Investors need to engage more effectively with companies on forced labour and ensure that firms are meeting reporting requirements according to the latest Investor Briefing by pressure group, ShareAction. The briefing includes examples of shareholder engagement with companies as well as policy makers which has led to action being taken against the use of forced […]
Read MoreThe Paris climate change agreement has mobilised business and investors to take more action to reduce carbon emissions but to get the estimated $5 trillion a year of investment needed to move to a low carbon economy there needs to be a shift in thinking so that sustainable investment becomes part of mainstream investment speakers at the […]
Read MoreA coalition of over 80 institutional investors, with $4.8 trillion in assets under management, has pledged support for the creation of the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB) – the world’s first wide-scale benchmark on companies’ human rights policies, processes and practices. The investors include Boston Common Asset Management, Aviva Investors, APG Asset Management, BNP Paribas Investment Partners, […]
Read MoreA new Civil Society Organisation (CSO), the European Responsible Investment Network (ERIN), was launched last week at a conference in Berlin. The network is made up of 25 organisations from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the UK. Members range from Dutch sustainable investment associations and Italian ethical banking groups to NGOs that address […]
Read MoreMore radical solutions to rising executive pay need to be found than those proposed by the Investment Association’s Executive Remuneration Working Group in its recent interim report, according to the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) and the High Pay Centre. Responding to the IA’s consultation on the report the High Pay Centre said the working group […]
Read MoreEnvironmental charity, WWF, together with Responsible Investment (RI) pressure group ShareAction, has carried out the first survey examining the RI approaches of the 20 largest Swiss pension funds. The study analysed how far pension funds invest their beneficiaries’ money sustainably and whether they transparently provide them with information. The survey concluded that the majority of the 20 largest Swiss pension […]
Read MoreBritish companies are losing out – potentially by over £130bn a year – because they lack clear corporate purposes that unite all stakeholders in common goals and values, according to the interim report by the Purposeful Company Taskforce, which was established by the Big Innovation Centre. The taskforce believes that having companies with a clear purpose makes them […]
Read More…as the UK’s Financial Reporting Council finalises auditor rules The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published final drafts of the latest UK corporate governance code and the associated guidance on audit committees so they will meet the requirements of forthcoming legislation on audit committees and auditor appointments. This forms part of the UK’s implementation of the EU’s […]
Read MoreAlthough the awareness of responsible investment is growing, implementing the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) is still proving a challenge 10 years on, according to an independent report assessing the impact of the PRI which was launched in 2006 as a partnership between the UN Global Compact and UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). The […]
Read MoreRailpen veteran, Frank Curtiss, who was most recently been its head of corporate governance, has retired. The pension fund has been at the forefront of active institutional investment and was one of the first to vote actively on its equity holdings in the UK and published a voting and corporate governance policy in 1992. Curtiss joined Railpen in […]
Read More