It may seem unusual: big corporations and Pope Francis, a Pope who has repeatedly and devastatingly criticized capitalism. But they announced a new partnership today, the latest sign of the growing influence of environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices in the economy.

Meet the Inclusive Capitalism Council with the Vatican, a group of corporations, investors, and other groups with a market cap of $ 2.1 trillion and 200 million employees. The group, with Francis’ blessing, announced commitments to environmental and sustainable business goals that fit into the ESG movement.

The council’s 27 leaders are known as guardians of inclusive capitalism. These include Ajay Banga from Mastercard, Marc Benioff from Salesforce and Brian Moynihan from Bank of America. You will meet every year with Francis and Cardinal Peter Turkson, who heads the Vatican Department that deals with many social issues.

  • “An economic system that is fair, trustworthy and able to meet the most profound challenges facing humanity and our planet is urgently needed,” Francis said in a statement.

The group is the brainchild of Lynn Forester de Rothschild, the businesswoman who campaigned for the promotion of so-called inclusive capitalism after the financial crisis of 2008. Among them is Inclusive Capital Partners, an ESG-focused activist hedge fund co-founded with Jeff Ubben.

There are reasons to be both hopeful and skeptical about the initiative. The companies’ commitments are meaningful, but some are not new: for example, BP reiterates its commitment announced in February to achieve net carbon-free emissions by 2050. And while the council made the pledges public, there isn’t much to hold the companies accountable (other than the risk of disappointing the Pope).

But it is remarkable to open a new front in the ESG movement. The Pope, whose time in the Church focused on caring for the poor, has long criticized capitalism for its sins and excesses. (Five years ago he called it “the devil’s crap.”) In an encyclical – the most definitive doctrine a Pope can teach – he published in October, Francis rebuked market capitalism for failing humanity during the pandemic .

UK starts Covid-19 vaccinations. A 90-year-old woman became the first patient in the western world to receive a fully tested and approved vaccine as the country distributes images from Pfizer and BioNTech. The US ordered 100 million cans, but it turns out the Trump administration turned down an offer from Pfizer in July.

Boris Johnson travels to Brussels and faces a dead end with Brexit. The UK Prime Minister said he would negotiate personally with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen to reach a trade deal between the UK and the EU. There are still some areas of disagreement and the current trading conditions will expire on December 31st.

Nielsen is revising the way ratings are measured. The company announced that it would add digital television and streaming to its widespread television audience metrics, which could transform the way around $ 100 billion worth of ads are sold and valued. Speaking of which, Japanese advertising giant Dentsu is planning to cut 6,000 jobs as the pandemic is upsetting the industry.

Goldman Sachs will take full control of its securities joint venture in China. It has agreed to buy its local partner’s 49 percent stake. Beijing said it would allow such moves earlier this year, and other Western financial firms are preparing to follow suit.

“Davos” will be in Singapore. The World Economic Forum will hold its 2021 annual meeting, traditionally held in January in the Swiss Alps, in May in Singapore, citing Covid-19 concerns. The focus of the gathering will be – what else? – Recovery from the pandemic.

Years ago, Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick described the company’s Advanced Technologies Group as “existential” for the company. Now Uber is paying a start-up to take over the division.

The department becomes part of Aurora, A Pittsburgh-based company focused on long distance autonomous transportation. Aurora had previously agreed to deliver self-driving technology to Volkswagen and Hyundai, although both are now working with other partners. As part of the deal, Uber will invest $ 400 million for a 26 percent stake in Aurora and take a seat on Aurora’s board of directors.

It’s about losses and headaches. Looking at autonomous driving as a possible means of reducing human driver costs, Mr Kalanick built the business by acquiring Otto, a trucking start-up founded by a former Google engineer. But Uber ran into a thicket of problems:

  • Google’s self-driving car partner Waymo accused Otto founder Anthony Levandowski of stealing trade secrets. Uber and Waymo eventually settled their legal battle, and Mr Levandowski admitted to stealing.

  • An Uber self-driving car hit and killed a woman in Arizona in 2018, creating legal and regulatory chaos for the company.

  • Uber’s investors have long called for ties to the project to be severed in hopes of containing heavy losses. (In 2018, Uber accepted a $ 500 million investment from Toyota to keep the unit alive.) Those demands grew louder as the pandemic hit the company’s finances.

The deal raises questions about the future of Silicon Valley’s self-driving obsession. Investors have poured billions into the technology but have yet to produce an armada of self-driving vehicles.

– Christopher Nolan, the film director, isn’t happy with WarnerMedia’s plan to simultaneously release films in theaters and stream them on HBO Max at the same time, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Etsy is known as a place where artisans and small businesses sell goods like handcrafted face masks. But there’s something else too, write Matt Phillips and Gillian Friedman of The Times: The best performer in the S&P 500 this year. This is a remarkable turnaround for a company that struggled shortly after going public in 2015 and was forced to abide by Wall Street rules.

Engine No. 1, a new ESG-focused investment firm founded by former activist investors, has adopted an ambitious goal for its first campaign: Exxon Mobil. It believes that by combining the traditional activist-investor book – which advocates actions that increase shareholder returns – with long-term social and environmental concerns, success can be achieved when social activists, environmentalists and others fall short .

Exxon’s shares are down around 40 percent this year. The pandemic hit oil prices as the industry grappled with the long-term move to cleaner energy sources. This leaves the company more vulnerable to activists looking to change their strategy.

  • Under its current CEO, Darren Woods, Exxon has continued to expand its exploration and production activities, responding to erroneous assumptions about the price and availability of oil made in a letter to Engine’s directors. (European competitors have shifted to renewables much more aggressively.) Exxon’s announcement last month that it would cut spending didn’t go far enough, Engine said, offering “little reason to hope that this change will mark a new era” . An Exxon spokesperson told DealBook that the company was reviewing Engine’s letter.

The fund is pushing for changes to Exxon’s board of directors, a common tactic used by activist investors (although unusual at the start of a campaign). It has been proposed to add four leaders, including clean energy specialists, who will be vital to the future of the company.

  • Engine needs powerful allies. Exxon is valued at $ 172 billion and the fund only has a $ 40 million stake. It is said to have the backing of CalSTRS, the country’s second largest pension fund, which has an additional $ 300 million.

It’s a great test for a new breed of activist. Funds like Engine, which were launched this month, aim to give ESG investing a sharper edge through “active ownership,” as founder Chris James put it. “In the long run, shareholders and stakeholders have the same interests, and companies that invest in their stakeholders are better and stronger companies,” he said when announcing the creation of Engine. Other new funds like Inclusive Capital Partners (mentioned above) are taking a similar, as yet untested, approach. The transformation of Exxon would be very substantial evidence.

deals

  • Online lender SoFi has reportedly held talks to go public through the merger with a SPAC. (Reuters)

  • Bob Dylan agreed to sell the rights to his songwriting catalog to Universal Music Group for potentially more than $ 300 million. This is a single songwriter’s biggest deal. (NYT)

  • A new investment firm is planning a fund to bet against privately held startups. (WSJ)

Politics and politics

  • President-elect Joe Biden plans to appoint General Lloyd Austin as Secretary of Defense. He would be the first black man in the role. (NYT)

  • The District of Columbia Attorney General is investigating whether President Trump’s family has improperly benefited from his Washington hotel. (NYT)

  • A Senate battle over Mr. Trump’s appointment of Nathan Simington to the FCC under the control of the commission is on. (Bloomberg)

technology

  • A second federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s move to ban TikTok downloading in the US (WSJ).

  • Palantir’s shares rose after the data mining company won a three-year contract from the Food and Drug Administration to help get drug approvals. (Bloomberg)

  • European tech companies will raise $ 41 billion this year despite the pandemic, a record. (Atomico)

The best of the rest

  • Paul Sarbanes, the former Maryland Senator who co-authored the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a major accounting revision after scandals like Enron, died Sunday. He was 87. (NYT)

  • MSNBC named Rashida Jones the next president, making her the highest-ranking black woman on American television news. (NYT)

  • Chuck Yeager, the first test pilot to break the sound barrier and immortalized in Tom Wolfe’s book The Right Stuff, died yesterday. He was 97. (NYT)

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