News from Eurosif Member Affiliates
July 2007
ABN Amro given 2007 Sustainable Banking Award by Financial Times
IFC and the Financial Times presented the second annual awards to banks that focus on sustainability, both by including it in their operations and by offering innovative environmental and social financial products. The jury made eight awards, including Sustainable Bank of the Year, which went to ABN Amro, Netherlands.
ABP acquires an interest in the sustainable Global Solidarity Forest Fund
‘Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP’ has invested $60 million in the Global Solidarity Forest Fund (GSFF). The $100 million Fund, which is focused on sub-Saharan Africa, develops investments with potentially high returns and a strong ethical, environmental and socio-economical profile, including community development and forest certification. At present, the Fund consists of five established investments in Mozambique and Angola, carrying out reforestation on degraded lands and responsibly managing natural forests.
Calvert foundation taking on predatory lenders and mortgage foreclosures: five affordable-housing nonprofits across U.S. are saluted
Some investors worry about the damage being done to their communities by predatory lending and escalating mortgage foreclosures. But other individual and institutional investors concerned about these wealth-stripping crises are actually doing something about them under the auspices of the Calvert Foundation, which allows investors to target their dollars to support affordable-housing nonprofits in their region of the U.S. It is what Calvert Foundation calls the “anti-predatory lending investment.”
EIRIS data chosen by RLAM to launch new ethical fund
EIRIS is pleased to provide support to Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) for their recently launched Ethical Bond Trust. Launched in January 2007, the authorised unit trust has so far received £59 million of investment. RLAM expects further strong interest as more institutional and retail investors move to put their principles into practice. The fund will invest mainly in sterling-denominated fixed-interest securities and will avoid investment in alcohol, armaments, gambling, tobacco and pornography.
ECPI® E. Capital Partners Indices Launches Global ECO Real Estate & Building Index
After the successful launch of their Climate Change equity index, ECPI is focusing on environmental friendly Real Estate investment. The Real Estate & Building Index is designed to select the 25 best positioned Real Estate and Building companies vis à vis the Climate Change trend and the best positioned Real Estate Sector Suppliers owing to the environmentally friendly nature of their products or services.
For more information contact: c.bossi@e-cpartners.com
Ethos Quarterly Publications as of June 30, 2007
The Ethos Quarterly (only available in French or German) presents an overview of current issues with regard to responsible investment and active shareholding. In particular, the current issue includes articles on: The Limits of Self-Regulation, Corporate Governance, Socially Responsible Investment, and Ethos General Meetings. The Ethos Investment Focus (only available in French or German) is the management report of the various segments of the Ethos institutional investment fund and of the Pictet-Ethos (CH) Swiss Sustainable Equities investment fund. The continued strong performance of the different Swiss Equity segments (in absolute and relative terms) is particularly noteworthy.
Federation of Accountants (FEE)
The European Federation of Accountants (FEE) will host its Third Annual European Congress for SMPs: “New Opportunities for SMPs and SMEs: Transparency, Finance and Simplification in a European Context” on September 6 & 7, 2007 at the Steigenberger hotel in Scheveningen, the Netherlands. The conference will be in English with translations into French and Spanish.
Register here For more information contact: michael.sotiriou@fee.be
Henderson appoints George Latham as Head of SRI Funds
Henderson Global Investors, the independent asset management firm with over £61bn under management, has promoted George Latham to Head of SRI Funds. George, who will continue to manage the Global Care UK Income and Global Care Managed Funds, will take on responsibility for growing Henderson’s sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) business. George Latham joined Henderson in 2001 as an SRI fund manager and became Associate Director, SRI funds in 2004. He manages the £130.5m Global Care UK Income Fund and the £486m Global Care Managed Fund, which have both achieved top quartile performance over the last one, two and three year periods. He is currently AA-rated by Citywire.
http://www.henderson.com/home/sri/
HSBC commits to climate change
HSBC has named a leading socially responsible investment expert to head its newly-formed climate change research centre. Nick Robins, head of SRI funds at asset manager Henderson Global Investors, will join HSBC in October to run its 'Climate Change Centre of Excellence'.
KLD Global Climate 100 Index Marks Second Year with Continued Strong Performance
KLD Research & Analytics, Inc., an independent investment research and index provider, marked the second anniversary of its Global Climate 100 Index (GC100) – the first global index focused on solutions to climate change. The Index has had strong performance numbers with an annualized total return of 23.55% from its launch on July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2007 compared to 21.51% for the S&P/Citigroup BMI World Index.
Oikocredit starts operations in the United Kingdom
With the fast growing demand for credit for development Oikocredit seeks to attract more investors and setup structures in additional countries. In 2007 Oikocredit will become operational in the UK. The decision at the Annual General Meeting in June of this year to issue shares in currencies other than Euros and US Dollars, has created the possibility for investors in the UK to invest in GB Pounds. Patrick Hynes has been recruited as the Oikocredit UK representative as of 1st July.
For more information contact: uk.so@oikocredit.org
SAM Group hires new senior relationship manager for index business
Jon Winslade has been hired as Senior Relationship Manager, SAM Indexes. Mr Winslade joins SAM with more than ten years of experience in the index business and a solid background in sustainability investing. Mr Winslade will be responsible for client relations and business development for SAM Indexes in the UK, several continental European countries and Asia / Pacific. In this new role, he will drive sales and marketing activities to clients for the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes and other benchmarks offered through SAM. Mr. Winslade reports to Alexander Barkawi, Managing Director, SAM Indexes, and will be based in Zurich.
www.sam-group.com, www.sustainability-indexes.com
SiRi Company partner (Centre Info) releases new study on carbon risk
Société Générale Equity Research conducted a study over the long-term impact of carbon emissions on investment. This study, “CREAM-ing Carbon Risk” and released in June 2007, is based on envIMPACT®, an analysis tool developed by Centre Info that measures the carbon intensity of companies over the entire life cycle of their products.
Vigeo publishes its 2006 activity report
This report contains their results for 2006 and their acquisition of the Italian agency Avanzi SRI Research at the end of 2006. This second acquisition, after that of Stock at Stake (now Vigeo Belgium) in 2005, reinforces Vigeo’s European position and provides new development perspectives for the group. The report also includes the summary of their 2006 activities with regards to environmental, social and governance analyses (ESG) and social responsibility audits.
