Sustainable & Responsible Investing News

SOURCE: United Nations Global Compact DESCRIPTION: NEW YORK, August 31, 2015 /3BL Media/ – Today, after 15 years at the helm of the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, Georg Kell will step down as Executive Director of the UN Global Compact, the organization he helped found in 2000 and which he has built into a global movement […]

By Robert Kropp. Two months after Pope Francis delivers his encyclical on climate change, Islamic Relief hosts a climate change symposium and publishes the Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change.

SOURCE: Old Mutual DESCRIPTION: Old Mutual Investment Group Head of Sustainability Research and Engagement, Jon Duncan, answers the question: “How do you invest directly in sustainable growth?” Watch more videos and read more articles here.  Old Mutual is serious about raising awareness about responsible investment, and in June 2015 Old Mutual Investment Group held a […]

By Robert Kropp. As water scarcity becomes a major issue for sustainable development, a coalition of investors organized by Ceres calls for better water management and disclosure by 15 major food and beverage corporations.

By Robert Kropp. President Obama’s legacy on climate will be compromised by Shell drilling for oil in the Arctic, and the Grand Canyon is under siege from uranium mining and tourism development.

By Robert Kropp. The proposed standards, part of the Obama administration’s Climate Action Plan, will reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas industry by as much as 45% by 2025.

By Robert Kropp. The Global Impact Investing Network and Open Capital Advisors publish a country by country analysis of impact investing activity in the region.

By Robert Kropp. The Economist Intelligence Unit warns that $4.2 trillion in assets could be at risk, with losses exponentially greater for every increase in global temperature.

By Robert Kropp. The Plan, which will reduce carbon emissions from the power sector by 32% below 2005 levels in 2030, is praised by Mindy Lubber of Ceres as a blueprint for the low carbon transition.

By Robert Kropp. The EIRIS Foundation releases an online database of companies in Crimea and Palestine, providing for investors and other stakeholders objective and independent research about corporate activity in occupied territories.

By Robert Kropp. Baruch College’s Weissman Center for International Business analyzes corporate social responsibility reporting from the largest US and international companies, and publishes an online ranking that allows investors and other stakeholders to review the quality of CSR reports.

By Robert Kropp. Five years after passage of Dodd-Frank, a report by Oxfam America finds that payments by the US industry to developing nations lack the transparency to ensure that governments are using them for the benefit of citizens.

Today, building on its 30-year history of providing free and objective information on ethical finance and corporate activity to the public, the EIRIS Foundation announced the release of a new online database of companies in Crimea and Palestine. For the first time, businesses, civil society, media and the investor community will have access to objective […]

Sustainable development has reached a critical milestone. The United Nations (UN) is moving toward ratifying the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – 17 overarching goals that will replace the Millennium Development Goals due to expire this year that will set the global stage and norms for development from 2016 to 2030. So where will the funding […]

By Robert Kropp. The fourth edition of Bonds and Climate Change, published by the Climate Bonds Initiative, reports that 70% of climate-aligned bonds are invested in low-carbon transport, while another 20% focus on clean energy.

By Robert Kropp. The Benchmark publishes two documents about which it seeks input: a framework for multi-stakeholder consultations, and a draft list of key performance indicators.

By Robert Kropp. Four hundred corporate members of the Consumer Goods Forum commit to a sustainability program that includes halving food waste within their operations by 2025.

Legislating Social Good Recent studies have shown that many companies are giving more generously to social causes than ever before. Some, like Unilever, Coca-Cola, GSK, and others, have begun to champion the notion that social and financial profit can be achieved simultaneously. But even the most progressive companies often sideline social investment and corporate social […]

By Robert Kropp. The Obama Administration proposes to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas industry by at least 45% by 2025, and investors coordinated by Ceres and Trillium Asset Management issue a statement expressing their support.

BETHESDA, Md., July 1, 2015 /3BL Media/ – Calvert Investments, Inc., a global leader in Responsible Investing, announced today a major new initiative that the firm describes as the next step in the evolution of responsible investing. The firm is building upon its global Responsible Investing research expertise and has launched a suite of Responsible Indexes […]

By Robert Kropp. Sustainable investment firms representing more than $40 billion in assets under management write to three corporations doing business in Burma, urging them to comply with the Burma Responsible Investment Reporting Requirements.

By Robert Kropp. The Chemical Footprint Project, backed by investors and corporations representing more than $1 trillion in investing and purchasing power, is the first tool for benchmarking corporate chemical use and management.

By Robert Kropp. Sustainable investors and climate deniers alike weigh in with responses and reactions to Pope Francis’s landmark encyclical on climate change. Second in a two-part series.

ESG-driven tools and products for investment continue to be developed by financial institutions to help investors, asset managers, and analysts more accurately define a company’s valuation. The most recent offering comes from Calvert Investments, which has launched a new initiative that it describes as “the next step” in the evolution of responsible investing. Building on 30 […]

By Robert Kropp. The Pope makes explicit the connection between climate action, poverty, and morality, and calls for a radical shift away from current failures and toward an ecological conversion instead. First in a two-part series.

Guest blog by John Streur, CEO, Calvert Investments SOURCE: Justmeans DESCRIPTION: Pope Francis has crafted a compelling message. With Catholics representing 17 percent of the world’s population – 21 percent in the United States – and Catholic values expressed through large institutional investment portfolios worldwide, even non-believers should take note.  Just as the Pope is […]

The reasons for companies to be more sustainable are many: risk avoidance, consumer/society demand, cost savings from reductions in use of resources, lower costs of renewable energy, and a more motivated workforce. The final rationale is an enhanced bottom line with increased profits earned from sustainable strategies and practices. But the overarching principle could be […]

By Robert Kropp. The Heartland Institute hosts its annual conference on climate change, at which such scientific luminaries as climate denying Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma are honored.

USA Today, the most widely circulated newspaper in the U.S., has discovered socially responsible investing. An “AdviceIQ” column gives an overview of the field for its large audience (average daily paid circulation: 1.8 million copies) in “Investing To Do Good.” Author Kimberly J. Howard, a financial planner, explains impact investing and social impact bonds; points […]

By Robert Kropp. The investment bank intends to fund a number of wind energy projects in the US.