For the third consecutive year, Barron’s asked Calvert to identify companies showing leadership in addressing the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks relevant to their operations. The resulting list of “The 100 Most Sustainable Companies” is available on the Barron’s website, but here’s some information about how we created it. To begin, Calvert analyzed the…
Tag: SDG
Good Business: The Year Ahead in Sustainable Finance – Bloomberg
Sustainable investment in 2020: Energy stocks just haven’t kept up with the broader market, which could push investors to look more closely at whether fossil fuels are really a worthwhile investments. Peak emissions aren’t here yet, but they may be close. “Decarbonization is certainly dominating the conversation,” says Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Kane. A Stanford University study says phasing out…
Michael W. Frerichs – Illinois State Treasurer: Raising The Bar on Investing
Illinois state treasurer Michael W. Frerichs is one of the most respected public pension fund fiduciaries in the country and we were delighted to see his thoughtful comments on ESG as an essential element in minimizing investment risk. Making Prudent Choices. Investing means making choices. For the investment officers at the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office,…
Infographic: Understanding the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) | FrameworkESG
The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) began as one global index in 1999, comprising the top-ranked companies from each industry based on environmental, social, and governance criteria. The DJSI now includes many indices, including one for each world region. Each year, invited companies submit a questionnaire, which is scored and compared to peers. Only companies…
Private Prisons Now Face 87.4% Financing Gap as Banks Continue to Flee Industry – Eyes on the Ties
As of August 2019, eight banks – JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, SunTrust, BNP Paribas, Fifth Third Bancorp, Barclays, and PNC – have publicly committed to ending their future financing relationships with the private prison industry, including CoreCivic and GEO Group. Together these eight banks represent an estimated $2.35 billion – or 87.4%…
UK: FRC Statement on Green Investing
From the UK: The Government has announced its Green Finance Strategy which recognises the role of the financial sector in delivering global and domestic climate and environmental objectives. In response, the FRC has issued a joint statement with other financial regulators, including the PRA, FCA and the TPR which can be viewed here, while the…
Blackrock’s iShares Introduces an ESG ETF
Blackrock is offering a range of sustainability-oriented ETF investments including: ESG: “Evaluating and selecting companies based on their commitments to positive environmental, social and governance business practices. All iShares ESG funds also seek to track indexes that screen out civilian firearms, controversial weapons and tobacco.” Thematic: Focus on a particular E, S, or G issue,…
Largest ever group of global investors call for more action to meet Paris targets | Environment | The Guardian
The largest ever group of institutional investors has called on governments around the world to urgently increase their efforts to meet the Paris climate change agreement goals.The 414 global investors – which represent US$31 trillion of assets-under-management – say they are deeply concerned about the “ambition gap” that exists between governments’ commitments and what is…
Business Reaches a Turning Point – The New York Times
Once again, the business case for ESG/SDG: Over the course of a day of conversations with some of the top executives in the nation during last week’s conference — DealBook: Playing for the Long Term — a common refrain was heard, echoing the sentiments of Larry Fink, chief executive of BlackRock, the largest investor in…
Public Sentiment and the Price of Corporate Sustainability – Working Paper – Harvard Business School
Combining corporate sustainability performance scores based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data with big data measuring public sentiment about a company’s sustainability performance, I find that the valuation premium paid for companies with strong sustainability performance has increased over time and that the premium is increasing as a function of positive public sentiment momentum….
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