Manifest to develop SRI benchmark for schemes
 

The voting agency, Manifest, is building up a database of companies to assist fund managers and pension schemes develop a benchmark to assess the impact of their socially responsible investment (SRI) policy.
 

The Green Card product will provide Manifest's clients - fund managers and pension trustees -with information that should help them gauge how successful their SRI policies are.

As most fund managers are producing SRI policies based on engagement it would be expected that the commitment of companies in which they invest towards the environment would improve if previously they were poor.

The research has covered 106 companies so far. It shows that 87% of companies with an environmental policy have a director responsible, 46% of those presenting an environmental statement within the annual report and accounts also produce a free-standing environmental report and 64% have an environmental management system. This means the company assesses its environmental impact and sets targets, for example to recycle more paper. This kind of action can be cost-saving and gives companies an edge over competitors, making them a better target for investors.

In 89% of the companies the employees have been made aware of the policy.

Sarah Wilson, Manifest's managing director, hopes the research will help fund managers and trustees develop a benchmark to assess the impact of their SRI policy. She said companies should not feel besieged when researchers gather information on them.

GREEN CARD DATABASE RESULTS

*Based on database of 106 companies as at 8 June 2000
 

By Karen Talbot, Pensions Week

12 June, 2000

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