Sustainable & Responsible Investing News

Although 2018 was a tough year for stock markets around the world, it marked a turning point for responsible investment in Canada. According to the 2018 Canadian Responsible Investment Trends Report, more than $2 trillion in Canadian assets (just over half of all investments) now use one or more responsible investment strategies. Big investors like […]

NEW YORK, February 13, 2019 /3BL Media/ – To build on the growing body of global corporate social investment research, CECP: The CEO Force for Good announced the launch of a multinational inquiry into shared themes and trends in corporate social investments around the world. CECP’s Global Exchange seeks to unite country-based, mission-driven corporate social […]

His Holiness Pope Francis Faithful followers: 1.2 billion Catholics Fund management body: Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), commonly known as the Vatican Bank Mandate: To serve the global mission of the Catholic Church through the administration of the entrusted assets and providing payment services to the Holy See and related entities. The celebration […]

  By Jessica Caron –  G&A Sustainability Report Analyst Intern A comparison of the SASB Meat, Poultry & Dairy Standard — which is designed for use by companies involved in the raising, slaughtering, processing and packaging of animal food product — to the GRI Standards must start with the observation that the GRI Standards are […]

Organized, and even disorganized, religion oversees large amounts of assets. From the centuries of wealth accumulated by the Roman Catholic Church, to the Church of Scientology’s operating as a lucrative business that pays its recruiters from new-member revenues, churches are rich. This leads inevitably to the question of whether, as investors, it is possible to […]

It is often the case that many us may not give our monthly energy utility company a second thought — unless there is an issue with the power going out or the bill is too high. However, for those of us working in the sustainability field, the Energy Utilities Industry is one of the most important […]

Workers who helped install Mongolia’s largest solar energy farm in the Sumber Soum area of the country’s Govisümber province with a few of the solar panels they put in place. The solar facility began generating power on January 28, 2019. (Photo courtesy Green Climate Fund) Posted for media use. By Sunny Lewis SONGDO, Incheon, South […]

The industry titan changed the way millions of people invest, but indexing has greater implications now than it did 50 years ago. Published in Worth Magazine By Garvin Jabusch John C. Bogle, a champion of stock investing for average people, passed away on January 16. I didn’t personally know Bogle, but I was fortunate to […]

By Emilie Ho – G&A Sustainability Report Analyst Intern During my analysis, I found that although many of the material disclosures that the SASB Standards suggested for disclosure by the Agriculture Products Industry are in line with the GRI’s Topic Disclosures, there are also a number of material topics that SASB advances for disclosure that […]

  With additional reporting by Toby A. A. Heaps Over nearly a decade and a half of writing a weekly column and several books under the Ecoholic banner, I ranked endless streams of products from worst to best in terms of planetary impact, from beer companies to banks, footwear to ethical funds. Many weeks, judging […]

Last year, Larry Fink’s annual letter to CEOs forged its way into public and corporate consciousness. In it, Fink, chief executive officer of BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest investment firm, made the bold declaration that “to prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive […]

With the recent publication of the much-anticipated “Report on US Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing Trends 2018” issued by US SIF showing that ESG has hit the capital markets’ mainstream, with $1-in-$4 in the US (by professional investment managers now incorporating ESG), and the recent petition seeking mandatory ESG reporting submitted to the Securities & […]

Impact Investing & ESG   The Rise Fund Spin-Off Marks Growth of Impact Investing U.S. private equity firm TPG and U2 star Bono’s announcement earlier this week that they have created a new organization for measuring the social and environmental returns of investments appears to be a signal of growing investor demand for tools to […]

In the last two decades, sustainability reporting has gone from an exercise for the largest companies to a necessity to attract investors and meet local and international regulation. But the main benefit of sustainability reporting remains that companies best understand their impacts and can improve their bottom line along with the world around them. The […]

In Q3 2018, we saw that the economy is functioning at a high level. It was a quarter of unusually rapid economic growth in the U.S., enough that the Fed took the word “accommodative” out of their September FOMC Statement, meaning they estimate that the economy is healthy enough to no longer require unusually cheap […]

 Global Sustain organised with great success in a full hall for 3rd consecutive year in cooperation and partnership with Forum for Responsible Investment (FNG), Investment Bank Berlin (IBB) and International Bankers Forum (IBF) the 3rd ESG Responsible Investments, Green Finance & Brands Forum 2018 (http://sustainabilityforum.de/) in Berlin on 26.9.2018 at the Conference Center of Investment Bank Berlin, with […]

The socially responsible investment industry is exploding. By any measure, the growth is exponential, and increasing rapidly. The reasons are straightforward: Sustainable investing is increasingly seen as a superior methodology to manage risk and drive returns. A few numbers tell the story. Socially responsible assets under management (AUM) are estimated at $8.7 trillion as of 2016—a […]

One of the gurus of ESG investing has recently launched a new service for financial advisors (FAs) who want to integrate Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors into their investment process.  He has created a site called “Sustainable Investing” and filled it with content about ESG investing.  Those who subscribe (there is a three month […]

Recently the ESG / SRI Investments is gaining momentum. The ESG / SRI market, in terms of assets under management, number of ESG relevant funds, number of Asset Owners and Asset Managers that integrate ESG factors into their investment strategies, as well as the number of UN PRI Members, grow at a stable pace the […]

A Boko Haram bombing, February 6, 2015, (Photo courtesy Diariocritico de Venezuela) Creative Commons license via Flickr By Sunny Lewis STOCKHOLM, Sweden, August 27, 2018 (Maximpact.com News) – More nature-based solutions are urgently needed to avoid a violent global water crisis, warn the hosts of World Water Week 2018, which opened Sunday in Stockholm, attracting government […]

Barclays’ first green finance conference, held at London’s Royal Geographical Society, brought together speakers from business, finance and government to explore how innovation and investment can tackle climate change. The conference was an example of what Rhian-Mari Thomas, Chair of Barclays’ Green Banking Council, calls “our convening power, that can bring together different parties to […]

By Lois Yurow Delaware companies that are focused on sustainability will soon have a new way to demonstrate their dedication. Effective October 1, any Delaware “entity”—a term that encompasses corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, statutory trusts, and certain associations—may elect to apply for a so-called “certificate of adoption of transparency and sustainability standards.” The newly […]

Climate Displacement in Bangladesh: The Jamuna River has swollen from heavier than usual monsoon rainfall causing severe flooding on the islands. Women on Dakkin Patil Bariare are forced to wade across waterlogged land. August 2011 (Photo by Stuart Matthews) Creative Commons license via Flickr By Sunny Lewis WASHINGTON, DC, August 2, 2018 (Maximpact.com News) – The […]

The professional CPAs working inside a public company, or in the outside accounting firm working with a company may or may not yet be involved in assisting corporate managers in responding to a growing number of third-party surveys focused on the company’s ESG strategies, actions and achievements.  Responses to these periodic surveys and engagements by […]

Every week G&A Institute assembles the value-added content that our team gathers for you as we closely monitor trends and developments in corporate sustainability, corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, sustainable investing, and related topics and issues.  Our Editor-in-Chief Ken Cynar leads the daily effort and you see the results of his work in each issue of Highlights […]

Creative approaches to advance the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being jointly developed at the national level by multi-stakeholder partners. That was the key take away from SDG Country Plans: A Roadmap to Private Investment, an event organized on the sidelines of the High-level Political Forum by the United Nations Global Compact, the Principles […]

Q2 2018 saw more than the usual amount of market reverberations emerge from macro policy. First and last on that list: tariffs and the fear of full-blown trade wars. It has been a year since the Trump administration withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free trade agreement for nations around the […]

​Ten recommendations for companies to meet Investor needs in SDG reporting ​NEW YORK, July 17, 2018 /3BL Media/ — Ten recommendations intended to stimulate more investment to help advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were published today at the SDG Business Forum by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the […]

People putting their money into environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments might be in for disappointment, Greenchip Financial’s John Cook said. ESG funds, which select companies for their broader environmental and social impact on top of performance, include a lot of big names whose business has little to do with reducing pollution, Greenchip president Cook […]

Starting this fall, choosing a financial advisor may become a little easier for people who care about the impact their money is having—thanks to a brand new professional designation for financial advisors that was recently unveiled by the College of Financial Planning, in collaboration with the US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment. Called the Chartered […]

Envest Asset Management, LLC was created as an independent, fee-only financial advisor after recognizing that advisors and brokerages, alike, offering financial planning and investment management services are missing the critical components of sustainability, social responsibility, and governance. James Osborn Founder/Principal of Envest Asset Management, and most recently a private equity investor in the clean energy […]

Is the business community doing enough to advance sustainability…are institutional investor doing enough with their allocation of capital and identification and targeting of positive outcomes for the invested capital?  As we continue to be encouraged by the rising interest in sustainable investing by mainstream institutions, and the broadening interest of corporate executives and boards in […]

Small-scale purse seine fishers catch cuttlefish in Van Phong Bay, central Vietnam, September 11, 2009. (Photo by David Mills / World Fish Center) Creative Commons license via Flickr By Sunny Lewis DA NANG, Vietnam, June 28, 2018 (Maximpact.com News) – This is “a critical moment for the future of our planet and its people,” Naoko […]

By Hank Boerner – Chair and Chief Strategist, G&A Institute The influential Barron’s magazine is published on Mondays by Dow Jones & Company with distribution to almost a half-million retail and institutional investors (300,000+ for print version, the rest digital or combination). Barron’s says it has been “delivering market-beating stock picks and investment advice to […]

The GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards help companies communicate their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) impacts to a wide target audience, including the investment community. GRI believes that in order to achieve real progress, there’s a need to align capital investment with sustainable business. We asked prominent investors why they think sustainability matters – here’s what they […]