Inside: Europe drops major climate-disclosure guidance. Warming comes for Cognac. Tyson aims for flexitarians in fake-meat craze. S&P drops Facebook from socially responsible index. — Emily Chasan and Eric Roston Sustainable FinanceThe European Commission released new guidance on how companies can improve their climate-related disclosures. It also published three technical reports, including one that proposes a green-bond standard. More than 6,000 Europe-listed companies, banks and insurers will use the new guidance as a part of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive. The guidance draws in part on recommendations from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD). The proposed green-bond standard would ease sales of environmentally friendly securities worldwide. Under the code, which is voluntary, borrowers will link issuance to European Union guidelines, publish a green-bond framework and report on the use of proceeds, according to the report. (TCFD was founded and is chaired by Bloomberg LP majority owner Mike Bloomberg.) High demand for green bonds has allowed some borrowers, including Vattenfall, Engie and Alliander, to raise funds at a lower cost than their existing debt, according to analysts at CreditSights. Financiers who have loaned $100 billion to shipowners are about to get stricter on the kinds of vessels they'll finance, as scrutiny of the shipping industry's environmental footprint grows. Credit Agricole wants to double it green loan book to 13 billion euros by 2022. The French bank aims to double Amundi's green investments to 30 billion euros, and said it will phase out all lending to thermal coal.
Multilateral banks issued a record $43 billion in green financing in 2018, according to a report from BloombergNEF.  In Brief - Norway's wealth fund is likely to sell its $700 million stake in ConocoPhillips and $150 million stake in Hess Corp. as the government approved its plan to exit holdings of pure oil and gas producers.
- At least 10 lenders making ESG-linked loans have agreed recently to give away premiums they receive from borrowers failing to meet ESG targets, Emilio Lopez-Fernandez, the head of corporate loans for Iberia at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentina, told Bloomberg News's Jacqueline Poh.
- The IEA said hydrogen is the fuel of the future. For real this time. Chinese auto visionary Wan Gang sees it as a game changer.
- Freddie Mac sold its first round of green mortgage bonds.
- Chile issued Latin America's first sovereign green bond.
- Duerr issued a sustainability bonded loan for 200 million euros ($224 million).
Environment Pope Francis told oil and gas CEOs from BP, Shell and Exxon Mobil, that time is running out on climate change in his second round of climate talks in two years. Separately, Christiana Figueres, the architect of the Paris Agreement, said the five-year review of the landmark pact in 2020 amid political foot-dragging could undermine planet-saving advances in technology.
The solar industry has found a new way of ducking Trump's tariffs: Two-sided panels. Bifacial panels are eligible for an exemption which could benefit both U.S. and Asian manufacturers. Climate policy is on the move again, with UN envoys debating whether to revive the Kyoto Protocol-era "zombie" carbon market. The New York State Senate has passed its own Green New Deal, with Maine and Oregon also working toward carbon or clean-energy goals. In Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to build EU momentum for zeroing out greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century. Boston has built a new waterfront... just in time for the apocalypse.
Tyson Foods wants to attract flexitarians as it enters the fake meat craze. The largest U.S. meat processor said it will start selling a half-pea, half-beef burger and vegetarian nuggets, betting it can create a billion-dollar brand for people who just want to cut back on meat. Separately, Impossible burgers are in short supply as the brand expands its partnership with Burger King. An NYU professor bets Beyond Meat, the recently public faux meat company, could grab one quarter of the entire meatless meats industry. To protect four species of bumblebees the courts in California may have to decide if bees are legally the same as fish. How to save Cognac from hotter summers, one vine at a time.
Climate change is all that most of us have ever known. Average temperatures have been rising for over 40 years, writes Bloomberg Opinion's Nathaniel Bullard. Politicians are finally catching on as young people are growing alarmed, he says.  Social S&P Dow Jones Indices yanked Facebook from its index of socially responsible firms, saying the company's ESG score dropped to 21 last year, from 63 in 2016.  The Bank of England has called on Lloyd's of London to demonstrate progress in tackling a culture of sexual harassment in the insurance market, spotlighted in recent Bloomberg News coverage. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the biggest American lobbying group and a powerful voice for business, has come out in favor of federal civil rights protections for LGBT citizens.
Wall Street dads are finding parental leave benefits are easier to get than take.
Forced arbitration enables sexual harassment, so workers should be free to take their cases to court, Bloomberg Opinion Senior Executive Editor David Shipley says in this editorial podcast. Did you think the lead crisis was over? America needs to clean up its toxic lead problem before it wrecks more lives, writes Bloomberg Opinion's Noah Smith. GovernanceSocial shareholder proposals have been gaining traction during the 2019 proxy season, according to a review of Russell 3000 companies by Bloomberg Intelligence. The average support for diversity proposals rose to 39.8% from 30.3%, with about a third of proposals passing. Average support for pay-gap proposals also rose to 25.6% from 18.8% last year, though no proposals were approved in either year. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce likened ESG scores to a "scarlet letter" and said that disclosures "oversimplify complicated facts, in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute. Alphabet investors concerned with the tech giant's handling of sexual misconduct are calling for a new policy to claw back executive pay. Shareholders will vote today on a proposal that would go beyond the typical scope of recouping executive pay after financial misconduct to cover other ethical issues, like sexual harassment., U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney introduced a bill to require public companies to disclose the gender, racial and ethnic composition of their boards of directors every year.  Note: Please send tips, suggestions and feedback to Emily Chasan at echasan1@bloomberg.net. New subscribers can sign up here. To see this on the web, click here. | 
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