In the News

California's Leadership in Climate Change:

University of California leads climate change awareness
Western Farm Press
The team surveyed UCANR academics to find out about their current role in California climate change resilience. “Eighty percent of ... Our job is not to objectively document the decline of Earth's biodiversity and humanity, so what does scientific leadership look like in this hot, dangerous world?”.

Becerra Will Not Confirm Climate Probe, Is 'Fully Aware of the Exxon Matter'
Climate Liability News
California's Xavier Becerra has not yet given a thumbs up to a climate investigation of Exxon. ... “In failing to take on Exxon's climate deception, Xavier Becerra stands to undercut California's vaunted leadership in global efforts to combat climate change,” wrote May Boeve, executive director and ...

New Analysis Shows Limiting Oil Drilling In California Is Critical To GHG Emissions Cuts ...
PR Newswire (press release)
California, under Jerry Brown's leadership, has an incredible opportunity to bolster climate action and set a global precedent by limiting oil production in the state to help keep the climate from warming to catastrophic levels. As we look ahead towards the Global Climate Action Summit, Governor Brown ...

Sustainable Investing:

Parnassus Investments: A Leader in Sustainable Investing
Morningstar.com
Jerry Dodson founded Parnassus Investments in 1984 as a responsible investing firm. Since then, Parnassus has grown to $26.5 billion in assets under management—more than twice that of the next-largest sustainability-focused asset manager—and has become an unequivocal leader in sustainable ...

Rob Stewart: Responsible investing - from screened to sustainable
Civil Society Media
For some time now, socially responsible investing has been a key area of focus for many charities looking to ensure that their investments are aligned with the core aims of their mission. While the results vary significantly by charity type, the majority (62 per cent) of the 93 charities that were surveyed for ...

New sustainable fund will test limits of eco-friendly investing, experts say
GW Hatchet
GW's new eco-friendly investment fund could set a standard for social responsibility, but experts say its overall financial impact will likely be negligible. Officials revealed plans last week to invest $2 million of the University's $1.7 billion endowment in a fund dedicated to sustainable companies. Experts ...

Global Reporting Initiative:

ERM Announces Acquisition of BrownFlynn, Ltd.
CSRwire.com (press release)
Further, BrownFlynn is a pioneer in integrated reporting and the first U.S. certified Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) trainer. The firm has developed proprietary tools to support their clients' assessment processes, reporting and engagement with stakeholders, providing the capability to deliver on the full life ...

Neopost receives "Gold" Certification from Ecovadis for its commitment to Sustainable Development
GlobeNewswire (press release)
The EcoVadis rating agency certifies companies' commitment to sustainable business development, specializing in assessing suppliers for global supply chains. Its rating methodology is based on international sustainable development standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the United ...

Covanta Rises through Ranks in list of Top 200 Clean Energy Companies Worldwide
PR Newswire (press release)
Covanta reports its progress in accordance with the guidelines from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The company's latest sustainability report focuses on key areas, including Environmental Performance, Resource Management, Community Relations and Workforce Engagement. Since 1997, GRI ... 

Renewable Energy Investments:

CBN mulls N1.525bn renewable energy investments
New Telegraph Newspaper
“USAID REEEP facilitated the development and financing of renewable energy and energy efficiency, market and strengthened the current policy and regulatory environment for public and private sector investment. The project, which ran from March 2014 to February 2018, aimed to mitigate climate ...

Tunisia eyes USD 1.8 bn renewable energy investments by 2020
Renewables Now
March 6 (Renewables Now) - Tunisia plans to invest TND 4.3 billion (USD 1.8 bn/ EUR 1.5 bn) in renewable energy projects over the next two years, energy minister Khaled Gaddour said. Overall, the country will invest TND 12 billion in energy projects, spanning both generation and grid upgrades, ...

W. Balkans: Good grades in renewable energy, bad in investments
Independent Balkan News Agency (press release) (blog)
Boyko Borissov, Ana Brnabić, Ramush Haradinaj, Duško Marković, Edi Rama, Zoran Zaev and Denis Zvizdić, all of whom attended the meeting at the EBRD HQs, focused on how to attract investments through adopting reforms that will allow the formation of a healthy business environment in the wider ... 

CDP Sustainability:

Bridgestone Receives CDP's Highest Rating for Supplier Engagement
Environmental Leader
In addition, Bridgestone was included in CDP's Water A List of 73 companies recognized as global leaders in sustainable water management. Efforts included using cooling water and steam in the production process. “Continued use of such water resources' processes is a current production ...

Harry Etra joins CamberView Partners as Principal
Markets Insider
His experience includes working with clients to develop annual sustainability reports and earn recognition for their ESG initiatives through reporting programs such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), and the Global Real Estate Sustainability ...

Three NZ centres among world's most 'renewable'
New Zealand Herald
The report, by global environmental impact non-profit CDP, covered 570 of the world's towns and cities and found the number that reported over 70 per cent renewable electricity had doubled since 2015. Auckland Council's chief sustainability officer, John Mauro, said the report wasn't surprising, given ...

Impact Investing:

Taking the Mystery Out of Impact Investing
Barron's
One mission of ImpactAssets, a U.S. nonprofit financial services firm, is to make it easier for individuals, families, and the advisors who serve them to get their hands on the information required to understand and evaluate potential impact investments—those that aim to generate social and environmental ...

In Impact Investing, a Generation Gap Persists
Wall Street Journal
There's no room in his equation for questioning the governance or social practices of the companies being selected. Despite the emergence and growing adoption of impact-investing strategies over the past decade, there are still many advisers who aren't sold on the idea of aligning values and financial ...

Banks Need To Up Their Game In Impact Investing
The Market Mogul
The optimist in each individual wants to believe that bankers are no different from everyone else in wanting to make the world a better place. Yet, the banking industry as a whole has been largely absent from the growing public discourse around how to mobilise savings and investment to bring about ...

Resource Conservation Investments:

Colorado, Nebraska officials announce Republican River settlement
McCook Daily Gazette
After signing the agreement, Governor Ricketts recommended that the Legislature invest the funds provided through this settlement in surface water resource conservation projects in the Republican River basin. Nebraska water users were affected by the reduced water supply allocated to the State, as a ...

Socially Responsible Investing:

JPMorgan Quants Develop Model for Socially Responsible Investing
Bloomberg
Enthusiasm for ESG-based investing continues to grow, with assets under management in socially responsible ETFs reaching $11 billion, according to JPMorgan. However, despite interest in the concept, performance for funds that stress ESG factors continues to lag behind, according to research from ...

Why It's So Hard to Invest With a Social Conscience
New York Times
DEFINITION While mutual funds that aim to change the world for the better have existed for over 45 years, it's not clear even in 2018 what to call them. The term “socially responsible” seemed most apt for a while, then the awkward acronym E.S.G. came into vogue. It stands for environmental, social and ...

Funds for Sustainable Investing:

Pension funds driving sustainable fund growth in Austria
IPE.com
The market for funds invested according to sustainability criteria continues to grow strongly in Austria with assets increasing by 12% in 2017. At the end of 2017 there were 82 funds offered to institutional and retail clients (2016: 66 funds) with a total volume of €7.5bn. Overall, 16 out of 19 investment ...

Are you invested in gun stocks? Read this if you want to change that
MarketWatch
Move your money to a “socially responsible” mutual fund that chooses investments to advance causes such as climate change — many exclude companies involved in weapons manufacturing. Funds based on religious beliefs such as Shariah-compliant funds usually don't have weapons holdings.

Morningstar Runs the Numbers
Morningstar.com
Sustainable investing involves the use of environmental, social, and corporate governance, or ESG, criteria to evaluate investments or to assess their societal impact. It's not hard to build a portfolio of funds around sustainable investing because the approach is used across a variety of investment ... 

Sustainability Investing: 

N/A

Philanthropic Investing:

New report: Philanthropy can help Atlanta become a "city too busy to hate" by investing in power ...
PR Newswire (press release)
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Metro Atlanta is home to the largest charitable sector in the South, and has grown and thrived on a reputation of prosperity and inclusiveness. But this belies a growing gentrification and criminalization problem that has marginalized the ...

First-generation philanthropists support causes they personally like and make multiple investments ...
YourStory.com
The India Philanthropy Report reveals new-age donors are making philanthropic decisions based on mind and heart, are moving away from funding-only roles to becoming active collaborators. While giving is commendable, impactful giving is crucial. Indian corporates and businessmen have realised ...

Support by Education Funders for Family Engagement Is Growing. Why Is That?
Inside Philanthropy
While the reforms initially found support from politicians in both parties, they also got a significant boost from philanthropic investment, especially from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which was estimated to have put $200 million toward the standards. When the backlash hit, the Common Core's ...

Green Bond Funds:

Want to build low-carbon infrastructure? Try local currency green bonds
eco-business.com
Trung Son Hydropower Project,Construction site, Mai Chau district, Vietnam. Photo: Workers at the Trung Son Hydropower Project construction site in Mai Chau district, Vietnam. Local currency green bonds could help to make up for the shortfall in funding needed to build low-carbon infrastructure.
Indonesia lays bare green-bond growing pains - Nasdaq
Indonesia pockets USD 1.25bn from 1st green sukuk bond in Asia - Renewables Now
Full Coverage

Appetite Increases for Green Bonds but Investors Demand More Education and Transparency
Business Wire (press release)
Another factor is access to green issuances; overall, more than half of investors say they would prefer buying green bonds through a fund (59%) compared to individual securities (41%). “As the green bond market matures, we are pleased to see that issuance is growing in tandem with investors' interests ...

First in Asia; Indonesia Sells $1.25 Billion of Global Green Bonds
Indonesia Investments (press release)
The government of Indonesia raised USD $1.25 billion through the issuance of global "green" bonds, hence becoming the first Asian country to issue this type of bond. With the proceeds from the green bond the Indonesian government will fund projects that have positive environmental and/or climate ... 

Low Carbon Funds:

Norway's wealth fund eyes low-carbon society in energy investments
Reuters
“This divestment from coal means that the fund does not generally invest in an energy source that will probably not survive the transition to a low-carbon society,” the fund said in a letter to the Norwegian Ministry of Finance dated Feb. 21. The letter, signed by fund CEO Yngve Slyngstad and Chief ...

Norway's $1.32 trillion wealth fund eyes low-carbon society in energy investments
The Straits Times
OSLO (REUTERS) - Norway's US$1 trillion (S$1.32 trillion) sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, will generally shun investments in energy sources such as coal that are unlikely to be needed in a future low-carbon society, it said on Friday (Feb 23). In 2016, the Norwegian parliament mandated the ...