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Source: Governance & Accountability Institute

Sustainability-Highlights-Header
November 22, 2016

SERVICES  |  RESEARCH  |  EVENTS  |  WEBINARS  |  BLOG  |  ARCHIVE

Investors Put Their Money on ESG/Sustainability, US SIF Survey Tells Us. And the Business Sector Says Let’s Keep Moving Toward the Low-Carbon Economy in 2017!

For the past two years a few data points / narratives stood out in conversations about making the sustainable investing case:  “$1-in-$6 in Assets Under (professional) Management; $6 trillion-plus; 12% and more of the total equity AUM.  Hey – there are important new references points now to use, courtesy of the U.S. Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment (US SIF) and the SIF Foundation, and SIF/Croatan Institute research team. These findings come from the report just released by US SIF:  “Report on US Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing Trends 2016.”

Keep in mind for your conversations and writing exercises: 

·We are now at $1-in-$5 of all Assets Under [professional] Management (AUM).
·That is 20%-plus of all AUM in the United States. (US total is $40 trillion.)
·AUM total that is managed following ESG/Sustainable Investing etc. approaches  $8+ trillion (closer to $9 T).

There’s more in the top story by G&A Institute chair Hank Boerner.

And what about those assets that are in the main issues of corporations?  Good news on the corporate side for you, today. And another key number to keep in mind:  365!

Ceres, announced this week that more than 365 businesses and investors in 35 states – including more than a dozen from the Fortune 500 -- have sent a strong message to President Barack Obama, President-elect Donald Trump and other leaders to reaffirm their support of the progress made in the Paris Climate Agreement.  We need to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy in the U.S.A. and around the globe was the message coming out of “COP 22,” the follow on meeting of COP 21 (Paris) in Marrakech, Morocco.

The bold names among the signatories makes this a very important communication:  Dupont, General Motors, Hewlett Packard, Nike, Mars, Starbucks, Unilever, and more!  Typical among the signatories, was this comment: Now more than ever, Levi Strauss & Co. believes it is important to reaffirm our commitment to address climate change by supporting the Paris Climate Agreement,” said Michael Kobori, vice president of sustainability at Levi Strauss & Co. “Building an energy-efficient economy in the U.S., powered by low-carbon energy will ensure our nation’s competitiveness and position US companies as leaders in the global market - all while doing the right thing for our planet.”

That’s our second and very relevant top story for you.  What are your thoughts on the future as we await the transition of power at the top of our government?  Let us know – we will share them with colleagues – and thought leaders.

May we live in interesting times, as the ancient Chinese curse & blessing goes.  U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy used this in a speech in 1966, saying the 20th Century was the most interesting period humankind has seen.  Well, just watch the 21st!

 

Top Story

The Results Are In: Sustainable, Responsible, Impact Investing by U.S. Asset Managers At All-time High — $8 Trillion!
(Thursday - November 17, 2016)
Source: Hank Boerner – Chairman & Chief Strategist, G&A Institute - We have an important update for you today: The US SIF Report on “US Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing Trends, 2016,” was released this week.

Source: Ceres -More than 365 businesses and investors, from more than a dozen Fortune 500 firms to small, family-owned businesses across more than 35 states, sent a strong message today to President Barack Obama, President-elect Donald Trump, and other elected U.S. and global leaders, reaffirming their support for the historic Paris Climate Agreement and the need to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy at home and around the world.

 

Sustainability in Focus

Sustainable Business Will Drive the New Economy, Not Trump
(Monday - November 14, 2016)
Source: Triple Pundit - The good news is that no one is more poised to to drive forward a sustainability agenda than the business community. Business, with almost no help from the government, has already begun to take proactive action on climate change...

Selling Sustainability and Saving Energy
(Tuesday - November 15, 2016)
Source: ACHR News - One of the reasons sustainability is considered a luxury more than a necessity is that energy costs are not as high in the U.S. as they are in Europe, said Kalicak.

Top Cities for Sustainability Jobs
(Tuesday - November 15, 2016)
Source: Triple Pundit - Many jobs may fall under the broad umbrella of sustainability without carrying the word “sustainability” in their title or description. For example, some would consider a “climate change policy analyst” position to be...

Behaviour shift needed to drive sustainability in Qatar
(Wednesday - November 16, 2016)
Source: Gulf Times - The need for society’s understanding and attitudes towards sustainability and how they are key to advancing Qatar’s long-term “green” agenda were highlighted at the Qatar Green Building Conference 2016 which concluded yesterday.

Source: ABC News - Fish catches in overfished European waters — stretching from the Arctic to the Black Sea — could increase by 57 percent if stocks were managed sustainably, a marine conservation group said Tuesday.

Greenpeace: Major Asian canneries ‘fall short on sustainability’
(Friday - November 18, 2016)
Source: Under Current News - In a new report, Greenpeace has claimed major Southeast Asian canneries need to do more both on fish sustainability and social responsibility.

How sustainability fits into enterprise risk management
(Friday - November 18, 2016)
Source: Green Biz - In a rapidly changing world, businesses must regularly assess threats and opportunities as they strive to maintain a competitive edge. For many organizations this analysis is referred to as risk management.

 

ESG Issues & Players

Stunningly good news for the planet: Carbon emissions were flat for the third straight year
(Monday - November 14, 2016)
Source: Washington Post - world greatly concerned about how the election of Donald Trump as the next U.S. president could stall global climate policy received a major dose of welcome news Sunday, when scientists published a projection suggesting that for...

How shareholders are rewriting the rules for public company directors
(Tuesday - November 15, 2016)
Source: The Globe and Mail - The owners of public companies, shareholders, have re-written their expectations when it comes to the level of access they demand from those they elect. In fact, director-shareholder engagement is becoming a prerequisite for high...

2016 will be the hottest year ever recorded
(Tuesday - November 15, 2016)
Source: Business Insider - Record-setting temperatures in 2016 came as no real surprise. Global temperatures continue to rise at a rate of 0.10-0.15°C per decade, and over the five years from 2011 to 2015 they averaged 0.59°C above the 1961-1990 average.

SEC chair to step down, clearing path for Trump to eliminate tough Wall Street regulations
(Tuesday - November 15, 2016)
Source: Washington Post - NEW YORK — Mary Jo White, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, announced Monday that she will step down two years before the end of her term, clearing the way for President-elect Donald Trump to reshape the way...

Facebook’s fake news problem: What’s its responsibility?
(Wednesday - November 16, 2016)
Source: Washington Post - Facebook is under fire for failing to rein in fake and biased news stories that some believe may have swayed the presidential election. Its predicament stems from this basic conundrum: It exercises great control over the news its...

One looming consequence of climate change: Small island nations will cease to exist  
(Wednesday - November 16, 2016)
Source: LA Times - Negotiators representing the Alliance of Small Island Nations underscored the need to speed up efforts to combat global warming and adapt to its effects.

Source: AlphaSense, Pamela Styles, Next Level Investor Relations LLC, - If public utilities are regulated, how could Sustainability be a real competitive frontier? And, isn’t Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) / Sustainability just a cost these companies must endure — much like taxes?

Huge deposit of untapped oil could be largest ever discovered in US
(Friday - November 18, 2016)
Source: The Guardian - Estimated 20bn barrels of oil found in Texas’s Permian Basin, three times larger than the Bakken oilfields of North Dakota, could be worth as much as $900bn

Sponsored Message


Trump's Transition -- Impacts on Sustainability

The private sector might help save Obama's sustainability agenda if Trump tries to dismantle it
(Wednesday - November 16, 2016)
Source: Business Insider - During the campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump called climate change a hoax, threatened to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency, committed to easing restrictions on drilling and mining on federal lands...

You're Hired! A Trump Playbook For Fixing America's Economy
(Wednesday - November 16, 2016)
Source: Forbes - The country’s broke, our economic institutions are dysfunctional, the middle class is vanishing, the economy’s stagnating, we are saving and investing next to nothing, we are locking the poor into poverty via the combined...

American Manufacturing Groups Push Donald Trump to Rethink His Trade Threats
(Wednesday - November 16, 2016)
Source: Fortune - America’s manufacturers are urging President-elect Donald Trump to back off from his most threatening trade rhetoric and pursue a more nuanced approach to trade with China and Mexico, avoiding unilateral tariff actions and...

What Does President-Elect Trump Mean For The US And The World?
(Thursday - November 17, 2016)
Source: Forbes - In this episode of “The Bulletin with UBS” on Monocle 24 experts and analysts consider Donald Trump’s extraordinary victory in the US presidential election, and mull the implications for the months and years ahead.

Source: GreenBiz - Corporate sustainability didn’t become passé with this election: It became essential. We now know that government isn’t going to ride in and save us on climate change. Government isn’t going to focus on air quality or water...

SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICE -- SAVE $100 -- REGISTER TODAY!Become part of our "G&A Sustainability Training HQ Pioneers Program." Learn how pioneers taking part in this limited time program can become certified in CSR with a significant discount off the regular price, and at the same time gain considerable recognition as a pioneer in the field.   Contact lcoppola@ga-institute.com to find out more!

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G&A Institute Sustainability Update
Informative, insightful, thought provoking Governance & Accountability Institute's blog focusing on the sustainable world evolving daily before our eyes.  Read it, absorb it, question it and challenge. Recent posts:

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G&A Institute is the exclusive Data Partner for the Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) in the USA, UK and Ireland.  This means that we identify, receive, collect, analyze, database and then communicate on every report issued by an organization in any of these three countries. Over the past 5+ years, G&A has analyzed more than 5,000 sustainability reports in this role and databased more than 100 important data points for each of the five thousand reports.
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SustainabilityHQ Highlights is prepared by the Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. based on continuous monitoring of trends and developments in Sustainability and ESG. Click here for more information on the Governance & Accountability Institute’s SustainabilityHQ resources. The SustainabilityHQ platform is available by subscription.

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