Governance & Accountability Institute Announces
Launch of SustainabilityHQ™
Enhanced Web-access Platform Features Sustainability / ESG Players and Trends
that Continue to Re-shape the Global Capital Markets
New York, New York – September 29, 2010 – Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. (www.GA-Institute.com) today announces the launch of its sustainability and ESG knowledge management platform SustainabilityHQ™ (www.SustainabilityHQ.com), formerly known as INSIGHTS-edge™. |
SustainabilityHQTM is a Web-accessed, subscription-based information and knowledge management platform that helps users identify, monitor, track, and better understand the actions of important market players and trends that are re-shaping corporate valuations and reputations. These third parties strongly influence global capital markets through their focus on the investment themes of Sustainability and ESG factors (corporate performance related to environmental management / energy, social issues and corporate governance).
In announcing SustainabilityHQTM, Hank Boerner, Chairman/CEO of Governance & Accountability Institute, said: “After years of building momentum, with the recent capital market crisis Sustainability has quickly emerged as a favored watchword for corporate management and boards. Investors (asset owners and managers) have rising expectations about the ‘sustainability’ of companies in portfolio and adopting new analytics, investing frameworks, developing ESG models, ratings & rankings, and using other ESG resources for their decision-making. A growing universe of market players and influencers provides these ESG resources and tools to investors. They are the ‘watchers,’ and their influence is becoming profound. Our platform helps users ‘watch the watchers’ so that both corporate and investment managers can better understand and participate in this important shift in investor behavior.”
The “new normal” emerging in the global capital markets presents many challenges to investors. “Sustainable and responsible investors” (SRI) have long been focused on ESG issues; more recently they are being joined by managers of US public employee pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and [sovereign] investors, private equity managers, investor coalitions, and others seeking safety in investments in “sustainable” enterprises. This focus on sustainability is not a passing fad; access to capital markets, pricing, capital flows – all are being influenced by the investor focus on corporate sustainability and ESG performance indicators.
This growing investor interest in sustainability/ESG has spurred the growth of new ESG tools and resources for investment decision-making. Literally dozens of third party researchers, providers of analytics and related services in North America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific region are researching, assembling and distributing ESG data, making recommendations to help guide investors. These are the “watchers,” and G&A Institute’s SustainabilityHQTM helps both investors and corporate managers understand who these third party organizations are, how they operate, what their interests are, and what companies they focus on in their research.
Notes Hank Boerner: “Our team helps clients navigate Sustainability and ESG issues, and we’ve developed a range of resources for these engagements. SustainabilityHQTM can be of critical importance in helping managers to understand what is driving the ‘new normal’ in the capital markets and how investor behavior and attitudes toward sustainability issues affects public companies. Our knowledge becomes our clients' opportunity.”
For more information about SustainabilityHQTM, see our fact sheet on the Web.
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Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. - Navigating the way to sustainability...
(www.GA-Institute.com)
Governance & Accountability Institute provides critical information, knowledge management, strategic counsel and advisory services to corporate leaders and investors related to Sustainability, ESG, Corporate Responsibility (CR), and Responsible and Sustainable Investment (SRI).