Finance & Investment
The latest in the spheres of socially responsible investing, impact investing, and other ways investors and shareholders are asserting their desire for ethical investment options.
Clif Bar Ag Fund to Help Organic Farmers Weather Economic Challenges
(4 days ago) - The Clif Ag Fund will help increase the economic resilience of organic farmers in Clif’s supply chain — including lower energy costs from day one.Financial Services Lead Charge in Linking Financial Performance, Sustainability
(1 week ago) - Companies increasingly recognize the importance to their bottom line of a comprehensive sustainability strategy, which includes reporting.
New Reporting Standard Aims to Drive Finance Towards SDGs
(2 weeks ago) - Now, projects seeking funding must demonstrate, to the satisfaction of a third-party assessor, that they advance the SDGs.
New Guide Will Empower Banks to Quickly Assess Natural Capital Risk
(1 month ago) - New step-by-step guide from Natural Capital Finance Alliance builds on launch of web-based tool, ENCORE, in November.
Less Medley, More Value: Creating a New Quality for Corporate Reporting
(2 months ago) - This week at the COP24 climate summit in Katowice, Poland, the discussion about how to implement the directives of the Paris Agreement is in full swing.
Corporate Reporting Dialogue Launches 2-Year Project to Drive Better Alignment
(3 months ago) - Today, the Corporate Reporting Dialogue — a coalition of major international corporate reporting standard setters and framework providers — announced a groundbreaking, two-year project focused on driving better alignment in the corporate reporting landscape, to make it easier for companies to prepare effective and coherent disclosures that meet the evolving information needs of capital markets and society.
Future Value, Submerged Value, 'ROP' & Other Facets of the ROI of Sustainability
(3 months ago) - Last week at Sustainable Brands’ New Metrics ’18 conference in Philadelphia, PA, over 300 delegates from brands, NGOs, strategists and practitioners across sectors gathered to share the newest credible tools and solutions for assessing the ROI of Sustainable Business.
Nespresso, Starbucks, Lin-Manuel Miranda Partner to Revive Puerto Rican Coffee Sector
(3 months ago) - The Hispanic Federation, together with actor Lin-Manuel Miranda and his family, today announced the launch of a five-year initiative to revitalize Puerto Rico’s coffee sector. The founding partners include Hispanic Federation, Nespresso, The Rockefeller Foundation, Starbucks, TechnoServe and World Coffee Research, all of which are committed to supporting smallholder coffee farmers on the island.
Women-Led Alternative to Top-Down Philanthropy Is Driving Change
(4 months ago) - The often-patrician act of philanthropy and the #MeToo movement may not seem like the most obvious pairing, but for Cynthia Nimmo, president and CEO of the Women’s Funding Network (WFN), they are two sides of the same coin.
How Silence Is Sabotaging Your Impact Strategy
(4 months ago) - As impact investing marks its 10-year anniversary, the movement reaches an inflection point. As with any movement that quickly gains traction and attracts followers, it also sees outsiders and newcomers jumping on the impact bandwagon to profit from the trendline. In the age of ‘fake news,’ what can the impact investing community do to ensure that real change happens?
From Risky to Resilient: 3 Perspectives on Future-Proofing Your Investments
(4 months ago) - One of many highlights of Climate Week NYC was a roundtable discussion hosted by SustainAbility and the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, on “Innovating Investments for Climate Resilience.” Tensie Whelan, Director at the Center for Sustainable Business, moderated the conversation with Robert Engle, Director at NYU Stern Volatility Institute; Anne van Riel, Head of Sustainable Finance for the Americas at ING; and Courtney Thompson, Manager of Global Sustainable Finance at Morgan Stanley.
Investors Can Now Compare ESG Scores on New ESGHub™ App
(4 months ago) - Responsible investing has been an overriding theme of the past two weeks, with a proliferation of new initiatives, campaigns and reports joining a growing list of recently released resources for sustainable and impact investors to increase the quality of their investments emerging during last week’s Global Climate Action Summit and this week at Climate Week.
Q&A: EcoAct on How the Dow 30 Measure Up on Climate Action
(4 months ago) - Since its founding in 2006, EcoAct Group has grown from raising awareness at the local level in France into a global collection of experts engaging with the private and public sectors to aid in the transition to a low-carbon economy. In addition to advising companies on climate change and carbon neutrality strategies, EcoAct also conducts research to assess publicly listed companies’ efforts in these areas.
Lenders Focus on SMEs Playing a Giant Global Role
(4 months ago) - As the world’s focus turns to the opening of the United Nations’ 73rd session of the General Assembly, attention will turn to the state of progress on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an overarching set of aims intended to improve environmental, economic and social conditions by 2030.
California Mandates 2 Largest Pension Funds Factor Climate Risk into Investments
(5 months ago) - Big news from California: The state legislature has just passed a bill, SB 964, that requires two massive pension funds run by the state, the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS), to factor in climate-related financial risk and report progress both on that, and towards meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement.
GIIN to Impact Investors: SDGs in Dire Need of Capital Infusion
(5 months ago) - A new report from the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), Financing the Sustainable Development Goals: Impact Investing in Action, reiterates the need for impact investors to raise and direct new capital to help meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. With an estimated $5-7 trillion needed annually to achieve the goals, it is clear that more capital — deployed by investors whose aims align with these goals — is an absolute requirement.
How to Be a Company Society Requires for the Next 100 Years
(5 months ago) - This post has been translated from Japanese — read the original interview here.
Financial Services Behind Global Average on Climate Change Disclosure
(5 months ago) - Financial Services firms are lagging behind all other industries when it comes to climate change disclosure, according to a new data brief released by Datamaran — a global leader in Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions for non-financial risk management.
Amalgamated Bank Commits $700M to Finance Socially Responsible Businesses
(6 months ago) - Amalgamated Bank — the US’ largest socially responsible bank, which recently acquired New Resource Bank — has committed to double the amount of assets New Resource has dedicated to financing socially responsible businesses over the next two years, moving from its current commitment of $350 million to at least $700 million by 2020.
Global Investors Urge RSPO for Stronger Standards
(6 months ago) - More than 90 institutional investors representing more than $6.7 trillion in assets under management have called on the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to strengthen its draft standards for certifying the sustainable production of palm oil, a key ingredient found in nearly 50 percent of all packaged goods, from cosmetics to cleaning products to candy.