>> Back to December 2017 Issue For more than 40 years, Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi founder of the Grameen Bank and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize[1], has been asserting that the most powerful way to eradicate poverty is to unleash the untapped entrepreneurial capacity of people everywhere. “Poverty is not created by poor
>> Back to December 2017 Issue The Center for Responsible Business at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, announced in October, in collaboration with The SRI Conference, the winner of the 2017 annual Moskowitz Prize. The prize recognizes outstanding quantitative research in sustainable and responsible investing. This year, the Moskowitz Prize acknowledged
At Appleseed Capital, we have watched developments in SRI and ESG with great satisfaction. Having launched the Appleseed Fund nearly 11 years ago, we are proud to have been a participant in the long-term movement to align investments with values. As we look forward to 2018 and beyond, we expect to see the recent trends surrounding SRI investing to remain solidly intact. We believe that more and more traditional investors and asset managers will come to understand the value, both social and financial, of investing with a purpose, and we are confident that the Sustainable Responsible Impact Investing industry will continue to evolve in response to the changing political and economic environment.
Aligning the capital markets more directly with the urgent needs we face as a society to halt environmental destruction and reverse decades of worsening inequality must be our priority for 2018. Alignment needs to occur at every level, across the global markets. Despite the tremendous efforts behind the Paris Climate Accord, formalization of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and a long history of other efforts to change the course of climate change and inequality, we are not making nearly the progress needed. The 1,700 signatories to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, which represent $70 trillion of assets and a wave of press about ESG investing, have not gotten us on track yet.
There are numerous lessons to be learned from experiences at Facebook. First, agnosticism comes at a price. We live in a values laden society. To presume that our wide spectrum of values can be discounted and factored out of the algorithmic equation ignores the current reality of our society and world. It is still people who are using the platform and people are imperfect. Of course humans are integral to Facebook and when complemented by algorithms, they can make an excellent product even better. The company itself could also better manage the risks to their brand that seems to be dogging them these days. In 2018, ESG is here to help. Responsible algorithms anyone?
Looking into 2018, higher corporate earnings – inevitable with the new lower taxes rates – ought to lead to the sort of volatility-free rise in the stock market that 2017 saw. Further, employment is full in this country; emerging economies continue to grow at rates that exceed those of developed economies; exciting new industries such as software-as-a-service, alternative energy storage and the internet of things arise with regularity fueling dynamic growth. Then there\’s the other picture. There are two enormous longer-term and permanent threats to my cheerful scenario. China is the macro geopolitical one and the other is due to climate change. Further, there are three short-term unavoidable threats, also worth acknowledging.
>> Back to November 2017 Issue Combination of Sustainable Investment Leaders Will Significantly Expand their Investment Management, Global Research and Client Service Capabilities Pax World Management LLC (Pax), investment adviser to Pax World Funds and a pioneer in the field of sustainable investing with approximately $4.5 billion[1] in assets under management (AUM), announced in September
>> Back to November 2017 Issue In response to rapidly growing demand for sustainable, responsible and impact (SRI) investing, the US SIF Foundation recently released a new guide for retail investors, “Getting Started in Sustainable and Impact Investing.” This resource is a concise guide for retail, non-accredited investors exploring investment options such as mutual funds,
>> Back to November 2017 Issue LIFT Economy was recently recognized for creating extraordinary positive impact as a business based on an independent, comprehensive assessment administered by the nonprofit B Lab. Honorees are featured on B the Change, the digital Medium publication produced by B Lab, at http://www.bthechange.com. LIFT Economy was honored on three separate
>> Back to November 2017 Issue Surprising Trends in Sustainability Reporting — Research shows US lagging Europe despite better revenue returns with strong reporting practices The Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) announces its second annual research of Sustainability Reporting Trends in North America 2017. This report presents 2015-2016 trends from 551 companies from the
