Sustainable & Responsible Investing News

Regular readers of Justmeans will recall several articles about how socially responsible investing is moving from its marginal niche into the wider universe of the investment sector. Increasingly, institutional investors, asset managers, and analysts are incorporating ESG factors into their decision-making. The US Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment estimates that now more than a […]

Institutional investors are pioneering another pathway in the still evolving field of socially responsible investing. “The recent launch of indices and funds offering smart beta incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations indicates there is investor appetite out there. . .These allow investors to integrate a responsible investment approach alongside smart beta factors that hunt […]

Indexed as one of the Top 100 companies in Latin America, the Spanish utility Iberdrola has brought sustainable electricity to this Brazilian family many thousands of others through its Luz para Todos (Light for All) program, a joint initiative with the Brazilian government. (Photo courtesy Iberdrola) Posted for media use By Sunny Lewis November 24, […]

The headline to this article is a sobering assessment, but it’s accurate. In a nutshell, companies tend to publish voluminous annual sustainability reports, chock full of contextual information, while investors tend to want this data boiled down to a short list of points that are easy to process, analyze and compare. With an estimated $90 […]

BERLIN, Nov. 14 /CSRwire/ – 2nd Berlin ESG Investments & Green Finance Forum 2017. Connecting Green Finance with Sustainable Brands  Topic: “ESG Investments in Digitalization, Clean Energy & Sustainable Brands as Growth Drivers towards a Low Carbon Economy”. Forum dedicated Website: http://sustainabilityforum.de  Berlin 14.11.2017 – Location: IBB, Conference Center, Bundesallee 210,10719, Berlin Forum Metrics: 16 int. […]

Impact measurement has become a must for today’s CSR professionals. But how are organizations using the data collected to communicate the impact they’re having on their communities and society? November 9, 2017 /3BL Media/ – The forthcoming ACCP Measurement Summit in Washington D.C. on 5th December 2017, kindly hosted by KPMG, will bring together CSR, […]

Buddhist statues Yangon, Myanmar, February 2015 (Photo by J. Durok) Creative Commons license via Flickr By Sunny Lewis ZUG, Switzerland, October 27, 2017 (Maximpact.com News) – First the numbers. Financial investors and leaders of more than 30 faith traditions representing over 500 faith investment groups from eight religions with some three trillion dollars in assets, will […]

Guest Blog by Joe Keefe, President/CEO, Pax World Funds When industry leaders look at the future of sustainable investing, our tendency is to pat ourselves on the back for the tremendous progress we have made and make optimistic predictions about the wonderful progress that still lies ahead. While not wanting to be the skunk at […]

GRI’s Chief Executive Tim Mohin and PRI’s Managing Director Fiona Reynolds signed a collaboration agreement on September 19 in New York.​ The collaboration agreement signed by the two organizations reinforces the joint efforts between the leading global sustainability reporting framework and the world’s principal initiative for responsible investment, to align corporate sustainability reporting with investor […]

  The WSJ has published a downbeat assessment of CSR. The article cited a study showing that CEOs exiting Fortune 500 companies were 84% more likely to be fired if they invested strongly in good corporate citizenry yet recorded below par financial results than CEOs at poor performing companies that spent less on “do-good” initiatives. […]

The global economy is evolving to new levels of efficiency, while minimizing some of the primary systemic risks that threaten to undermine our ecological underpinnings, and thus economic growth. These threats are myriad, but can largely be placed within three major risk groups: climate change, resource scarcity and degradation, and widening inequality. Green Alpha’s investment […]

LESS THAN 2 WEEKS LEFT! REGISTER & RESERVE YOUR SEAT AT DEMYSTIFYING THE CSA & DJSI Focus on Assessment Questions for Human Rights, Human Capital & Supply Chain A Practitioner Workshop on Tuesday, October 24, 2017 Presented By Governance & Accountability Institute in collaboration with RobecoSAM The aim of this workshop is to increase the participants’ knowledge […]

October 12 2017 – by Hank Boerner – Chair, G&A Institute On October 11, 2017 important news was coming from the Securities Exchange Commission (in Washington DC) for corporate leaders and investment professionals: a comprehensive package of proposed changes (amendments) to existing rules for corporate disclosure and reporting was released for public examination and comment. There […]

Communicating Sustainability paper identifies a communications gap and provides best practices for meeting investor ESG needs NEW YORK, October 12, 2017 /3BL Media/ – Today the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing released a new report analyzing the communications disconnect between the environmental, social and governance (ESG) information investors seek and what companies provide. The […]

October 12, 2017 /3BL Media/ – Bloomberg today announced at the Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summit that it has become the first U.S.-domiciled corporate retirement plan sponsor (ERISA plan sponsor) to join the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). By joining, Bloomberg will incorporate the six, voluntary Principles for Responsible Investment into its investment practices. The principles align […]

Investors, Ceres BICEP Network release ads and letters October 5, 2017 /3BL Media/ – Today, 36 institutional investors with over $813 billion in assets and a network of major businesses with over $400 billion in revenue, called on the Trump administration to not weaken the current light-duty vehicle fuel economy and greenhouse-gas emissions standards. The ask […]

New consulting, financial advisory and services organization offers comprehensive solutions to help foundations unlock new sources of capital, generating more impact in local economies Leading community development financial institution (CDFI) Virginia Community Capital (VCC) and the nationally recognized Center for Rural Entrepreneurship (CRE) announced in June the launch of LOCUS Impact Investing (LOCUS), a new […]

(Toronto, September 27, 2017) The world’s largest companies are under-reporting sustainability policies and performance, hampering investors’ access to data that will allow them to play a full role in the transition to a low-carbon economy, according to a new report released today. The study, Measuring Sustainability Disclosure: Ranking the World’s Stock Exchanges 2017, finds that of […]

Are you an investment professional looking for information about ESG investing? Do your clients want investment solutions that result in both financial return and social and/or environmental impact? If so, please join Gitterman Wealth Management for NYC Sustainable Investment Conference. October 19, 2017 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM New York Open Center 22 E 30th […]

ATHENS, Sep. 23 /CSRwire/ – Almost three weeks left until the 6th «Sustainability Forum 2016, a Τraining, Networking and Professional Development Event». The Forum, is organised by Global Sustain and will take place on October 5th, at the Center of Sustainable Entrepreneurship “Excelixi” premises, in Athens. Just like the previous years, prominent speakers from all […]

Two pioneers in sustainable investing have just made a big move together in response to the rapid growth in the SRI field. Pax World Management, a New Hampshire-based investment advisor to Pax World Funds, has agreed to be acquired by Impax Asset Management Group, a UK-based firm. The transaction will create a combined global investment […]

Many corporations that endeavor to be sustainable become a bit nervous as we pass Labor Day in the USA.  The rebalancing of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes is traditionally announced at that time.  Is my company in?  Out?  Increasingly, CEOs and other C-suite execs and board members (as well as numerous managers) are holding “membership” […]

Climate Change Mitigation Opportunities Index Offers a Tool to Help Investors Explore Technologies That Can Help Mitigate Climate Change and Provide Market Returns September 14, 2017 /3BL Media/ – Today the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing released the Climate Change Mitigation Opportunities Index, a report and interactive tool investors can use to examine the […]

Traditionally social investing was limited to creating products and deals for asset owners who have control over very large buckets of assets, sometimes in the billions and to build scale by replicating those deals for similar investors. I believe we’re overlooking the value of democratizing social investing – building scale by going small which could […]

Green Bond Will Help Build Low Carbon Green Projects Across North America September 12, 2017 /3BL Media/ – TD Bank Group (TD) (TSX: TD) announced today that it closed on the issuance of a US$1 billion green bond, its first in US dollars and one of the largest green bonds ever issued by a bank. Initially targeting an […]

Peter Krull founded Earth Equity Advisors in 2004, because he wanted to give investors an opportunity to invest with their values. An outspoken advocate for the environment and social issues, and a well-known figure in Ashville’s green business community, Pete truly walks the walk. He believes in giving back to his communities and has served as Chair […]

(3BL Media/Justmeans) – A year ago, the European Commission announced it would establish a High Level Expert Group (HLEG) to advise it on developing a comprehensive EU strategy on sustainable finance. The group was established in December 2016 and comprises 20 members of the public, the finance sector and academia. This advisory body to the […]

(3BL Media/Justmeans) – A study of the performance of companies on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list from 1984-2009 has found that stocks of these companies outperformed benchmarks by two to three percent per year. Therefore, ESG investors are increasingly seeking out sustainable companies, believing they will deliver better returns. The strategy is […]

We Americans are fond of putting specific age cohorts in neatly assembled descriptors — the Silent Generation; the Greatest Generation; the Baby Boom Generation; Gen X and Gen Y. Now in focus:  The Millennial Generation, fast approaching the vaunted celebrity status of the post-WW II Baby Boom Generation.  You’ll recall The Boomers were born in years 1946 to 1964 […]