Do you have cutting edge research to communicate or experience in sustainaible investment that you would like to share? We are now accepting proposals for the upcoming TBLI Conference in Bangkok in May 2007.  We currently have 70% of the speaker's slots filled for TBLI Asia in Bankok 24-25 May 2007.  Currently, European and North American presentations are overrepresented.  To acheive a greater balance of perspectives, priority will be given to presenations from asian financial organizations and sustainable investment professionals.  If you or your organization would like to submit a presentation, please go to our conference page.  Registration for the conference is opening soon.

Hedge funds have received much publicity in recent years due to their influence in conventional capital markets. Their total volume exceeds that of the Islamic finance industry altogether, with more than $1,000 billion in assets under management, including debts,
while Islamic finance is estimated to be at about $250 billion to $500 billion.

A  Cost Curve  for Greenhouse Gas Reduction

by Per-Anders Enkvist, Tomas Nauclér, and Jerker Rosander (free registration required)

'A study of the relative economics of different approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions offers surprising insights for policy makers and business leaders.  For starters, in a 25-year perspective, power generation and manufacturing industry offer less than half of the potential for reducing emissions. Almost a quarter of possible emission reductions would result from measures (such as better insulation in buildings) that carry no net life cycle cost—in effect, they come free of charge. The study finds that a substantial share of the overall opportunities, including a large potential to reduce emissions by protecting and replanting forests, lies in developing economies.
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.

When do you start creating innovative products and services? Do you do it after everyone starts clamoring for it, or do you it long before, slightly before, or just at the crest of the wave? I often have discussions with financial institutions about their lack of sustainable investment products, even though the bank group has made a clear commitment to be a leader in sustainability. Why are the two so clearly separate, and why do the major banks have so few sustainable investment products across all the asset classes?

I often ask the banks ‘what's the deal, what are your waiting for?’ ‘Do you want to be the last to offer these sustainable or extra-financial investment products?’ The same answer is always given, ‘well, we don't have any demand,’ or ‘the products we created in the past didn't sell,’ and ‘the market is not ready.’ They say, ‘when our clients really start to ask for these products, we will be ready.’

Did Steve Jobs get thousands of emails asking to build the I-Pod or I-Mac? Did Sony have potential customers crying out for the Playstation? Did Bill Gates receive thousands of letters from gamers desperate for the Xbox? Of course not, because these companies had to anticipate where things are going. We have had a continuous onslaught of recent front-page articles about climate change and, in addition, there has been rapid growth in clean technologies. There are large mandate commitments to ESG investing by pension funds (APB and ERAPF). Green skyscrapers are rising up in Manhattan. Newspapers are tarnishing the Gates foundation for not managing the bulk of its money in line with its mission. Bonds using ESG are being demanded by some of the largest institutional investors in the world. Yet the banks keep saying, ‘we are waiting for demand.’ How many elephants need to fall on you before you get the message?

You cannot be a ‘leader’ in sustainability as a bank and offer few or no sustainable investment products.

One of my closest friends passed away in December. Bob Korlaar was a man of life. He lived every second with joy and passion. Whenever we came over to visit or have dinner, our son (young at the time) would be worn out by his childlike enthusiasm and energy. He was the essence of life, love and generosity. There was never any measurement or expectation of reciprocity. Bob helped everyone who needed help or support. He was the guy you called at 3:30 in the morning when you were lost, desperate, or hopeless.

His funeral summed up his life. He arranged for many of his favorite jazz songs to be played. There were no speeches about what a great person he was -- the full hall attested to that. Bob Korlaar was a ‘mensch’ without any ambiguity or misinterpretation. I loved him dearly and will miss him intensely, as will his dear wife, Elly.

His final song, ‘Smile’ by Rod Stewart, was a fitting tribute to a man who touched everyone with a smile and a solid shoulder. Bobby wanted everyone to live and squeeze all the juice from the orange of life that we could. I hope I will live up to his high standards.

Bob Korlaar is not the Angel of the Month, but he is the Angel.
 
Smile!

The outlook for sustainable investment is promising, but tenuous.  The growth of the past decade is poised to continue as long as investors, financial professionals, and corporate managers can maintain the momentum of recent trends.  However, there are multiple factors that will influence investor demand, corporate motivation, and political will.  The influence of significant events, such as corporate scandals, environmental catastrophes, technological breakthroughs, and political shifts, still has the ability to propel or slow sustainable investment growth.  In the end these factors all add to or detract from the consumer demand, both retail and institutional, for sustainable investments. Ultimately, this is what will determine the final outcome for the sustainable investment industry.

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.'

TBLI ASIA

BANGKOK, THAILAND

24-25 MAY 2007

Landmark Hotel

TBLI EUROPE

PARIS, FRANCE

15-16 NOVEMBER 2007

Palais Brongniart

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