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Newsletter

Source: Governance & Accountability Institute

Sustainability-Highlights-Header
October 14, 2010

SERVICES  |  RESEARCH  |  EVENTS  |  WEBINARS  |  BLOG  |  ARCHIVE

From across the nation and around the world, SustainabilityHQ™ (formerly INSIGHTS-edge™) brings you news, commentary and research in key areas of interest regarding ESG, Sovereign Wealth Funds and US Public Sector Pension Funds.  We watch the watchers...who are watching you.

ESG / Sustainability

Can investors navigate the sustainability information highway?
(Source: CSRWire) Investors and analysts have access to more Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) information than ever before to help make informed investment decisions. But do they really know how to use it?

SustainabilityHQ™ enters the long line of commercial platforms that aim to support investors and corporate leaders navigate the sustainability maze. With sustainability being the new blue-eyed boy of investment circles and bandwith practically exploding with sustainability data bytes, SustainabilityHQ promises to be "the headquarters for knowledge about sustainability and ESG issues," according to Hank Boerner, Chairman of The Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc., a knowledge center providing resources to leaders across private, social, institutional and public sectors. The G&A Institute owns the SustainabilityHQ platform that was launched last month. I took a look around the site

New report: CSR and letting stakeholders make business decisions
(Source:  Just Means) We need a new mindset for corporate sustainability that uses relationships with stakeholders to build business opportunities, not just manage risk, argues a new CSR report. The report, from the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility at Cranfield University, suggests that organizations need to move from just talking to stakeholders, to involving them in business decisions.

European Sustainable And Responsible Investment (SRI) Market Almost Double Since 2008, In Spite Of The Financial Crisis
(Source:  Mondovisione ) The European SRI Market is undergoing a transformative period, having significantly grown since 2008. Eurosif's 2010 European SRI Study estimates the total European SRI Market at €5 trillion AuM. The ongoing financial crisis combined with disasters such as the Deepwater Horizon environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico have acted as a wake-up call for many investors, making them more aware of the need to integrate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues into investment decisions. With the accelerated growth in both the Core and Broad SRI segments, institutional investor demand is playing a key role in the mainstreaming of European SRI.

Sovereign Wealth Funds

China's sovereign fund to continue increasing stake in China Construction Bank
(Source: Zinhau)  Central Huijin Investment Ltd., an arm of China's sovereign wealth fund, has finished the first round of increasing stake in China Construction Bank (CCB) and it intended to continue increasing its CCB shareholdings, said the bank on Tuesday.

CHRONOLOGY-Sovereign wealth funds and their developments
(Source: Reuters)  Sovereign wealth funds, which manage windfall revenues for future generations, are set to double their assets in less than 10 years to $7 trillion. Following is a chronology of some of the key events for sovereign wealth funds.

Abu Dhabi's IPIC plans benchmark bond – lead
(Source: Reuters) Abu Dhabi government-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) plans to launch a benchmark bond to fund its growing portfolio of investments, a senior banker with a lead arranger said on Tuesday.

US Public Sector Pension Funds

Dire outcomes predicted for municipal pension systems
(Source: Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management)  Prior research by the Kellogg School of Management has found $3 trillion in unfunded legacy liabilities from state-sponsored pension plans. However, new research finds additional liabilities from municipalities that magnify the growing public pension crisis.

New York Bans Manatt Law Firm From Pension-Fund Placements for Five Years
(Source: Bloomberg)  Law firm Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP agreed to be banned for five years from appearing before any New York public pension fund and will pay $550,000 to the state, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said.

CalPERS backs new placement agent rules
(Source: Global Pensions) The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) says new rules governing the registration of placement agents will improve the transparency in the fund’s investment process.


Please note – the INSIGHTS-edge™ platform has been enhanced and re-named – this is now SustainabilityHQ™, your headquarters for important Sustainability and ESG knowledge. The new name better reflects the content and features of the platform, which focuses on the increasing importance of Sustainability topics and issues to corporate managers and to investors (asset owners and managers), and to a host of third parties / stakeholders.Log in and check it out!

For more on:

ESG & Sustainability Players
- Shaping Perceptions, Valuations & Decision-Making

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs)
- State-Owned Global Investors

US Public Sector Investors 
- State and Municipal Retirement Funds

Asset Managers
- Investors adopting ESG guidelines/policies & shaping market trends

 

Navigating the way to
Sustainability...

Contents © 2009, 2010
All Rights Reserved

Copyrights for other providers
are noted where appropriate.
Please credit the source if quoted.

 

Watching the Watchers

Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy
Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts
Established: November 2008

KEY PARTNERS: Ceres 

OVERVIEW / MISSION
“BICEP’s goal is to work directly with key allies in the business community and with members of Congress to pass meaningful energy and climate change legislation that is consistent with our core principles.”

RECENT NEWS

Gap and Levi Strauss not joining oilsands boycott
(Wednesday - September 01, 2010) - Through participation in the Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy, Levi Strauss said it has joined other global companies in calling for ...

The North Face
(Thursday - August 19, 2010) - In 2009, The North Face partnered with and is actively supporting Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP) in order to change business ...

Oregon makes new strides with smaller footprints
(Tuesday - August 17, 2010) - ... in reducing their impact and improving business has led to Nike's latest undertaking — the Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP). ...

Business Leaders Count the Cost of the US Senate's Failure to Act on Clean...
(Monday - August 02, 2010) - We Can Lead is a project of the Clean Economy Network and Ceres' Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP). For more on We Can Lead ... [more] 

 

SustainabilityHQ Highlights is prepared by the Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. Click here for more information on the Governance & Accountability Institute’s SustainabilityHQ resources.   

Governance & Accountability Institute is a monitoring, intelligence-gathering and knowledge management center 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.