Business leaders and managers are being challenged by the rising expectations of stockholders and stakeholder with regard to the corporate performance in the areas of ESG (environmental, social issue and governance) performance. Peers and competitors are increasingly setting the pace for industries and sectors as they create and implement sustainability and corporate responsibility strategies and actions. Who cares about this? Asset owners and asset managers looking at investments through the ESG/Sustainability lens. And third party stakeholders who are setting the pace in ESG research, standard setting (for industries), media, issue advocates…and others watching the corporate sector. Our team is watching the watchers for you. We bring you news, commentary and research in key areas of interest for both investors and asset managers -- and for corporate boards, executives and managers. As Sustainability and ESG frameworks are adopted by more investors, the capital markets are determining winners, laggards and losers. Track the trends, the news, updates, the important developments – makeSustainability HQ™ your headquarters for ESG knowledge management. ESG / Sustainability CRD Analytics Research added to NASDAQ OMX Global Corporate Solutions Platform
(Source: CRD)
CRD Analytics (CRDA) has announced the addition of CRDA’s proprietary Industry and Company Research to the NASDAQ OMX Global Corporate Solutions platform. CRDA’s products distill large sets of complex financial and extra-financial data to produce comprehensive, relevant and actionable information for chief executives, chief financial officers, chief sustainability officers, marketing and communications executives, investor relations professionals and investors. Through an existing partnership with Trucost, the leading global environmental data provider, custom analysis will also be offered directly to NASDAQ OMX’s listed companies and prospective companies in North America. Associated Profiles: TruCost Almost 40% of shareholders vote down Novartis board package at AGM after first ever
(Source: Responsible Investor) Almost 40% of shareholders at Novartis, the giant Swiss pharma company, today (February 22) voted against the company’s board pay after a vocal investor campaign against the CHF25m (€19.4m) market value of the package handed last year to board chairman, Daniel Vasella, and the CHF13 million paid to CEO, Joe Jimenez. This year is the first time that investors have been able to vote on the pay of many Swiss companies, including Novartis, after Swiss investors campaigned to have an advisory say-on-pay vote at the annual general meeting (AGM). Associated Profiles: Responsible Investor Oil, Coal and Power Companies See 50% Increase in Climate and Energy-Related Shareholder Resolutions in 2011 Proxy Season
(Source: Ceres & ICCR) BOSTON - Affirming the financial risks that climate change and other environmental concerns pose to leading energy companies, investors have announced the filing of 66 climate and energy related shareholder resolutions with 41 coal, electric power and oil companies in the 2011 proxy season, making 2011 a record for shareholder engagement in the energy sector, even in the face of Congressional inaction on climate change. The surge in resolutions represents a 50 percent increase over the 44 resolutions filed with 31 coal, oil and electric power companies last year. Associated Profiles: Ceres, ICCR Investors and NGOs aim for biggest ever signatory campaign to back global arms trade treaty
(Source: Responsible Investor) Investors and non-governmental organisations are preparing what they believe could be one of the biggest investor statements in support of United Nations efforts to produce a globally agreed Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) that would establish common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional weapons. The UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment, which has support from institutions representing more than $22 trillion, held a webinar on February 1 to gather investor responses to the issue and corral support. Associated Profiles: UN - Principles for Responsible Investing PRI Sovereign Wealth Funds Analysis: Secretive Libya wealth fund vital for reconstruction
(Source: Reuters) Libya's secretive sovereign wealth fund could hold the key to any post-conflict reconstruction and future economic development with its $70 billion in assets including lucrative stakes in Western firms. Given escalating unrest in Libya, a possible end to Muammar Gaddafi's 41-year rule is likely to shake the foundations of the politically driven fund, but any new government could put the cash to good use and manage the fund more efficiently. Associated Profiles: Libyan Investment Authority Innovating Sovereign Wealth Funds
(Source: Policy Innovations.org) Natural resources are often considered common human assets on a philosophical level, but there is a constant struggle to govern them in ways that benefit the population while avoiding the proverbial tragedy of the commons. One technique has been to employ some form of government resource management that allocates monetary proceeds via a common fund. This has worked particularly well for nonrenewable resources such as oil. The Alaska Permanent Fund, for example, invests 25 to 50 percent of state oil royalties in a diverse portfolio of assets that pays dividends to the citizens of Alaska—averaging around $1,500 per year. Associated Profiles: Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC S&P cuts Bahrain's credit ratings amid unrest
(Source: Bloomberg) DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Standard & Poor's cut the Bahrain government's credit ratings Monday because of concerns that political unrest could roil the small island kingdom for some time to come. Stock markets across the Middle East took a further hit, too, even as global oil prices rose sharply, reflecting investors' wariness over anti-government uprisings that continue to flare up from Libya to the Persian Gulf. Associated Profiles: Mumtalakat Holding Company |
Make SustainabilityHQ™ your daily headquarters for important news, commentary and research results – your HQs for Sustainability and ESG knowledge management. The key capital market players focused on Sustainability and ESG (environmental management, social issues and effective corporate governance) are profiled with an abundance of relevant information. Updates are continuous. The third party organizations helping to shape corporate valuations and corporate reputations are profiled and news about these players is updated every day. Log in and check it out!
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United States Pension Funds NY pension fund shows gain to nearly $141 billion
(Source: Forbes) New York's pension fund for public workers has reported a 6 percent return on investment in its latest quarter to a market value of nearly $141 billion. The Common Retirement Fund for more than 1 million employees, retirees and beneficiaries was valued about $7.8 billion higher for the quarter ending Dec. 31. Associated Profiles:New York State Common Retirement Fund Current Accounting Rules Understate Pension Problem
(Source: emii.com/ Institutional Investor Magazine ) As bad as the underfunding of state pension plans appears, the economic reality could be much worse, says a vocal faction of actuaries and financial economists. The reasoning goes like this: States can no more neglect to pay their pension obligations than they can pass on paying interest to bondholders. If it’s a near-certainty that the benefits will have to be paid, then they should be valued with a commensurate conservative discount rate, such as the yields on U.S. Treasury bonds. It’s this sort of thinking that led the Financial Accounting Standards Board and Congress in 2006 to require corporate defined benefit sponsors to value their pension obligations using yields on high-grade corporate bonds. Sunday Perspective: Real pension issue is full disclosure of liability
(Source: Oakland Tribune) Recently, State Treasurer Bill Lockyer criticized a Stanford University study about California's public pensions as "junk," asserting that "the fundamental problem (is its) claim that (state pension funds) should assume (only a) 4.1 percent return" on investments. However, Stanford's study makes no such claim. Instead, it claims that California is not disclosing the full size of pension liabilities. Public pensions are promises to make lifetime payments to employees after retirement. Those promises are debtlike obligations, created by governments without a vote of the people, but paid by them. Stanford's study quantifies the size of those obligations. Associated Profiles: California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), California State Teachers’ Retirement System Watching the Watchers  UN - Principles for Responsible Investing
Headquarters: United Nations, New York, NY USA
Established: 2005 KEY PARTNERS
UN Global Compact, UNEP Finance Initiative OVERVIEW / MISSION
The first line of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment states: “As institutional investors, we have a duty to act in the best long-term interests of our beneficiaries. In this fiduciary role, we believe that environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues can affect the performance of investment portfolios (to varying degrees across companies, sectors, regions, asset classes and through time).”
PRI leadership believes that using the Principles “...will lead to a more complete understanding of a range of material issues, and this should ultimately result in increased returns and lower risk. There is increasing evidence that ESG issues can be material to performance of portfolios, particularly over the long term...” The Principles are voluntary but [institutional] signatories should respond to annual surveys; those who do not risk expulsion. Update 1 September 2010: UNPRI now has 803 signatories, of which 208 are asset owners; 440 are investment managers; 155 are service providers. The collective AUM is US$20 trillion. As of July 2009: There were 560 signatories to the PRI, managing over USD$18 trillion in assets signed up for the six principles. The PRI reporting and assessment was managed by Mercer on behalf of the PRI (for the third year). To download the UN PRI Report on Progress for 2009. News Sweeps
Exchanges asked to crack down on 'inadequate' reporting
(Monday - February 21, 2011) Associated Profiles : UN - Principles for Responsible Investing PRI - The letter, signed by 24 investors, is part of a broader collaborative engagement initiative that was launched by Aviva Investors and facilitated by the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment in 2008. ...
[more] Investors call for improved ESG reporting from listed firms
(Monday - February 21, 2011) Associated Profiles : UN - Principles for Responsible Investing PRI - The letter, signed by 24 groups led by Aviva Investors, is part of a broader collaborative engagement initiative launched by Aviva facilitated by the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in ... [more] |
