Five need-to-know impact investing and sustainable finance stories for Jan. 8

Here are summaries of articles about impact investing, sustainable finance and ESG for Jan. 8:

1. Climate tech investment: A report by Sightline Climate highlights the effect that high interest rates, rising supply chain costs and a slowdown in exits had on climate-technology investments in 2023, according to Impact Alpha. Sectors include batteries, green steel and hydrogen, which were bright spots in 2023.
2. Investors shift to cash in early 2024: Investors moved $123 billion into cash in the first week of 2024, marking the largest inflow since March 2023, Reuters reported, citing Bank of America research. Money market funds were a major beneficiary, taking in $44.3 billion in new money. 
3. BlackRock’s ESG investing lawsuit: BlackRock faces a lawsuit from Tennessee for allegedly deceiving consumers about its ESG investing practices, according to a complaint. The state attorney general said BlackRock funds that don’t take into account ESG factors are being unfairly hurt by the asset manager’s membership in climate groups. BlackRock rejected Tennessee’s claims and plans to contest the accusations.
4. BNP Paribas’ climate fund: Three investments have been secured for a climate impact infrastructure debt fund run by BNP Paribas, the Paris-based bank said. They are a low-carbon energy producer, a green-sourced district heating platform and a portfolio of onshore wind farm.
5. KKR’s 2024 outlook: Decarbonization will remain an important investment theme for 2024, though investors must consider another side to the energy transition, KKR said in an outlook. Importantly, there will need to be more investment in traditional energy sources such as oil and gas. KKR said it’s “very bullish” on the brown-to-green transition across existing corporate and government platforms, a view that’s seen helping private equity.