企業社會責任 2.0

F&C Asset Management is launching a fund to invest in "clean" technologies such as renewable energy and areas of the economy expected to be affected by climate change. The Global Climate Opportunities Fund will be launched today with an initial funding of £10m. F&C would not comment yesterday about the target size of the fund. which joins the wide range of existing funds formed in recent years to exploit the increasing investor appetite for clean technologies.

Users of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports are being invited to vote for the most effective reports, with two new awards schemes announced this week.

FTSE Group (FTSE), the global index provider, takes another step forward in the area of corporate social responsibility benchmarking, as it launches a new set of criteria to offset climate change for its FTSE4Good Index Series. FTSE4Good is used by investors as a way to identify companies with positive records of CSR practice; and by listed companies as a framework for best practice. The introduction of FTSE4Good climate change criteria keeps the index series aligned with one of the major concerns facing business and investors today. The implementation of these criteria is a milestone in the ongoing evolution of the leading SRI index series, and is supported by industry experts, government and NGOs alike.

"We strongly oppose proposals at the SEC to either eliminate the shareholder resolution process or make it more difficult to sponsor resolutions," said Tim Smith, Social Investment Forum chairman and senior vice-president of Walden Asset Management, in a statement announcing the Web site’s launch. "We also oppose any step to make it more difficult for investors to help nominate directors."

The firm’s CIS Sustainable Leaders Trust became the first socially responsible investment (SRI) fund to top the 324 strong UK All Companies sector earlier this year.

Socially concerned investors groups say they won't stand by and see Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox crimp their right to demand company accountability on important issues like the business risks of climate change. Three socially responsible and religious investing organizations announced today that they are organizing an online effort to battle proposed government changes they say will "stifle" the voices and rights of shareholders.

Missouri State Treasurer, Sarah Steelman, announced today the first time a “terror-free” investment product will be offered through a state college savings plan (“529” plan). The product, an actively managed international equity investment vehicle, provides Missouri college savings participants and investors across the country the opportunity to ensure that their portfolios exclude companies with ties to countries that support terrorism. UMB Investment Advisors, the investment division for UMB Asset Management, will manage the investment portfolio.

Responsible Endowments Coalition (REC) and Amnesty International are co-hosting a conference about responsible investing November 17-18 at UCLA. REC works to ensure university endowments are invested in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. All UC students are welcome to this conference which will provide the tools to jumpstart a UC-wide movement for comprehensive, responsible investing policies as well as learn about responsible investing.

Experts caution that choosing green is riskier than mainstream investments. Environmental technology companies tend to be smaller and are more volatile investments than larger stocks, even when pooled in a fund. Also, it's nearly impossible to determine whether a particular company, or sector, will prevail as a new business standard. Technology moves quickly, and there is often no consensus among policy makers and consumers as to which solution makes the most environmental and economic sense.

A KCCI official said, “Domestic SRI funds are still at a formative stage, but they will be a meaningful investment method conducive to the development of the nation’s financial market. They may also serve as a bridge linking businesses and the society, depending how they are utilized. However, it is absolutely necessary for ordinary investors to fully understand SRI funds, as they involve social evaluation of businesses in addition to economic evaluation of them, and harmonize the two factors on the basis of objective criteria.” ※ SRI funds refer to funds invested in businesses with exemplary corporate ethics and governance structures, in addition to making proper social contributions. They are commonly found in the U.S. and Europe. In 2005, they formed markets worth 230 trillion won in the U.S. and worth 130 trillion won in Europe. In the U.S. and Europe, SRI funds account for 10 percent of the assets of entire investment funds.. As of February 2007, six asset management firms are operating a total of 27 SRI funds in Korea. Among them, only SH Asset Management’s Tops Arumdaun SRI Stock-Investment Fund (126.3 billion won) maintains a sizable operation. The National Pension launched 150 billion worth of SRI funds in the second half of 2006 and designated three management firms for their entrusted operation.

Are investment fund managers building climate change risk considerations into their planning? A new report commissioned by UK communications firm The HeadLand Consultancy says no. The study surveyed nineteen fund management houses overseeing nearly $6 trillion in assets about their attitudes toward climate change, its impact on their investment philosophy, and their perspective on the role of climate change regulation.

Research estimates by financial consultancy Celent predict that the SRI market in the US will reach $3 trillion by 2011. The European SRI market grew from €1 trillion in 2005 to €1.6 trillion in 2007.

Fund managers interviewed agreed that few individual investors asked them to take environmental considerations into account. As one puts it, “If clients don't ask for it, why should investors and companies put it as a high priority?” The findings suggest that efforts to incorporate extra-financial information into sell-side research, such as the Enhanced Analytics Initiative, are yet to have the desired effect. Globally, funds representing about $3 trillion in assets allocate 5% of broker commissions to sustainability related research in accordance with the EAI. There are signs of progress. In the UK, 12% of assets under management are invested in line with ethical criteria, according to ABN Amro. But taking socially responsible investment into the mainstream will require better quality information from companies, and will need more resources to be ploughed into its analysis.

According to the Social Investment Forum's fifth biennial report on investment trends, which was released in January, SRI investment assets have grown faster since 1995 than all managed assets in this country -- more than 258%. That report documents an 18.5% increase in SRI mutual funds and a 16% rise on social and corporate

an interesting report has been released by Goldman Sachs, which highlights how an increasing number of business leaders view corporate social responsibility as a way to build trust with stakeholders, compete successfully, build business value and deliver higher stock prices. The report examined 6 industry sectors - energy, mining, steel, food, beverages, and media - and showed that companies in these sectors who were considered leaders in implementing environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies have outperformed the general stock market by 25% since August 2005. And 72% of these companies have outperformed their peers over the same period.

Last week, the regulators' five commissioners ripped the top off the box once again when they voted to present two competing rule proposals focused on the election of company directors to the public. And the result could affect how so-called socially responsible and other activist funds do business.

In early 2006, photocopier maker Xerox (XRX - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) cut its ties to a third-party distributor in the Sudan. It was a symbolic move to protest the local government's support for a genocidal civil war in the Darfur region.

This is not a just a personal crusade, however. As chief executive of the London Pensions Fund Authority, he is answerable to a board appointed by Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, and in pushing the responsible investment agenda he says he will be trying to “codify the beliefs of the board”.

Cocheme took credit for trying to get the Pension Fund to live up to the Socially Responsible Investment principles of the UN Global Compact. Inner City Press asked, is the Pension Fund currently abiding by such principles? "No," Cocheme said, "not yet. It has been too slow." He questioned, as Inner City Press has, how the UN Pension Fund could be said to be living up to its commitments to SRI and the Compact if $10 billion of the Fund is privatized outside of the UN, and subject to passive management such that socially irresponsible stocks -- Cocheme mentioned armaments -- cannot or will not be avoided. "That's a good question," Cocheme said.

The annual gathering of responsible investors and investees, will tackle the controversial issue of responsible private equity. Buchan Scott, a partner at leading European private-equity buyout firm Duke Street Capital, will outline his vision of the industry's social, environmental and ethical responsibilities. Matt Christensen, executive director of Eurosif, meanwhile, will provide an overview of the responsible venture capital (VC) investment market. "This addition to our line-up of authoritative speakers provides delegates with an excellent starting point for a debate addressing crucial responsibility issues," said Phil Cain, editor of Clear Profit, the independent publication hosting the event.

Shared Interest, a leading New York-based social investment fund, has received a $1 million investment from The United Methodist General Board of Pension and Health Benefits to support small and micro-enterprise development in South Africa’s most impoverished communities, signifying the pension fund’s commitment to invest in economically marginalized communities like those served by their African clergy.

the University's panel on social investment (known as the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility) affirmed avoidance of direct investment in companies involved in Sudan. But the panel also decided not divest from holdings that indirectly hold Sudan-related investments.

French investors almost doubled the money they put into socially-responsible investments (SRI) in 2006, according to a report by a subsidiary of Caisse des Dépôts. Assets owned by French residents, managed under the principles of SRI, totalled €16.6 billion ($22.1 billion) in 2006, up 88% from €8.8 billion in 2005.

Unitus is announcing the closing the Unitus Equity Fund (UEF). UEF is formed just like the other venture funds I have been a part of. The difference is that UEF is committed to investing into sustainable microfinance enterprises. It is our hope that by demonstrating that microfinance can scale rapidly and produce returns for investors that much greater amount of investment capital will follow. By increasing the capital available to microfinance companies, we increase the number of borrowers that can be served.

idelity investments was under enormous pressure because it invested in PetroChina, a Chinese oil company whose revenue supported the Khartoum regime in Sudan. The story seemed to move like mercury, quick and flashy. A local FOX station, a network not known for its human rights coverage, did a great piece on the Boston-based company, alerting viewers that if Fidelity was managing their money, they might be supporting genocide. Ouch. In his speech, Swarz mentioned his wife urging their family to move their money out of Fidelity. Etc. etc.

The Hockey Hall of Fame may seem like an unlikely venue for tonight's gathering of some of the global leaders in Islamic banking and insurance services. But the location was chosen because it is ideal to introduce foreign investors to Canada, say the organizers of the event from Ittihad Capital Corporation, a Canadian company specializing in Islam-compliant financial services.

Norway’s decision to exclude Wal-Mart from its national pension fund investments because of allegedly poor labor practices has made headlines; it’s rare for a sovereign government to take such a strong socially responsible investing (SRI) stance against a large company — particularly one that doesn’t make bombs or bullets. But there’s a whole world of SRI out there, and the concept — while not unknown in the US — has a much stronger foothold in Europe and other parts of the world.

Some big investors are responding. Kansas, taking cues from California, this month passed a law prohibiting the state's largest pension fund from investing in companies that operate in Sudan. And the University of Illinois in recent weeks joined dozens of other U.S. universities in vowing to sell investments in companies that do business there. "I think the groups are trying to shed some light on the connection between outrageous behavior in some part of the world, like genocide, and the money connection to the average investor through their company-sponsored retirement plan or their pension plan. They're trying to make a connection between two seemingly different worlds," said Jeff Tjornehoj, an analyst at Lipper Inc., which tracks funds.

”Islamic banking has two edges to it - it is Islamic banking, but it is also ethical banking, which has been in the West for a long time now […] If you look at some of our Western counterparts they have offshoots or subsidiaries in ethical banking, and they don’t invest in some of the arms areas or the defence industry. Islamic banking undoubtedly has the same sort of value sets.” Afaq Khan, the global CEO for Islamic banking at Standard Chartered agrees with this and elaborates: “The non-Muslims who are looking at the Islamic solution are saying that because it is belief-based, it must be more equitable to them, because there is a third party, the Sharia board, looking at it […] Because it is based on a religion, they consider that there must be equity in this contract.

提醒国际奥委会(http://www.olympic.org/uk/index_uk.asp) 的书函和诉求运动,表明 中国奇耻大辱的双重角色 - 中国身为奥运会东主和中国作为达尔富尔大屠杀之沉默伙伴- 肯定引起注意. 类似的运动促使奥运企业赞助家利用他们与中国的关系亦可有杠杆之效: 现在恰是赞助公司们协议定案的季节. 若要成功, 这项活动必得"病毒"式地进行 (即靠口碑传播信息):必须烈性、创造性,集中 及 无法被压制的. 我们必须充分利用一切媒体,各种电子通讯时代的提供(我会提供通 我的网站,www.sudanreeves.org,给与尤其有用或特别创意的计划). 中国必须被迫看到面前有一个严峻的抉择: 要么是有效地利用中国在苏丹政府的影响力来促进他们接受联合国安理会第1706号决议之下说派的维和部队 -- 否则中国将成为有史以来最强大的国际性羞辱运动的目标. 中国必须了解,没有第三个选择,没有"第三条道路".