| 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 CSR Reporting—and Interest in What It Shows—Is Gaining Steam
(Source: Triple Pundit)
Bernie Madoff. Sir Allen Stanford. Raj Rajaratnam. Jerome Kerviel. Mitchel Guttenberg. Sam Israel III. Unfortunately, the list could go on. Once you’ve been hit in the wallet (OK, maybe it takes two or three times), you get a bit skittish before handing over your money. You begin to do better due diligence. Shareholders To Natural Gas Companies: Increase Chemical Disclosure, Adopt Best Management Practices For Hydraulic Fracturing
(Source: Investor Environmental Health Network)
Falls Church, VA - Shareholders at Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation (COG) and EOG Resources, Inc. (EOG) cast about a third of their votes in support of resolutions urging the companies to better disclose the environmental hazards of natural gas production and policies to minimize risks. Of shareholders voting for or against, the 36 percent vote at Cabot Oil & Gas on April 27th and the 31 percent vote at EOG Resources on April 28th demonstrate unusually high support for these resolutions presented for the very first time at corporate meetings. The Securities and Exchange Commission had rejected efforts by both companies to keep the resolutions off their proxy ballots. Private equity firms ready to adopt ESG principles: Ethos survey
(Source: Responsible Investor)
Private equity investment houses remain unfamiliar with the practical implications of responsible investment but are increasingly conscious of the principles and ready to develop and implement them, according to a survey by Ethos, the 84-member Swiss sustainable investor group comprised mostly of pension funds. Sovereign Wealth Funds Dousing sovereign suspicion - Commentary
(Source: Karen Maly, Business Spectator)
As the shockwaves from the European debt crisis ripple through global financial markets, senior officials from close to two dozen sovereign wealth funds – which control roughly $2 trillion in investments – are meeting in Sydney to discuss their access to international capital markets.. Wealth funds 'fail to act on principles'
(Source: Times Online- UK)
Self regulation of the $3,000 billion sovereign wealth fund industry has largely failed, with only half of the funds complying with new rules that govern their behaviour. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think-tank, has found that the average compliance rating among the funds for their own code of conduct is only 51 per cent. Norway Fund’s Slyngstad Sees ‘Opportunity’ in Market Turmoil
(Source: Bloomberg/BusinessWeek)
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s second largest, said it may be able to gain from the turmoil in debt and stock markets after last year cutting its holdings in Greece, Spain and Portugal.“We see market turmoil as an opportunity and not as a threat,” Yngve Slyngstad, head of Norges Bank Investment Management, the central bank’s asset management arm, said in an interview in Oslo today. The fund may hold off making its first real estate investments in anticipation property prices may decline, he said. | Visit INSIGHTS-edge to get the most up to date information. 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 |
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US Public Sector Pension Funds Public US pension funds call for Massey board changes
(Source: Global Pensions)
US – Nine public pension funds are calling for Massey Energy shareholders’ to withhold support from three board directors claiming they have failed to carry out their safety oversight duties. The funds - which collectively hold US$64m of shares in the company - said directors Baxter Philips, Richard Gabrys and Dan Moore should not be reelected as board members at the May 18 shareholders' meeting. NY pension fund: $600M settlement with Countrywide
(Source: AP)
Albany, N.Y. — New York pension fund officials said Friday they've reached a proposed $600 million settlement of securities fraud allegations against mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. The settlement is subject to approval by a federal judge and isn't expected to be final until September. CalPERS may see more lawsuits
(Source: LA Times)
A state lawsuit targeting two top former officials of the California Public Employees' Retirement System could be the first in a series of state and federal actions focused on the nation's largest public pension fund."This is not the end of this case or the end of the investigation," Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown said at a news conference Thursday. "Other things could follow." Watching the Watchers  EUROSIF – European Social Investment Forum
Category: ESG / Sustainability
Headquarters: Paris, France
Established: 2001 Key Partners
Vigeo/Avanzi and Morningstar Europe collaborate with Eurosif on the “SRI Funds Service.” Many partners for specific projects, including: Dutch Sustainability Research and OECD Watch. Overview / Mission
“Eurosif, the European Social Investment Forum, was created in 2001 to serve as an umbrella association to cover socially responsible investment (SRI) issues at the European level.” Eurosif notes that, "The approach to SRI has specific national characteristics linked to the particularities of the structure of financial markets and the legislative and cultural environments of each country. Eurosif takes these factors into account and addresses SRI issues with the European scope in mind.” Forum members are pension funds, financial service providers, academic and research institutions, and NGOs. Members’ collective assets total more than 1 trillion Euros. Eurosif assists members through four activities: • European Union lobbying;
• Research related to socially responsible investment (SRI);
• Pan-European initiatives; and
• Events. |
