Top Story of the Week CalPERS – Beyond the Headlines About Hedge Fund Exit – Guide for the California System Are Its “Investment Beliefs”
(Wednesday- September 17, 2014)
Source: Sustainability Update , Hank Boerner – Chairman & Chief Strategist – Governance & Accountability Institute This week’s capital markets headlines focus on the planned divestment of hedge funds by the USA’s largest public employee retirement system (CalPERS). The US$300 billion California Public Employees Retirement System announced on September 15th that over the coming months the $4 billion invested through its hedge fund program — CalPERS “Absolute Return Strategies” — would be redirected to other investments. (CalPERS will exit 24 hedge funds and 6 fund-of-funds.) No doubt the Street anxiously read the Pension & Investments headline: “CalPERS Dumping Head Funds.” Reported the P&I editors: Theodore Eliopoulos, interim chief investment officer said: ”Hedge funds are certainly a viable strategy for some, but at the end of the day, when judged against their complexity, cost and lack of ability to scale at CalPERS size, the ARS program doesn’t merit a continued role…” CalPERS Outlines Plan for Financial Markets Principles
(Thursday - September 18, 2014)
Source: CalPERS - The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has outlined plans to engage in policy discussions around derivatives, housing finance, and credit rating agencies as part of its renewed focus on risk, governance, and... Note to Our Readers
Last week’s Top Story was about the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, provided as benchmarks for sustainable & responsible investing by S&P Dow Jones Indices and RobecoSAM. We’re including this week our G&A Sustainability Update blog post for additional background. Note that there are two updates: (1) in the list of public companies that have been in the DJSI World for all of the 15 years of the index, Sainsbury’s PLC should be added. And to clarify, public companies invited to respond to the Corporate Assessment, RobecoSAM selects 2,500 companies in the S&P Global Brand Market Index (companies in 59 industries in 47 countries. Sustainability in Focus BASF evaluates sustainability of portfolio via new process
(Friday - September 19, 2014)
Source: GreenBiz - BASF has developed a new process for evaluating its product portfolio based on sustainability criteria. In a move that it says will better help its customers align environmental and societal aspects with business success, the... 5 ways boards of directors can support sustainability
(Thursday - September 18, 2014)
Source: GreenBiz - While corporate responsibility has risen as a strategic priority for many companies, boards have not been driving this change. The UN Global Compact LEAD board program conducts extensive surveys and interviews with board members,... Adidas Goes 'All In' to Embrace Sustainability
(Thursday - September 18, 2014)
Source: TMCnet - (î3BL Media Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship: Member SpotlightSOURCE: Carroll School of Management Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College... Letter to a new chairman about the sustainability agenda
(Thursday - September 18, 2014)
Source: FT - There is only one assumption underpinning this letter: that in becoming chair, you see yourself as a creator of long-term value for shareholders, not a short-term profit maximiser. If that assumption is incorrect, just pass on to... When the 'obvious' is wrong: sustainability is rarely black and white
(Thursday - September 18, 2014)
Source: Guardian (UK) - New greenhouse-gas emissions studies find practices thought to be environmentally safe ... aren’t. But whose interests do they protect, and just how many grains of salt do we need to read them? Most CEOs ‘overconfident’ about sustainability
(Wednesday - September 17, 2014)
Source: IR Magazine - Chief executive officers greatly overestimate their own abilities to communicate their sustainability strategies to investors, while others may be equally overconfident when explaining the advantages of such programs, a survey by... UN sustainability goals need quantified targets
(Wednesday - September 17, 2014) Associated Profiles : United Nations - All Programs
Source: Nature - The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) pass their deadline next year and will be replaced by the broader and more ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to guide world development... Channel NewsAsia launches Asia’s first sustainability ranking for businesses
(Wednesday - September 17, 2014)
Source: Channel NewsAsia - HONG KONG: Regional broadcaster Channel NewsAsia, in partnership with CSR Asia and Sustainalytics, on Tuesday (Sep 16) launched the Channel NewsAsia Sustainability Ranking for Asia’s top businesses at the CSR Summit in Hong Kong. Companies are realizing that sustainability issues are here to stay
(Tuesday - September 16, 2014)
Source: Phys.org - LOHAS consumers are an influential group, and businesses are responding to their nudges for foods grown more responsibly and closer to home. The word "sustainability" is sprinkled all over food companies' annual reports and stirs... Sustainability Reporting: The What and Why
(Tuesday - September 16, 2014)
Source: Environmental Leader - For more than a decade now, many leading global organizations have produced some form of sustainability reporting. Sometimes these documents manifest in reports sent directly to stakeholders, and in other cases they adhere to... Getting Ultra-Sustainability to Be as Big and American as Burgers
(Tuesday - September 16, 2014)
Source: Huff Post - I'm sitting in front of a gorgeous cheeseburger. This thing looks picture perfect pretty, almost too good to eat. It's a vision right out of a culinary magazine. I'm starving yet I take a moment to strategize how this concoction... Shares prices boosted by corporate sustainability policies
(Monday - September 15, 2014)
Source: Telegraph(UK) - Companies that pursue corporate sustainability policies are more likely to receive a boost to their share price, according to a report. The University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment and Arabesque Asset... ESG Issues & Players Study: Faulty gas wells, not fracking, pollute water
(Tuesday - September 16, 2014)
Source: USAToday - Faulty wells, not deep underground fracking, is the main reason that natural gas extraction from shale rock has contaminated drinking water in parts of Texas and Pennsylvania, says a study Monday by researchers from five... Market Structure Map - Risk
(Thursday - September 18, 2014)
Source: Tim Quast, president, ModernNetworks IR LLC - Is the stock market poised for an advance to the rear? Gains yesterday notwithstanding, our measures of market sentiment reflected in the ten-point ModernIR Behavioral Index dipped to negative this week for the first time since... World Smashes All-Time Temperature Records Ahead of UN Climate Summit
(Friday - September 19, 2014)
Source: mashable.com - The June through August period was the warmest such period on Earth since record-keeping began in 1880, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced Thursday. In addition, the month of August was the... The Top 5 Corporate Governance Best Practices That Benefit Every Company
(Friday - September 19, 2014)
Source: Mondaq - Many believe that only public companies or large, established companies with many shareholders need to be concerned about, or can benefit from, implementing corporate governance practices. The reality is that all companies – big... Asset Managers, US Pension Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds New York's pension 'smoothing' may short-change retirement fund
(Friday - September 19, 2014) Associated Profiles : North Dakota Public Employees Retirement System (NDPERS)
Source: NewsTalk 610 KDAL AM - New Yorkers who rely on the state pension fund for their retirement may be short-changed about $735 million over the next 10 years as a result of Governor Andrew Cuomo's policy of... Russia Funnels More Billions Into its Sovereign Wealth Funds
(Wednesday - September 17, 2014) Associated Profiles : National Fund [of Kazakhstan]
Source: Opalesque Hedge Fund News – Russia’s two oil revenue-funded sovereign wealth funds swelled by 353.3 billion rubles ($9.4 billion) last month to reach combined reserves of 6.54 trillion rubles ($177 billion), boosting the... Fed says it will be ‘considerable time’ before rates are lifted
(Thursday - September 18, 2014)
Source: MarketWatch - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday repeated that interest rates are likely to stay low for a “considerable time” after it ends its bond-buying program in October, but the central bank also took concrete steps to prepare for an... CalPERS Eliminates Hedge Fund Program in Effort to Reduce Complexity and Costs in Investment Portfolio
(Tuesday - September 16, 2014)
Source: California Public Employees’ Retirement System – The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) today announced that it will eliminate its hedge fund program, known internally as the Absolute Return Strategies (ARS) program, as part of an ongoing... Watching the Watchers  European Water Partnership
Headquarters: Brussels, Belgium
Established: 2006
KEY PARTNERS
Strategic partners are BASF SE, Coca Cola Europe, and Women for Water Partnership. Organizations that collaborate on projects include Ferry Group and CEPI.
OVERVIEW/MISSION
The European Water Partnership describes its goal in this way: “The ultimate goal of the EWP is to elaborate strategies and implement concrete actions to achieve the objectives of the Water Vision for Europe.” EWP is a nonprofit organization that also states, "The EWP mission is to initiate, support and enforce all actions and projects that will help to achieve the objectives of the Water Vision for Europe: Water for a sustainable Europe - our vision for 2030."
BACKGROUND
Sixteen founding partners established EWP in 2006. It grew out of other water-related programs: the Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform and the European Regional Process.
News Sweeps
Alliance for Water Stewardship Launches First Global Water Stewardship Standard
(Saturday - August 02, 2014) Associated Profiles : European Water Partnership
- aquaNOW - Try OOSKAnews current Daily Water Briefings or Weekly Water Newsletters â the most up-to-date source of global water and water-related news. OOSKAnews produces daily and weekly email subscription-based newsletters...
Water Council to add water stewardship role
(Saturday - June 21, 2014) Associated Profiles : European Water Partnership
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - The AWS already has similar regional coordinators in Brussels, where Downes' counterpart works with the European Water Partnership; and in Melbourne with Water Stewardship Australia. AWS... EU water policies in the developing world
(Thursday - June 05, 2014) Associated Profiles : European Water Partnership
- EurActiv.com - As water shortages in developing countries become more acute due to climate change, the EU is backing policies to manage the demands of all sectors, prioritizing health, sanitation and cooperation between states.... | 
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