Weekly Highlights May 6, 2010

ESG / Sustainability

Impact Investing
(Source: Financial Planning.com)
Capitalism is tackling the world’s biggest social and environmental problems-and giving investors a new way to do well by doing good. Pretend it’s 2007 again, and you must choose between two investment opportunities. One is a pool of U.S.-based mortgage-backed securities packaged by a huge Wall Street firm. The other is a fund with stakes in small, obscure, mostly privately held lending institutions around the world. These so-called microbanks make unsecured loans to people who earn less than $2 a day and lack anything resembling collateral.

CSR walks down Wall Street
(Source: Sustainable Industries)
If one is looking for a sign that investors are getting serious about how companies report their corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts, maybe it’s best to let investors’ actions speak for themselves. As of spring 2010, investors had filed almost 100 climate change-related shareholder resolutions with U.S. and Canadian companies—a 40-percent increase over the total number filed in 2009, according to Investor Network on Climate Risk, whose members’ assets total more than $8 trillion.

Emerging markets a dilemma for SRI advocates
(Source: Advisor CA)
While no-one can deny emerging market countries the growth opportunities that have fueled economies in developed countries, the speed of that growth can be problematic. In worst-case scenarios, corporate governance standards are by-passed, natural resources are depleted at an alarming rate and workers toil in poor conditions for low wages.

Sovereign Wealth Funds

The Sovereign Wealth Fund – editorial (Nigeria)
(Source: ThisDayonline)
After five oil booms and near depletion of the savings from the last round of booms, the Federal Government has initiated moves to establish a Sovereign Wealth Fund. Somehow, it amounts to harvesting rain long after a downpour, but is not the only issue arising from the decision.

International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds
(Source: Southern Courier)
This week, NSW will host the largest gatherings of State-owned investment funds such as oil and pension funds – the 2nd annual International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds – which controls $A3.9 trillion. More than 80 representatives from 23 countries including China, the USA, Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Canada will gather at the Westin Hotel Sydney on May 6-8.

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US Public Sector Pension Funds

Debate on the other debt crisis Our view: Ugly truth about state pensions begins to emerge
(Source: USA Today)
Even the most casual observers know the federal government has a serious debt problem that’s propelling the USA toward the same cliff as Greece. Less well known is that certain states and localities are even worse off. Or at least their problems are coming to a head sooner, as they have fewer options for kicking the proverbial can down the road.

CalPERS Fund Details Billions in Real Estate Losses
(Source: Real Estate Channel)
In 2004, faced with a “flood of capital” into real estate markets, the directors of the CalPERS investment fund, one of the largest pension funds in the country, made a fateful decision.
With yields plummeting, CalPERS sold off $16 billion of core assets and decided to shift $30 billion of the portfolio into “higher risk” real estate. At the same time, the fund, which represents California public employees, moved toward “a less formal authorization process,” giving staff less control of the risky investments, according to a new report.

Database of 900 U.S. Public Pension Funds Released
(Source: PR Log)
Information Company Inc., a New York-based business information provider, has released a Database of 900 U.S. public pension funds, with detailed contact information and assets under management. It is delivered via e-mail in Excel.Information Company, which also provides customized business information, offers more than 50 electronic directories to help financial-services companies.

Watching the Watchers

Water.org
Headquarters: Kansas City, Missouri, United States of America
Established: Water Partners was founded in 1990; it merged with H2O Africa in 2009 to form Water.org

Key Partners
Local partners in Africa, South Asia, and Central America. WaterCredit program funders include Open Square Foundation, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, PepsiCo Foundation, Skoll Foundation, OneXOne Foundation, Only the Brave Foundation

Overview/Mission
Water.org’s describes its mission as: “Water.org is challenging the traditional approach to assisting people in developing countries. Our goals are to draw attention to the world’s number one health problem, unsafe and inadequate water supplies, and to raise funds to help fight this immense problem – one community at a time.” 

Water.org envisions safe drinking water for everyone in the world and wants to make “sector-wide change” on water issues.

Governance & Accountability Institute is a monitoring, intelligence-gathering and knowledge management center operating at the intersections of powerful forces reshaping relationship between stockholders and stakeholders, and the public corporation. For more information, contact us at 516.248.2383 or info@ga-institute.com.