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Newsletter

Source: Governance & Accountability Institute

Sustainability-Highlights-Header
August 5, 2010

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From across the nation and around the world, INSIGHTS-edge brings you news, commentary and research in key areas of interest regarding ESG, Sovereign Wealth Funds and US Public Sector Pension Funds.  We watch the watchers...who are watching you.

ESG / Sustainability

The Royal Accounting Treatment
(Source: WebCPA)  Is the Prince of Wales proclaiming sustainability reporting throughout the accounting realm? Not exactly, but the announcement this week that Prince Charles’s Accounting for Sustainability Project has partnered with the Global Reporting Initiative and a whole palace-full of accounting industry leaders and other dignitaries on combining financial, environmental, social and governance reporting seemed appropriately grandiose (see Group Formed to Set Sustainability Accounting Rules). Still, it’s a bit hard to make out exactly what is planned.

How to Sell Sustainability Reporting to Your CEO
(Source: GreenBiz.com) Corporate sustainability reports show up in media coverage nearly every day. Two-thirds of the S&P 500 provided at least some carbon emissions information to the Carbon Disclosure Project in 2009. Last year, nearly 1,400 global companies filed reports with the Global Reporting Initiative, a 29 percent increase over the prior year. As more and more companies produce sustainability reports, why are so many CEOs still reluctant to do so? What’s holding back that last third of the S&P 500?

We’ve got RI, ESG and CSR: now it’s time for strategically aware investing!
(Source: Responsible  Investor) Here’s a radical and counter-intuitive proposition for you: what the sustainable finance and investment field desperately needs at this critical juncture is – wait for it – another acronym!!

China’s New Option for Labor Dispute Resolution Increasingly Popular With Foreign Companies: Nair & Co.
(Source: BusinessWire)  SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As labor disputes continue to rise in China, companies are using an increasingly popular option of labor arbitration —the first non government labor dispute mediation center that opened in Shanghai earlier this year, Nair & Co, a leading global integrated solutions provider helping companies expand internationally, said on Monday.

Sovereign Wealth Funds

China's CIC in talks with Harvard on property funds-WSJ
(Source: Reuters)  China Investment Corp, the country's sovereign wealth fund, is in talks with Harvard University's endowment to buy the U.S. institution's stakes in property funds worth about $500 million, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

China sovereign fund sees tough 2010 after good 2009
(Source: Daily Times)  BEIJING: China Investment Corp (CIC) faces a challenging environment in 2010 but its long-term prospects remain rosy, the $300 billion sovereign wealth fund said in its annual report published last Thursday

Middle East Oil Producers Might Consider BP Investment – to Diversify
(Source: Oil Price.com)  With BP poised to move on from the Gulf oil spill with a new chief executive, the beleaguered London-based company might look attractive to Middle East sovereign wealth funds after all.


Coming Soon…


We are in the process of upgrading INSIGHTS-edge, including the addition of many more profiles, identification of ESG critical issues of importance to corporations and investors, adding to the toolbox (twitter, customized email alerts and more). You will see the 2.0 version soon. And, we are rebranding the platform to better identify the focus of our efforts:SustainabilityHQTM
will be here September 1, 2010.

For more on:

ESG & Sustainability Players
- Shaping Perceptions, Valuations & Decision-Making

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs)
- State-Owned Global Investors

US Public Employee Pension Funds / Investors 
- State and Municipal Retirement Funds

Asset Managers
- Investors adopting ESG guidelines/policies & shaping market trends

 

Contents © 2009
All Rights Reserved

Copyrights for other providers are
noted where appropriate.
Please credit the source if quoted.

US Public Sector Pension Funds

Shamrock Named by New York City as Among Fired Fund Managers
(Source: Bloomberg)  Four New York City employee pension funds paid $7.6 million to Shamrock Capital Advisors, a money manager that racked up losses of as much as 22.8 percent before it was dropped, according to City Comptroller John Liu’s office.

Toyota Will Face Maryland Fund as Leader in Shareholder Lawsuit
(Source: BusinessWeek)  Toyota Motor Corp. will face a Maryland public pension fund as the lead plaintiff in a consolidated shareholder lawsuit in which it’s accused of failing to disclose defects related to sudden acceleration.

Charges upheld in NY pension fund corruption case
(Source: Bloomberg)  A judge has refused to toss out most of the charges against a political consultant accused of conspiring with New York officials to drain $19 million in undeserved fees from the state pension fund.

Watching the Watchers

The EIRIS Foundation and Ethical Investment Research Services
Headquarters: London, England, with presence in the United States and France
Established: 1983 – EIRIS is a foundation.

KEY PARTNERS
Research used by FTSE4Good Index.  IW Financial is the United States sales partner; plus other international sales and research partners.

OVERVIEW/MISSION
From the EIRIS company overview: “EIRIS is the leading global provider of independent research into the social, environmental and ethical performance of companies.”

“A not-for-profit organisation, EIRIS does not investigate companies' financial status but looks at their social, environmental and ethical policies and practices. Increasing interest in socially responsible investment since 1983 has seen us expand our range of clients and our organization has grown from 2 employees to a staff of over 40 people.”

EIRIS is a foundation that was established to support ethical investment. Ethical Investment Research Services (EIRIS) Ltd, which provides research and other commercial services to clients, is a subsidiary of the EIRIS Foundation..

News Flash:  17 September 2009
EIRIS named Best ESG Research House in the United Kingdom by World Finance Magazine.

Insights-edge Highlights is prepared by the Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. Click here for more information on the Governance& Accountability Institute’s INSIGHTS-edge resources.   

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.