie Miller, Ph.D., Professor, Director, Program in the Environment; Jonathan W. Bulkley Collegiate Professor of Sustainable Systems; University of Michigan Distinguished Faculty Fellow in Sustainability

RSVP