Category: Sustainability

Why Most Family Offices Should Fail (And How to Build the Rare Exception)

Marc O. DinesJanuary 29, 2026Family Offices,Investment,Learnings,SustainabilityLife Perspectives,Stewardship

Why Most Family Offices Should Fail (And How to Build the Rare Exception) “Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man, but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity“ Thomas Carlyle, Scottish historian and philosopher (1795-1881) Unfinished portrait of Thomas Carlyle by John Everett Millais (1877). Source: National […]

Greenland: A Controlled Experiment in Collapse

Brett S. ChappellJanuary 21, 2026Learnings,SustainabilityArctic History,Climate Adaptation,Cultural Adaptation,Environmental Lessons,Greenland,Historical Collapse,Inuit History,Jared Diamond,Little Ice Age,Medieval History,Societal Resilience,Stewardship,Sustainable History,Viking History

Twenty years ago I read Jared Diamond’s Collapse. The story of Norse Greenland still matters because it shows how societies rarely fail suddenly. They fail slowly, through reasonable decisions that no longer fit a changing world.

SFDR 2.0 and the Repricing of Sustainability

Brett S. ChappellNovember 22, 2025Investment,Learnings,SustainabilityAsset Management,Capital Allocation,Corporate Issuers,Debt Capital Markets,ESG Investing,Fixed Income,Long-Term Investing,Market Structure,SFDR,Stewardship,Sustainable Bonds,Sustainable Finance,Transition Finance

Europe has simplified the rules. The question is whether capital will follow credibility instead of labels. A Reset in Market Signals Europe is rewriting how sustainability shows up in financial products. Article 8 and 9 labels are being retired. Three new categories take their place: Sustainable, Transition, and ESG Basics. The stated goal is clarity, […]

CFA vs CAIA: What Studying Both Markets Reveals About Complementarity

Marc O. DinesNovember 18, 2025Alternatives,Investment,Learnings,SustainabilityCross discipline,ESG & Sustainability,Private Markets,Public Markets

Studying both CFA and CAIA reveals how public and private markets complement each other. Learn about IRR illusions, benchmark thinking, and portfolio allocation insights from 20+ years of experience.

Between Solar Storms and Space Junk: Why We Need to Rethink How We Fund the Stewardship of Space

Brett S. ChappellNovember 12, 2025Investment,Learnings,SustainabilityESG Innovation,LEO Bonds,Orbital Debris,Space Stewardship,Sustainable Finance,The Thoughtful Steward

We rely on a layer of digital scaffolding in orbit, and that scaffolding is vulnerable to forces we barely understand and cannot predict with precision. Just because we cannot see the risks above us does not mean they are not real.

🌿 Unlocking the Secrets of ESG Data: A Guide for Asset Owners!

Marc O. DinesNovember 3, 2025Investment,SustainabilityESG Investing,Sustainable Finance

Differentiating Article 8 funds from Article 8+ claims poses challenges, especially concerning their ESG commitments. The EU’s SFDR regulation provides standardized reporting via the European ESG Template (EET), simplifying data analysis. This facilitates transparency, enabling stakeholders to evaluate genuine ESG performance without sifting through extensive sustainability reports.

Imagine getting paid to use electricity!

Marc O. DinesOctober 6, 2025SustainabilityClean Energy

Battery storage costs have plummeted 90% since 2010. The arbitrage opportunity is staring us in the face: bank free solar at noon, sell it back at 7pm when everyone gets home and prices spike.