Feature Articles
ADVANCE Survey: Sustainable Value of European Industry
by the ADVANCE Project Team (click here for team listing)
'This study provides an essential tool for investment analysts and policy-makers to evaluate the relative financial returns on the use of environmental capital between sectors and companies. ADVANCE (Application and Dissemination of Value-Based Eco-Ratings in Financial Markets) is an international project supported by the LIFE Environment programme. (Full information available at http://www.advance-project.org) ADVANCE applies the Sustainable Value-concept on a large European scale for the first time. The Sustainable Value-concept allows to assess and to manage sustainable performance similar to economic performance. For this purpose it makes use of the tools and techniques used in the financial markets to assess and manage economic capital.'MNC
Codes of Conduct: CSR or Corporate Governance?
by Krista Bondy, Dirk Matten and Jeremy Moon,
posted at the ICCSR website
ABSTRACT: 'It has been gernally assumed that Codes of Conduct are used primarily as a tool for CSR. This paper questions this assumption and suggests that codes are not primarily tools for CSR but tools of corporate governance more generally. The data gathered from corporate websites including articulated motivations for code use and code characteristics indicate that corporations use codes as a tool of corporate governance (which may include CSR). Our research cast doubts on the common assumption that codes of conduct in MNCs are primarily a tool of CSR and rather suggest that codes, once adopted, are used as mainly internal tools of corporate governance and employee compliance.'
Click here to read the whole article.
Feature articles focus on current trends and investment opportunities in the field of SRI, TBLI and Corporate Governance, offering a source of new information and insights.
Do you have an idea for an article, or would like to submit an article for publication? Please send a letter to the editor.
Columns
Expanding the Ghetto
by Robert Rubinstein
In July I was invited to a large
financial conference in Paris. I was quite excited because there would
be over 1500 financial professionals attending. Hopefully, there would
be some interest in SRI. To my amazement and disappointment, few were.
The issue was not even on the program. It was like being thrown into a
bath of ice water - quite refreshing, I must say. A true
awakening of how we still live in a ghetto. A growing ghetto, but
it is still a ghetto nonetheless.
While I was walking to the conference, I bumped into a leading economic journalist for the New York Times. He had no idea what I was talking about in terms of sustainable investment. When I responded to his inquiry as to my focus of work, he asked, "what is sustainable investment"? Trying to explain to him what it was and why it is relevant seemed to be a total, utter waste of time.
I had made a decision that in 2006, I should not be wasting my time on explaining the relevance of sustainable finance to people not interested. I remember saying that if you don't ‘get’ the relevance in 2006 of ‘extra-financial’ factors to investment, then there is no hope for you.
For the past two weeks, I have been traveling the United States with my family. In addition, I arranged some meetings with finance people in New York. It is now clear to me that my attitude was all wrong. We will always have to raise awareness about the relevance of sustainable investment. People will always need encouragement, knowledge, inspiration, ideas, nurturing, and pushing. If they don't get it, they haven't gotten all the information or they have not seen the ‘financial herd’ forming. Embracing the disbelievers among corporate leaders, financial professionals, academic community, policy makers, etc. is critical to awareness-raising. It is irrelevant how ignorant, defensive, or disrespectful they might seem. Constantly, reaching out to those who have a low level of awareness of the self interest of sustainable investment is an absolute imperative. If not, we will remain in an isolated ghetto, only allowed to perform a little song and dance once in a while, as a novelty. That is not my goal, nor should it be yours.
While I was walking to the conference, I bumped into a leading economic journalist for the New York Times. He had no idea what I was talking about in terms of sustainable investment. When I responded to his inquiry as to my focus of work, he asked, "what is sustainable investment"? Trying to explain to him what it was and why it is relevant seemed to be a total, utter waste of time.
I had made a decision that in 2006, I should not be wasting my time on explaining the relevance of sustainable finance to people not interested. I remember saying that if you don't ‘get’ the relevance in 2006 of ‘extra-financial’ factors to investment, then there is no hope for you.
For the past two weeks, I have been traveling the United States with my family. In addition, I arranged some meetings with finance people in New York. It is now clear to me that my attitude was all wrong. We will always have to raise awareness about the relevance of sustainable investment. People will always need encouragement, knowledge, inspiration, ideas, nurturing, and pushing. If they don't get it, they haven't gotten all the information or they have not seen the ‘financial herd’ forming. Embracing the disbelievers among corporate leaders, financial professionals, academic community, policy makers, etc. is critical to awareness-raising. It is irrelevant how ignorant, defensive, or disrespectful they might seem. Constantly, reaching out to those who have a low level of awareness of the self interest of sustainable investment is an absolute imperative. If not, we will remain in an isolated ghetto, only allowed to perform a little song and dance once in a while, as a novelty. That is not my goal, nor should it be yours.
Angel of the Month
You know it is easy to plant seeds in fertile, lush, rich soil. Everything takes root and grows. What is very hard is to plant a seed in a desert or rocky surface that is devoid of vegetation. Mary Jane McQuillen who started working at Citigroup Asset Management in 1996, has been working for years in preparing the grounds for SRI to take root in a large financial institution, often in an hostile environment.
If you ever walk with Mary Jane, you need to move fast because she is bursting with energy. That enthusiasm, passion and commitment is even clearer when she talks about SRI. ‘The situation is much better than 5 years ago, but we still need to do much more.’ I had to remind her what an incredible job she was doing and had done.
Now as Director Social Awareness Investment Programs at Clearbridge Advisors (merger Citigroup and Legg Masson), she will be able to move more zeros in the direction of SRI.
It was wonderful sharing lunch and stories of the fights in the trenches and pushing the stone up the hill. How hard it was and is sometimes, but that we are close to the top. I want to personally thank Mary Jane for all her hard work, and continuous commitment to making sustainable investment a reality. In addition, I want to congratulate her on being our Angel of the Month. Congratulations!
News
Socially Responsible Investment
AP Funds Agree to Joint SRI Tender (Reg. Req'd)
Today's investors 'more ethical'
First Socially Responsible Investing Portfolio Devoted to Diversity Launched
Screening & Reporting
AP3
May Divest in Yahoo (Reg. Req'd)
SRI Analysts Find More Large U.S. Companies Reporting on Social and Environmental Issues
Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate Social Responsibility: What the Smart CEO Needs to Know
CEOs Embrace Corporate Social Responsibility With New Urgency
False Consciousness: A Crook By Any Other Name
Socially and
Environmentally Responsible Investing Comes of Age
Corporate Governance
Environmental disclosure 'sound corporate governance'
Corporate Governance Activists are Headed in the Wrong Direction
EU corporate governance body says no need for new rule on internal controls
Environmental & Clean Technology
Expanding Funds for Cleantech
Why
Buy Renewables?
DFJ Closes $284M for Cleantech
Does Trucost Measurement of Corporate Carbon Footprints Reduce Environmental Impacts?
Miscellaneous
One Very Concerned Scientist
Greenland ice cap beer launched
Ben & Jerry's Climate Change College
We select a variety of current news items hosted at third-party websites that cover a broad range of issues from different perspectives around sustainable finance and asset management, corporate social responsibility, climate change, and corporate governance. Some sites require registration and links may go stale over time. Please let us know if there is a story we should include in next month's newsletter.
Do you have a comment or reaction on any of the material presented in the Newsletter? Send a letter to the editor.
Publications
The
Australian Wheat Board, its illicit conduct and the remedies for
Shareholders
By Bernard Murphy, Chairman of the Board of Maurice Blackburn
Cashman Pty Ltd'As the Royal Commission into the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) continues, what are the remedies for AWB shareholders? Bernard Murphy shares from his direct involvement in the case and outlines what may lay ahead. Bernard will futher expand on how investors in Australia are uniting to address corporate behaviour at the International SRI Conference in Sydney on 21&22 September 2006.' (PDF Download)
Quarter 1, 2006 NEX Review, New Energy Finance Public Market’s Briefing (PDF Download)
by New Energy Finance (http://www.newenergyfinance.com)In the last few trading days of the first quarter, the WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index (NEX) broke through the 270 mark to close at 270.63 on 29 March 2006. Overall, the NEX gained 25.3% or 54.62 points in the first quarter of 2006. Increased investor appetite for clean energy stocks, rising oil and gas prices, and a series of high-profile public policy announcements all contributed to the positive performance.
The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer (PDF Download)
by Dean Baker“This book debunks the myth that conservatives favor the market over government intervention. The book examines a variety of "nanny state" policies that make the rich richer while leaving most Americans worse off. Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, candidly rejects current political truisms, proposes alternatives, and encourages readers to openly debate the way forward.”
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Discussion Paper (PDF Download)
by Tom Fox, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).“The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), broadly defined as the overall contribution of a business to sustainable development (SD), should therefore be equally valid for large and small enterprises. But the focus in discussions on CSR tends to be on the largest companies; small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often overlooked.”
Does
Globalization Benefit the Poor? (PDF Download)
by NEF
This bold and controversial report argues that globalization is
failing the world's poorest as their share of the benefits of growth
plummets, and that accelerating climate change hurts the poorest most.Women & MBAs (PDF Download)
by The Aspen Institute, Business & Society ProgramDespite concerted efforts by business schools to attract women to their MBA programs, women are underrepresented in these degree programs. Enrollment of women rarely exceeds 30% - compared with over 40% in medical and law schools..
