U.S. state, local, and business leaders came together in June 2017 to confirm their commitment to the Paris Agreement and continued efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Importantly, signatories express the many reasons behind their support for the agreement, including its role as a driver of economic growth and job creation through investment and innovation. http://wearestillin.com/
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are 17 broad goals towards which the UN seeks to make significant progress between now and 2030. Importantly, these goals are set with all parties in mind, governments, non-governmental organizations and business. Many of these goals are challenging and overlapping. But an important twist here is the inclusion and embrace [...]
Within a day of the US withdrawal from the Paris Accord, United Nations Secretary-General Guterres spoke of the established scientific basis linking human activities and climate change, the broad global support of the accord, and the urgency to limit further harm to the planet. While emphasizing the importance of the Paris Accord, he also explained the [...]
Many articles have taken a crack at explaining the lack of diversity in the asset management industry. This New York Times article from January, 2017 reflects on the possible causes, as well as the returns that investors might unknowingly be leaving on the table. Investment management is but one example where greater cognitive diversity results in [...]
On May 12th, the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries issues a Risk Alert to draw attention to the myriad of new risks posed by climate change, in which they state, "There is an increasing body of evidence demonstrating that climate change represents a material risk to future economic stability." The Institute asks members to think carefully [...]
Sadly, the consequences of climate change are neither hypothetical, nor are they imagined. This article examples how one coastal community is wrestling with increased flooding, rocketing insurance rates, and dropping property values. This is very likely what lies ahead for countless coastal areas. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/magazine/when-rising-seas-transform-risk-into-certainty.html
The United Nations Principals for Responsible Investment are six principles that altogether represent a commitment to adhere to sustainable investment practices. With 1,700 signatories representing $62 trillion in assets, UN PRI represents the strength in numbers of this global movement, and also where the investment industry is heading. https://www.unpri.org/about/the-six-principles
SASB has led the effort in the United States to create a roadmap for identifying the critical non-financial factors, or “key performance indicators” (KPIs) for each industry. This report includes case studies that walk through integration of these non-traditional metrics into securities analysis. SASB_ESG-Integration-Insights-Q4-2016-121516-library
Data in the Peterson Report shows that companies with greater gender diversity and inclusion are more profitable and successful. Petersen Report Gender Diversity
This groundbreaking research confirmed the connection between “non-financial” factors and investment returns. Further, the analysis distinguishes between critical and non-critical factors, and the variance of critical factors across industries. Critical factors, referred to as “key performance indicators,” KPIs for short, are critical for companies to identify and target for investment. How well a firm accomplishes this [...]
