Newsletter

Business leaders and managers are being challenged by the rising expectations of stockholders and stakeholder with regard to the corporate performance in the areas of ESG (environmental, social issue and governance) performance.  Peers and competitors are increasingly setting the pace for industries and sectors as they create and implement sustainability and corporate responsibility strategies and actions.

Who cares about this?  Asset owners and asset managers looking at investments through the ESG/Sustainability lens.  And third party stakeholders who are setting the pace in ESG research, standard setting (for industries), media, issue advocates…and others watching the corporate sector.

Our team is watching the watchers for you.  We bring you news, commentary and research in key areas of interest for both investors and asset managers -- and for corporate boards, executives and managers.  As Sustainability and ESG frameworks are adopted by more investors, the capital markets are determining winners, laggards and losers.   Track the trends, the news, updates, the important developments – makeSustainability HQ™ your headquarters for ESG knowledge management.

ESG / Sustainability

UN-HABITAT sees cities as biggest environment polluters
(Source: Xinhauet.com) The world's cities which now collectively accommodate half of the world's population account for 70 percent of the green house gases (GHG) released into the world's atmosphere. Joan Clos, the Executive Director of the UN-HABITAT said that what goes on in cities and how they manage their impact on environment, lies at the core of the problem. "Cities are where most of the pollution emanates from because of the high concentration of people as well as high level of economic activity," Clos said on Monday during the launch of a global report on human settlements for 2011 which details the role of world cities on Climate Change.  Associated Profiles : Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC

UN Principles for Responsible Investment to look at fixed income ESG integration  
(Source: Responsible Investor)  The 882-member $25trn United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) is looking at how to integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into fixed income. It says a “work stream” is currently being established to explore ESG integration in areas such as sovereign, municipal and corporate bonds. “This will include analysis of how investors can engage with issuers on responsible investment-related topics and use fixed income to promote improved ESG performance,” the PRI says in a new strategy document. A steering committee will be formed by mid-2011 ahead of a dedicated fixed income session at the PRI in Person event in September.  Associated Profiles : UN - Principles for Responsible Investing PRI

One Year after the Spill, BP Facing Investor Frustration Over Lack of Disclosure on Risk Management
(Source: Christian Brother Financial) On the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, an international coalition of leading socially responsible investors, led in the US by Christian Brothers Investment Services, Inc. (CBIS) and the MMA Praxis Mutual Funds, recommended to vote against or abstain from the BP accounts and reports and members of BP's Safety, Ethics and Environmental Assurance Committee (SEEAC) at the company's upcoming annual meeting. Associated Profiles: Ceres

Commentary

The Race Against Time
(Source: Richard Barr) It’s official.  The Republican Party platform denies the existence of global warming or climate change.  Well, not quite.  According to the numbers compiled by the Center for American Progress more than half the Republicans in the House and three-quarters of Republican senators say that man-made global warming is at best an exaggeration and at worst an utter hoax, as US Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma once put it.  Further, the Tea Party has brought with it an anti-intellectual, anti-elite worldview that translates into a mainstreaming and radicalization of antiscientific thought.  That also translates into a de-funding of the Environmental Protection Agency in order to prevent it from regulating CO2 emissions across Corporate America.   The party literally wants to turn back the clock to the beginning of the last century when the Triangle Factory Fire in New York burned 146 female garment workers to death in eighteen minutes exactly 100 years ago.  It led to 20 [new] New York State laws governing worker working conditions and set the tone nationally for the kind of regulation we take for granted today -- but are many of these are the regulations the Republicans wants to get rid of.  Frances Perkins, to be President Franklin Roosevelt’s future Secretary of Labor in the New Deal days, witnessed the fire and would later describe the fire as “the day The New Deal began.”

Research

Few Companies are Prepared for Effective Sustainability Management  
(Source GreenBiz)  In the report, Robert Hassler, CEO of oekom, took issue with the much-cited "black swan" theory of the financial crisis, which, he wrote, contends "that the collapse of the property market and the resulting global financial and economic crisis were not foreseeable." Against this theory, Hassler offers the analysis of economist Nouriel Roubini, which argues, according to Hassler, that "anyone with a clear view uninfluenced by the pursuit of short-term profits and bonuses could have seen the crisis coming."

Make SustainabilityHQ™ your daily headquarters for important news, commentary and research results – your HQs for Sustainability and ESG knowledge management. The key capital market players focused on Sustainability and ESG (environmental management, social issues and effective corporate governance) are profiled with an abundance of relevant information.  Updates are continuous. The third party organizations helping to shape corporate valuations and corporate reputations are profiled and news about these players is updated every day. Log in and check it out!

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Sovereign Wealth Funds

Energy Security In The Age Of Middle Eastern Revolutions – Analysis
(Source: Eurasian Review)  An absolute monarch of the world’s most gas-rich country has given the West the best advice in the era of Middle East revolutions. The Emir of Qatar warned Europe not to stand with ‘hydrocarbon dictatorships’ for their economic interests. The sound of gunfire in the Middle East continues. We still don’t know how the chaos in Libya will be resolved, nor which, if any, other regimes will topple. But it is time to be thinking strategically about what the Year of Revolutions means for world energy security.  Associated Profiles : Qatar Investment Authority, Libyan Investment Authority

Norway's Finance Ministry Urges SWF to Lower Exposure to Europe
(Source AI-CIO)  Norway's Finance Ministry has said that its sovereign wealth fund -- the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) -- should gradually lower its exposure to European markets while upping its allocation to emerging markets.In an annual report on the management of Norway's sovereign wealth fund presented to the Norwegian Parliament, the government stated: "The global production capacity and financial markets are increasingly located in other parts of the world, also in emerging markets. Over time, the relative allocation to Europe should therefore be reduced, and allocations to the rest of the world similarly increased." The report stressed the importance that the change in regional allocation should be implemented gradually. Currently, more than 50% of the fund's capital is invested in European stocks, bonds, and real estate. Associated Profiles: Norwegian Government Pension Fund (SPF)

Diversification key to growth: Ibrahim
(Source: Gulf Times)  A slowdown in oil and gas production in Qatar has forced the government and business to continue diversifying the economy to maintain the country’s stable growth, Dr Ibrahim al-Ibrahim, economic adviser in the Emiri Diwan and secretary general for the development planning in Qatar said. “We are entering into a new era of diversification and non-hydrocarbon sector,” Ibrahim said at a business and investment conference in New York on Wednesday. “This is another page of our development,” he said. The slowdown in oil and gas production will last until a technical study about the future production is completed, Ibrahim said. “It will slow down but to maintain growth we have to maintain an expansion of non-hydrocarbon projects,” he said.  Associated Profiles : Qatar Investment Authority

United States Pension Funds

Controller John Liu's pension report lays blame at Wall Street fat cats
(Source: NY Daily News)  Controller John Liu is positioning himself as the voice of the working class for a potential mayoral run in 2013. Liu's team analyzed New York's skyrocketing pension costs - the ones Mayor Bloomberg hammers unions about - and concluded half the problem was the fat cats on Wall Street, not the little guys in city jobs. It was a dry study that got little play, but it lays the groundwork for Liu to present himself as the voice of working New Yorkers who think they're not getting a fair shake. Liu, like plenty of other ambitious pols, is eying a run for mayor when the Bloomberg era ends in 2013. And he's not the only one who thinks the path to City Hall will be to stick up for the little guy after 12 years of a billionaire mayor. Associated Profiles: New York City Comptroller’s Office: Bureau of Asset Management

CalPERS Investments in California Help Generate 1 Million Jobs Statewide
(Source: CalPERS)  CalPERS has invested more than $17 billion in California-based companies, properties and projects, helping to generate nearly 1 million jobs throughout the State, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Investment Committee was told today. The investments represented 8.5 percent of the System’s $200.5 billion portfolio as of June 30, 2010, and are spread across all asset classes, according to CalPERS for California, a report presented to the committee that details the Fund’s statewide investments for fiscal year 2009-2010. The report includes an update on CalPERS California Initiative, a 10-year-old private equity program designed to invest in traditionally underserved markets that are primarily, but not exclusively, in California.  Associated Profiles : California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS)

Commentary

More light on pension funds means more accountability
(Source: Star-Telegram)  Taxpayers usually don't show much interest in what they're paying retired public employees until they get tapped extra over promises made long ago. One reason is public pensions operated off the radar for years. But when state and city pension plans started finding themselves underfunded and over-obligated, lawmakers and the general public took notice.  Associated Profiles : Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS

Watching the Watchers

Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia
Headquarters: Hong Kong
Established: 2001

KEY PARTNERS
Carbon Disclosure Project, Asian Development Bank

OVERVIEW / MISSION
The Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia (ASrIA) defines its work: “ASrIA is a not-for-profit membership association dedicated to promoting corporate responsibility and sustainable investment practice in the Asia Pacific region. ASrIA’s members include investment institutions managing over US$4 trillion in assets, however membership is open to any organisation which has an interest in sustainable investment.”

BACKGROUND
ASrIA provides information on sustainable and socially responsible investments around the world. Its activity includes organizing conferences and events, plus publishing research on SRI-related topics.

ASrIA has about 100 institutional members (list here), and over 5,000 subscribers to its e-bulletin. Voting members, all financial institutions, range from AIG Investment to SAM Group. Associate members are nonprofit organizations who do not pay membership fees; they include such NGOs as Oxfam Hong Kong and Securities Commission Malaysia. Supporting members pay fees and enjoy all member privileges except voting rights. Membership fees are on a sliding scale.

News Sweeps

Theagarajah elected new Chairman of the Asian Bankers' Association
(Thursday - November 04, 2010) Associated Profiles : Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia - ... Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP), and another one with the Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia (ASriA). ... [more] 

Plastic Disclosure Project Launched At Clinton Global Initiative's Opening ...
(Tuesday - September 21, 2010) Associated Profiles : Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia - Erik Floyd, Joint Executive Director of ASrIA, said "We are pleased to have been asked to join in launching this important corporate disclosure initiative. ... [more] 

Remains of murdered Filipina Andaw home
(Friday - September 10, 2010) Associated Profiles : Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia - KUWAIT CITY, Sept 9: The remains of Norhaisa Andaw, who, along with another Filipina, Asria Samad Abdul met a violent death sometime in July this year were ... [more] 

SustainabilityHQ Highlights is prepared by the Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. based on continuous monitoring of trends and developments in Sustainability and ESG.    The SustainabilityHQ™ platform is available by subscription.

Governance & Accountability Institute is a monitoring, research, intelligence-gathering and knowledge management organizations operating at the intersections of powerful forces reshaping relationship between stockholders and stakeholders, and the public corporation. For more information, contact us at 646.430.8230 or info@ga-institute.com.  G&A Institute manages SustainabilityHQ.