SRI News in Europe & Elsewhere
November/December 2007
French Institutional investor faith in SRI continues, but shareholder engagement lags behind
Novethic, Amadeis and Eurosif member affiliate BNP Paribas AM recently released their sixth annual Socially Responsible Investment survey of the French institutional market. 50 French institutional investors, whose total assets are currently valued at more than 700 billion euros, were surveyed showing that in 2007, 61% had already ventured into SRI, compared with 48% in 2006. Among those investors queried indicating that they had never invested in SRI, 45% plan to do so in the future.
www.novethic.fr & www.bnpparibas-am.com
150 global business leaders call for legally binding UN framework to tackle climate change
On 30th November 2007, the business leaders of 150 global companies published a communiqué to world leaders calling for a comprehensive, legally binding United Nations framework to tackle climate change. The initiative represents an unprecedented coming together of the international business community and includes some of the biggest companies and brands from around the world, including the United States, Europe, Australia and China. It has been led by The Prince of Wales’s UK and EU Corporate Leaders Groups on Climate Change, which are developed and run by the University of Cambridge Programme for Industry.
Amazon watch calls on investors to be vigilant with Chevron
In early 2008, Chevron may be ordered to pay the largest damages in environmental law history for Texaco’s deliberate dumping of 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater into an inhabited area of the Ecuadorian Amazon during three decades. Already, dozens of institutional investors, representing billions of investment dollars have negatively screened out Chevron from their portfolio on social and environmental grounds. Amazon watch works with indigenous and environmental organizations in the Amazon Basin to defend the environment and advance indigenous peoples' rights and is calling on investors who currently hold Chevron to commit to not purchasing more shares ("A Buy Freeze") until the case in Ecuador is resolved.
www.chevrontoxico.com & www.amazonwatch.org
SRI Retail Funds Expand Rapidly in German-Speaking Markets
Assets in SRI retail funds distributed in Germany, Switzerland and Austria grew rapidly during the first three quarters in 2007. Latest figures from the Sustainable Business Institute (SBI) report 166 SRI funds with assets totalling nearly EUR 30bn being registered in these three countries at the end of September — up from EUR 18.2bn at the end of 2006.
www.nachhaltiges-investment.org
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) limits rights of shareholders to participate in the nomination of directors
While socially responsible investors and shareholder advocates applaud the decision by the SEC (November 28, 2007) not to pursue its controversial process to curtail or even eliminate the right to file shareholder resolutions, many of them strongly oppose the SEC decision to limit the rights of shareholders to participate in the nomination of directors. Most U.S. investors, when polled, believe that the SEC should be further opening up corporate boardrooms, rather than shielding them from the scrutiny and feedback legitimately offered by the investors who are stakeholders in these publicly owned companies.
www.socialinvest.org & www.SaveShareholderRights.org & www.sec.gov
New carbon standard guarantees environmental integrity and transparency for global offset market
The Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) aims to certify the validity of voluntary offsets bought by consumers and corporations seeking to reduce their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, or 'carbon footprint'. The VCS could boost market confidence for many companies and individuals keen to take a lead on tackling climate change by going carbon-neutral. Market analysts estimate that annual transactions in the voluntary carbon market may reach US$4billion in the next five years, and that the VCS could be instrumental to this future growth.
