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ESG Performance Factors are important to a growing number of asset owners and managers. The ESG framework – considering environmental and energy issues and impacts, the company positioning and actions on social/societal issues, and effective corporate governance (or not) – is a style…an approach…an expanding set of guidelines….a framework…depending on the analyst and investor and their embrace of ESG factors in investment decision-making. ESG is not about intangibles or the non-financials – these factors are very tangible to investors and stakeholders. Yes, the financials are critical for all investors – but corporate performance on ESG factors is now a proxy for the quality of corporate management for many investors. And quality of management (and board) directly impacts the financials – determining access to capital markets, cost of capital, attractiveness to investors, buy-sell-hold decisions, and more. In these Highlights we offer the results of our continuous global scanning for news, commentary and research on ESG issues – for investors, and for the information of corporate boards, senior executives and managers. These are selections from the hundreds of public reports and original content contained in our Sustainability HQ™ platforms. We invite your comments, questions and inquiries. The Team at G&A Institute – your Sustainability Headquarters. ESG / Sustainability Warming climate expected to harm water supplies (Source:: San Francisco Chronicle) American cities will face severe problems in coming decades as the world's warming climate hits the coasts with rising sea levels, causes huge floods and storms in the Midwest, and triggers water shortages in the Southwest, according to a national environment organization. Associated Profiles : Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) GRI and CDP Detail Expanded Services (Source: Environmental Leader) Services offered by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) are evolving to help companies at every stage of their reporting, representatives from the two organizations said last week. CDP development manager Patrick Crawford and GRI technical development manager Bastian Buck were speaking on an Environmental Leader webinar, The Business Case for Sustainability Disclosure. Associated Profiles : Carbon Disclosure Project Commentary The art of impact investment (Source: Leadership Online) Corporate social investment and business philanthropy used to be a kind of code for “socially sexy business”, or “business with a conscience”. But often these approaches failed to venture beyond mere handouts to underprivileged individuals or communities, causing dependency rather than liberation. Quite often they were little more than feel-good gestures for excessively rich people. Or nice photo opportunities for the chairperson and good press for the company. Associated Profiles : UN - Principles for Responsible Investing PRI Research/Report CSR in Annual Reports: 7 Conflicting Trends (Source: CSR Blog, Forbes) Public companies in the U.S. are, by law, required to disclose financial results only. Then why are a majority of annual reports increasingly addressing social responsibility, sustainable practices and corporate giving? Though integrated reports may eventually replace annual reports, 52 percent of Fortune 100 Companies included statements of Corporate Social Responsibility in their 2010 annual reports and 10-K. Sovereign Wealth Funds With bulging cash balances, sovereign funds set for deals (Source: Reuters) Global sovereign wealth funds are set to hasten investing the billions of dollars of cash holdings they have built up in a rebound from the 2008 financial crisis that has lifted their combined assets to a record. But unlike three years ago, when they rode to the rescue of Wall Street titans such as Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, the investments this time around are seen mostly of a smaller nature and into the faster-growing sectors such as resources and infrastructure. Associated Profiles : Abu Dhabi Investment Authority How do you invest €390 billion responsibly? (Source: City Wire) Given the sheer size of Norway’s €390 billion public pension fund, adopting SRI policies could be a daunting prospect. However, the Norwegian government’s unwavering commitment to this stance has led it to develop its own responsible investing methods for what is the world’s second largest sovereign wealth fund. Associated Profiles : Norwegian Government Pension FundMoney from oil changes the face of Azerbaijan (Source: News AZ) The main reason behind the change in Azerbaijan is the rise in oil prices and oil revenue. Today it is the production center for 70 percent of the Caucasus’ economy. With skyscrapers starting to tower over the city, impressive five-star hotels being built and luxury boutiques opening everywhere, Baku has changed dramatically in the last three years due to a rise in oil revenue. Associated Profiles : State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) |
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| United States Pension Funds States Miss Pension Targets by 50% Even With Private Equity (Source: San Francisco Chronicle) In the last decade, as a wave of baby boomers began retiring, America's biggest state pension systems earned less than half what they needed to keep up with promises made to millions of graying civil servants.The state of Washington's 3.92 percent return for the 10 years through June 30, 2010, after fees, was the best in a Bloomberg survey of state pensions with more than $20 billion in assets. That was nowhere close to the average yearly gains of as much as 8 percent that fund managers and public officials count on for meeting obligations to retirees. Associated Profiles : New York State Common Retirement Fund Public workers' pension contributions are a reasonable policy (Source: News-Press – FL) During last year's campaign, Gov. Rick Scott derided the Florida Retirement System, the state-run program with more than 650,000 public-employee participants and more than 300,000 beneficiaries. Back then, FRS, reflecting the declines of the recession, operated with a $16.7 billion gap between what it projected to have in the bank and what it projected to need to pay future benefits. Associated Profiles : Florida Retirement System Pension Plan City Pension Funds Refuse to Release Recipients’ Names (Source: NY Times) New York City officials are keeping secret the names of tens of thousands of retirees who get pensions from the city, a step that breaks with decades of tradition and has outraged advocates of open government. Several city pension funds, including those that pay retired police officers, have stopped releasing the names of some or all of their pensioners. The names of retired city employees, when linked to pension amounts, were in the past analyzed by policy groups and news organizations seeking to detect potential pension abuses or to understand the growth of pension spending. Associated Profiles : New York City Comptroller’s Office: Bureau of Asset Management Commentary CalPERS blasts News Corp.'s two-tier stock structure (Source: Sacramento Bee) CalPERS threw its own pie at Rupert Murdoch this week. As the hacking scandal intensified at Murdoch's News Corp., the California pension fund took aim at the company's two-tier stock structure. Having two tiers of stock enables company founders to maintain control. News Corp.'s Class B shares, owned mainly by the Murdochs, carry special voting rights. All told, the family has 40 percent of the voting power over News Corp. even though it owns just 12 percent of all the shares. Associated Profiles : California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Watching the Watchers
KEY PARTNERS OVERVIEW/MISSION News Sweeps Chilean wine maker leads on water footprint Concha y Toro is first winery to measure water footprint Reducing your water footprint | ||
SustainabilityHQ Highlights is prepared by the Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. based on continuous monitoring of trends and developments in Sustainability and ESG. The SustainabilityHQ™ platform is available by subscription. Governance & Accountability Institute is a monitoring, research, intelligence-gathering and knowledge management organizations operating at the intersections of powerful forces reshaping relationship between stockholders and stakeholders, and the public corporation. For more information, contact us at 646.430.8230 or info@ga-institute.com. G&A Institute manages SustainabilityHQ. | ||
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