In the News

California's Leadership in Climate Change:

Jerry Brown's work to seal his climate legacy is only half done
Los Angeles Times
It seems a little churlish to prod Jerry Brown on carbon issues. He's done as much as any leader in the world to move forward on the climate and energy crises that are the defining challenges of our time.
But the truth is Brown's not done anywhere near what he could, nor what the situation demands.

Oil 'is killing us.' Activists call on Jerry Brown to halt California drilling
Sacramento Bee
The campaign contrasts with Brown's reputation as a national leader in advancing policies that address climate change. He championed California's cap-and-trade program, and he's opposing a Trump administration proposal to open more oil-drilling platforms along the state's coast. Hernandez said ...

Activists call on Jerry Brown to halt California drilling
Ventura County Star
We deserve justice...now is the time to act." The campaign contrasts with Brown's reputation as a national leader in advancing policies that address climate change. He championed California's cap-and-trade program, and he's opposing a Trump administration proposal to open more oil-drilling platforms ...

California's economy isn't just LA and Silicon Valley. We need a statewide strategy
Sacramento Bee
California's leadership has positioned the state for future success in emerging industries – for example, the current administration's leadership on climate change has created new markets for carbon-free technologies. Now, as we collectively work to lead in these new markets and create jobs across our ...

Sustainable Investing:

Next-gen leaders of finance step up to the sustainable investing challenge
ImpactAlpha
ImpactAlpha, April 17 – Impact investing is no longer just a passion at business schools around the world. It's a smart career move for the next generation of grads that want to become leaders of the finance industry. Take climate finance. The winner and runner-up of last week's Kellogg-Morgan Stanley ...

Clients Want 100% Sustainable Investing, Says UBS's Smiles
Bloomberg
... Says UBS's Smiles. Clients Want 100% Sustainable Investing, Says UBS's Smiles. x. Share .... Simon Smiles, global chief investment officer for ultra-high net worth at UBS Wealth Management, discusses how clients are approaching sustainable investing in their portfolios. He speaks with Bloomberg's ...

The ultra-rich want to make money through good causes — but there aren't enough options, UBS ...
CNBC
"Some people like drinking alcohol, some people like smoking, some people like guns, so to tell investors they shouldn't be doing it because it's wrong, you're straightaway not aligning with their values. (But) that's the way a vast majority of sustainable investing products have been positioned," he ...

Global Reporting Initiative:

RMI and GRI Partner to Enhance Reporting on Responsible Minerals Sourcing from Conflict ...
CSRwire.com (press release)
ALEXANDRIA, Va./AMSTERDAM, Apr. 10 /CSRwire/ - The Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) today announced a project to help improve companies' minerals sourcing due diligence and impact reporting by providing reporting resources and tools based on ...

IWC Unveils Sustainability Report
WWD
This is the first report aligned with the standards of the Global Reporting Initiative — a first in the Swiss luxury watch industry. The GRI Standards are global ones for sustainability reporting, and are the global best practices for reporting on a range of economic, environmental and social impacts.

GRI, RMI Partner to Simplify, Enhance Reporting on Responsible Minerals Sourcing
Sustainable Brands
Despite stakeholders' increasing recognition to prevent human rights abuses in the extraction and trade of minerals, public reporting on conflict minerals by companies remains limited, and the quality and comparability of existing reports presents opportunities for improvement. The Global Reporting ...

Renewable Energy Investments:

Global Green Energy Investment Increased in 2017
R & D Magazine
Several countries across the globe have committed to increasing their investment in renewable energy, while decreasing investment in other forms of energy. According to a new study, solar power generated more capacity in 2017 than fossil fuel power, with China accounting for more than half of the ...

Developing markets take prominent spot in Q1 clean energy investment
Renewables Now
April 12 (Renewables Now) - The first quarter (Q1) of 2018 saw global clean energy investment decrease to USD 61.1 billion (EUR 49.4bn) as solar investments dipped, but was marked by prominent outgrowth in development markets, with several “eye-catching projects” reaching financial close there.

Clean energy investment down 10%; China leads with over 40% share
Greentech Lead
Clean energy investment was $61.1 billion in the first quarter of 2018, down 10 percent year-on-year, says the latest report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). However, developing countries accounted for more clean energy investments in the first three months of 2018, with China once again ...

CDP Sustainability:

Ambuja Cement among top companies in global CDP ranking
Odisha Diary
Bhubaneswar: Ambuja Cements Ltd., a part of the global conglomerate LafargeHolcim and one of the leading cement manufacturing companies in India, has set yet another benchmark in sustainable development with being ranked at No.2 in the world in the latest sector research report by the ...

Impact Investing:

Shareholder Influence On Impact Investing
Forbes
Christopher P. Skroupa: Investors are increasingly taking an interest in impact investing. What's the value they see here? Josh Strauss: Impact investors like ourselves have increasing concerns that many of the world's most pressing problems – poverty, climate change, limited access to healthcare and ...

Icons of Impact: How Tech Helps Democratize Impact Investing
Forbes
The world is awash in complex financial products. The founder of OpenInvest wants to help us get back to first principles of finance: know what you own, take responsibility, and call the shots. That and a twist – ensure all of it aligns with your values. That could mean investing in climate solutions or ...

Yale SOM Team Wins MIINT Impact Investing Competition
Yale School of Management
A team of Yale SOM students won the MBA Impact Investing Network & Training (MIINT) competition at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania on April 14. The team pitched a company working to help municipalities better handle the challenges of storm water, the top source of water ...

Resource Conservation Investments:

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Socially Responsible Investing:

Facebook shares are not as 'socially responsible' as many investors thought
CNBC
A company that enabled the manipulation of data from up to 87 million people couldn't possibly be considered responsible, could it? That's what many who planted their money with ethical investments holding the tech company Facebook might have thought as its CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before ...

Can Socially Responsible Investing Be Good For Your Wallet? - Today's Editors' Picks
Seeking Alpha
At today's forward earnings multiple, stocks look fairly valued. Juxtaposed against still low-interest rates, stocks still look cheap relative to lower risk alternatives like cash and bonds. Will earnings hit the forward projections baked into this multiple? Historically, prognosticators actually miss earnings ...

Activist investor Jana hired staff for new socially responsible fund
Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jana Partners LLC, the activist investment firm now taking steps into socially responsible investing, has hired a portfolio manager and analyst to help oversee its effort of pushing companies to become better corporate citizens. Dan Hanson, who for a time managed socially ...

Funds for Sustainable Investing:

Give your money real clout with impact investing
Financial Times
Socially responsible investing has been on investors' radars for years. Anyone with significant cash has probably considered ethical or sustainable funds in their portfolio. But for those looking to make the world a better place and generate investment returns, there is a hot new topic: impact investing.

Sustainability Investing:

Mispriced risk, world's largest B Corp, community impact investing, TED's Audacious winners
ImpactAlpha
Gateway to the mainstream. Financial advisors are often viewed as the gateway to mainstreaming impact investing. Now they have their own conference on the subject. Philadelphia is the first stop for Total Impact, a new impact investing convening for financial advisors and other investors, from Good ...

Socially Responsible Investing taking off in financial world
Toledo Blade
Also known as Sustainable Investing, Responsible Investing, Impact Investing, and now branching out into a subset called ESG (for Environment, Social Justice, and Corporate Governance), the strategy lets investors place their money in investments more closely aligned to their personal beliefs or moral ...

Philanthropic Investing:

Indiana Could be Social Investing Leader
Inside INdiana Business
A partner at a prominent Indiana-based law firm says the state is positioned to be a leader in social impact investing, which aims to generate financial return and social good. Marilee Springer with Ice Miller says a combination of socially-active private equity investors and a deep bench of philanthropic ...

Guess Who's Betting on Impact Investing to Boost the Charter School Movement?
Inside Philanthropy
The Walton Family Foundation is one of the charter movement's biggest supporters, so we're used to hearing about this funder pouring big money into the space. But its latest announcement takes a slightly different direction and spotlights the growing potential of impact investing to turbocharge the ...

Green Bond Funds:

Fund focus: the biggest launches of the past week
Citywire Selector
This firm is claiming to be the first Italian asset management company to launch a product specialising in international bond markets with a tie to ESG factors. The Eurizon Fund – Absolute Green Bond fund invests in investment grade bonds using the criteria defined by the Green Bonds Principles.

Toronto set to follow city of Ottawa's lead and issue 'green' bonds
Financial Post
While Toronto's green debentures will have the same financial and legal characteristics of other city bonds, there is one difference with a green bond. The net proceeds will be used to fund projects supporting city's environmental sustainability strategies. The city hired Sustainalytics, a leading Green ...

Southeast Asia Looks Beyond China to Fund Massive Project Needs
Bloomberg
And while China has stepped in to fund some of those investments with its almost-$1 trillion Belt and Road Initiative, Southeast Asian governments are ... has its eyes on a green bond market; Singapore, a global financial services hub, is staffing a new government-led infrastructure office that's meant to ...

Low Carbon Funds:

Clean energy financier invests $150m in infrastructure fund to lower emissions
The Guardian
The CEFC is a specialist clean energy financier charged with increasing the flow of finance into renewable energy, energy efficiency and low-emissions technologies. Ian Learmonth, the CEFC chief executive, said the $150m investment in IFM Investors' managed IFM Australian Infrastructure Fund – a ...

San Francisco Drills Deeper into Fossil Fuel Divestment - Guest Opinion
thebaycitybeacon.com
The highly anticipated hearing on San Francisco's public pension fund's fossil fuel divestment finally seems to reflect the urgency of our time for pension funds to adopt a low carbon investment policy. Environmentalists have demanded fossil fuels be dropped from investment portfolios and kept in the ...