Update -- on First Quarter 2018 ESG / Sustainable Investment Developments Continuing our commentary on the theme suggested by MSCI's Linda Eiling Lee of Volume and Velocity in 2018 (of change) – current developments have been signalling dramatic and rapid changes in sustainable investing and corporate sustainability in the First Quarter… Read More
ABOUT THOSE CORPORATE EMPLOYEE PENSION PLANS –The Focus is Increasing on the Shortfalls…and Remedies
February 22, 2018
Created February 20, 2018 - updating the January 5, 2018 brief on the issues. Employee pension plans / retirement systems are regulated under federal law by the U.S. Department of Labor. The empowerment is the sweeping "ERISA" legislation of the mid-1970s. The agency created to oversee corporate plans is the… Read More
New Corporate “E” and “S” QualityScores For 1,500 Companies Are In Addition to the Core “G” Score for Corporate Governance For Investors / Fiduciaries... More “big news” for both corporate sustainability officers and sustainable investment professionals at the start of 2018: Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which began operations in the… Read More
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS LAUNCH ALLIANCE FOCUSED ON HUMAN RIGHTS
February 8, 2018
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) Provides Leadership for Investor Collaboration To Advance Corporate Sector and Investor Action on Human Rights Issues The recently-launched Investor Alliance for Human Rights managed by ICCR provides a collective action platform to consolidate and increase institutional investor influence on key business and human rights issues.… Read More
“PROOF OF CONCEPT” FOR SUSTAINABLE INVESTING? Barron’s Weighs In With Inaugural List of Top 100 Sustainable Companies
February 7, 2018
We're thinking - Dramatic “Proof of Concept” for Sustainable Investing? The Influential Barron’s Publication Continues Its Focus on Sustainable Investing, Names the Inaugural Roster of "The Top 100 Sustainable Companies -- Big Corporations With The Best ESG Policies Have Been Beating the Stock Market." Barron’s, owned by the Dow Jones… Read More
Volume and Velocity: These may well be the key characteristics of developments in corporate sustainability and in sustainable investing in the year 2018 -- MSCI and BlackRock Setting the Pace... Bigger, faster, more...this is how Linda-Eling Lee, Global Head of Research for MSCI’s ESG Research Group and her colleague Matt… Read More
THE UNIVERSE OF ESG RANKERS SERVING INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR CLIENTS EXPANDS to Include a Significant Player: Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS)
January 16, 2018
ISS’ Traditional Corporate Governance Focus Expanding to Encompass Environmental & Social QualityScores for Roughly 1,500 Public Companies Coming in January…And Expanding to 5,000 Issuers in Q2 A significant new player is now entering the universe of the growing number of third-party organizations providing institutional investors with ESG rankings and data… Read More
INVESTORS AND THE SDGS — AND YOUR COMPANY. How Are Investors Using the UN Sustainable Development Goals to Evaluate the Performance of Public Companies?
January 12, 2018
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by 193 nation-members of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015. There are 17 goals and 169 “subsets” or targets. To achieve the goals over time (out to the 2030 target date), collaboration among investors, companies, governments, the UN system, other multilateral… Read More
A number of multilateral organizations, social issue activists, nongovernmental organizations (“NGOs”), UN agencies, media organizations, and investor coalitions are focused on the rising risks posed to society – and to businesses – of modern slavery and human trafficking. This will be a 2018 risk management issue raised by shareholders and… Read More
FINANCIAL ANALYSTS & CORPORATE ESG EVALUATION — The CFA Institute Provides Guidance For Analyst & Investment Professionals
January 6, 2018
The CFA Institute mission is to “…lead the investment profession globally by promoting the highest standards of ethics, education and professional excellence for the ultimate benefit of society.” The Institute has a number of credentialing programs, such as the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA); this is the hiring standard for 31,000… Read More
INVESTORS FOCUS ON CLIMATE CHANGE, GHG EMISSIONS at Fossil Fuel Companies – and Other Public Companies Beyond the Energy Sector
January 6, 2018
A growing number of institutional investors are focused on “De-carbonizing” their investment portfolios – New York City Pension Funds in the Lead... But the issues are not clear-cut, and the debate goes on among key players in the capital markets…on the investor and corporate sides. One of the leaders of… Read More
CORPORATE PENSION PLANS – SECURE OR NOT? When the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation May Step In & How Companies Are Affected
January 5, 2018
This brief is about Corporate Pension Plans – Employee Retirement Security – and the role of the PBGC Guarantee Agency of the Federal Government in the protection of certain pension plans… And what happens when corporate plans fail and PBGC steps in… Put this in the Risk Management file. Almost… Read More
The American Bar Association, the largest legal trade organization with over 400,000 members worldwide, in more than 3,500 entities. ABA has long been a leader in promoting more effective corporate governance and rule of law, focusing attention on the challenges of global climate change, environmental pollution, renewable energy, sustainable development,… Read More
Consumers are very interested in “what” is in their food (including additives); "how" it was prepared (“industrial farming” is a rising criticism message of activists); and "if" the food was genetically modified or pharmaceuticals were used all along the food value chain. One issue coming into sharper focus is the… Read More
KKR: Private Equity Industry Leader in ESG / Sustainable Investing
November 21, 2017
Issue 4.3 Interview With Elizabeth Seeger, Director, Public Affairs at KKR According to the authoritative Pensions & Investments survey in 2015, the top 10 private equity firms accounted for almost 60% of the total P/E assets under management (US$1.5 trillion) of the largest 50 P/E firms. Familiar names were in… Read More
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