Communication

Eurosif July 2013 Newsletter

04 July 2013

In this issue:

For Action: Register for Eurosif's Annual Event and first European SRI Symposium Exceptional line-up of speakers expected!

Eurosif Update

For Eurosif's Member Affiliates: Annual Event & European SRI Symposium 2013 Invitation. Eurosif has brought together an exceptional line up of speakers that make this conference a must-attend for people interested in SRI. Confirmed speakers and high-profile panelists include prominent players from the European pension industry as well as European Commission representatives and leading experts. At the event, and to introduce the debate around the Corporate Governance Action Plan, Eurosif will unveil the results of its latest study on pan-European engagement practices. It promises to be an exciting and thought provoking-day! A full agenda of the event is available on the dedicated event website. Register NOW for free to attend this high-profile event in the Capital of Europe! On May 28, Eurosif organised its first webinar and policy conference call on non-financial reporting and long-term investing.The webinar attracted over 20 very engaged member affiliate representatives and provided ample room for discussion. For the Member Affiliates who missed the call, you can find the presentation and the audio recording here. Given the excellent feedback received, Eurosif is planning a range of similar webinars to be held in the coming months. On June 4, Eurosif - in cooperation with ACCA and AVIVA - organised a high-level policy event at the European Parliament in Brussels, entitled ”Non-financial information disclosure: towards a more sustainable and comparable corporate reporting regime?”, co-hosted by MEPs Richard Howitt and Raffaele Baldassarre. The event was an indisputable success, achieving a record attendance with 180 registered participants and 150 attendees. Key highlights of the event can be found in the joint Press Release here. To download Eurosif's Official Position please click here.

Eurosif Policy

Leading investor coalition supports EU non-financial reporting proposal. Eurosif co-ordinated a broad range investors or asset-owner led platforms to jointly express the support for the industry to the proposal issued by the European Commission about corporate non-financial reporting on April 16. Partners included, Eumedion, CDP, CDSB, EFFAS, UNEP-FI, ICGN and IIGCC. Please find Eurosif's position on the recent proposal here and the resulting press release here. On March 25, the European Commission (EC) launched the long-awaited Green Paper on the long-term financing of the European economy. Eurosif developed a response to the paper in consultation with national SIFs and its Policy Advisory Groups. You can download the response here Eurosif responds to IIRC consultation. Eurosif is finalizing its response to the IIRC consultation and would like to thank all Member Affiliates who provided input to the response. Eurosif broadly supports the concept of integrated reporting but has also expressed specific demands or concerns about some aspects of the framework. The response is not yet published but will be available on Eurosif’s website in the coming weeks. Lithuanian EU Presidency to start on July 1^st. Lithuania took over the presidency of the EU early July for the next six months. More information on the Lithuanian Presidency and its program here. For more information on key EU developments Eurosif is focusing on and on the full range of Eurosif's policy activities refer to the latest edition of the EU Insider, available exclusively for our Member Affiliates. The next edition is expected for September 2013.

Eurosif Research

"What do investors expect from non-financial reporting?" Eurosif and ACCA conducted a survey of investors, analysts and other stakeholders to gather the views and opinions of the investment community on their use of ESG information and the proposed reporting regime. The key findings of the survey are presented in this report. You can download and share the full report here. For Action: Seeking the best SRI and Corporate Governance analysts in the world. Thomson Reuters Extel and www.sri-connect.com announce that the IRRI 2013 Survey is now open for voting and that this year’s search for the best SRI & Corporate Governance analysts in the world has now started. The survey runs from Monday 17th June to Friday 19th July and is open to all asset managers, research providers, ‘sell-side’ brokers and quoted companies.Here is the link to the voting page: IRRI 2013 Quick Vote

SIF News

UKSIF UKSIF’s 11 July Summer Event features a high-level panel debate, “Five Years On from Lehman Brothers” and the 2013 Thomson Reuters Extel/UKSIF SRI & Sustainability Survey Awards. UKSIF will publish a “Future of Investment” report on impact investing mid-July (contact), and we said “au revoir” to former UKSIF Chief Exec Penny Shepherd on 28 June. VBDO Dutch SRI Week 2013. From 7 until 13 October, VBDO and partners organize the Dutch SRI Week. Our activities will include attending the NYSE opening bell ceremony, organizing a political debate and webinars, generating free publicity, social media, and more. Check out the video of the Dutch SRI Week 2012 here. FFS UNEP-FI Investor Briefing “Measuring, disclosing and managing the carbon intensity of investments and investment portfolios”: a special preview for Italy. The Briefing was presented in preview on June 27th in Milan and will be officially launched on July 19th in London. The event was promoted by FFS and UNEP-FI. More details here. FIR The French SIF and the French Asset Management Association just launched together a new SRI definition. This definition with specifications could become the basis for a SRI Label led by French authorities. This Label would offer tax incentives; a recent report ordered by the government proposed to fix a level at 30% SRI in life insurance products that represent today some €1400 billions. Contact FIR here. SPAINSIF On June 12, The General Assembly of Spainsif renewed its board for the next two years (2013-2015). Ms. Inés García-Pintos was reelected president of the Association. Press release On June 24, the “Spainsif week of the SRI 2013” was initiated, which included among others two summer courses, lectures and debates regarding the offer and demand of SRI products, the regulatory framework and the experiences of analysts and operators. Back to top

Member Affiliate News Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management launched a new publication dedicated to SRI. Governance is the theme of this first edition of SRI Chronicles. In the section Research and Perspectives, special consideration will be given to opinions from personalities outside the firm working on SRI matters, in this edition on independence on company boards. Click here. CSSP – The yourSRI.com “Sustainable Finance Yearbook” will be available for download shortly on www.yoursri.com. The first issue of the yourSRI.com "Sustainable Finance Yearbook", which will be available from early July, provides its readers with current market data, interesting articles from renowned experts as well as the latest from the world of sustainable investment. AXA IM has launched a new ESG Insight study: Board Diversity in Euro Stoxx 50 Companies. Large European companies have gone global; however, this is not yet reflected in their leadership. For this study, AXA IM analysed corporate diversity across the EuroStoxx 50, the 50 largest European firms by market capitalisation. Download the study. FEE supports the European Commission’s initiative to stimulate a debate on how to foster the supply of long-term financing of the European Economy. However, the policy and regulatory framework needs to be stable and provide legal certainty. To promote long-term investment, governments’ policy choices also need to be long-term oriented The ongoing shale gas revolution After having published an SRI research paper on shale gas in November 2012, Dexia AM keeps following closely the evolution -or what's more: the revolution- the shale gas industry provokes in the energy industry. More information in Dexia AM's article "The ongoing shale gas revolution" and here. GMI Ratings and Ethix SRI Advisors Form Strategic Partnership The partnership aims to integrate Ethix SRI data into GMI Ratings’ research platform, GMI Analyst. The new data will allow subscribers to GMI Analyst to evaluate corporate issuers based, in part, on their involvement in activities such as adult entertainment, tobacco, gambling and firearms. Read the press release here.

World leaders and laggards exposed in EIRIS Global Sustainability Report. A disappointing comparison can be made between North American and UK and European companies, says EIRIS’ latest Global Sustainability Report.‘Risky Business – a global spotlight on corporate sustainability’ singles out under-performing international brands, provides a sector comparison and examines Water as a growing risk. Information on EIRIS’ sustainability ratings here.

Three years after the explosion of BP’s deepwater drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, Robeco visits BP’s Houston Monitoring Center to assess what BP is doing to prevent a repeat, and how investors can assess the risks of companies active in deepwater drilling. More here. Allianz Global Investors (David Diamond) and SNS Asset Management (Manuel Adamini) took over the EITI investor constituency board seat from Standard Life, with SNS Asset Management (Manuel Adamini) as alternate board member. The election took place during the EITI Board Meeting held during the EITI Global Conference that convened in Sydney in late May. (www.eiti.org) Back to top

Member Affiliate Research MIROVA'S INSIGHTS - What regulation for proxy advisors? The lack of regulation in the proxy advisor industry is a source of concern for both investors and issuers. Following a consultation launched in March 2012, involving issuers, investors and proxy advisors, ESMA produced a report. Access the analysis of Mirova research Mirova, responsible investment division of Natixis Asset Management (Visit us: www.mirova.com – Follow us: @Mirova_RI) Transparency and Integrity of Lobbying: A new challenge for CSR? Vigeo publishes the first international study on the lobbying practices of companies.This study reveals that lobbying is an issue of corporate responsibility that will increasingly draw the attention of public opinion and whose material effects can be significant for companies.This study lists the principles of action-defining corporate social responsibility in terms of influence practices. It identifies innovative managerial strategies and practices and provides detailed rankings, by countries and by sectors, of companies that manage to bring evidence of transparency and integrity in their lobbying practices by implementing their managerial processes at the highest levels. More information here. Report | Emissions Reduction in the Shipping Industry: Regulations, Exposure and Solutions. Recent and upcoming environmental regulations are pushing the shipping industry to reduce its emissions and improve its efficiency. Sustainalytics analyses the current regulatory context and its consequences on the industry and explores the opportunities more stringent regulations are creating for the companies offering environmental solutions. Read the full report here. Back to top

Events

WEBINAR ‘Shining a spotlight on conflict regions: an introduction to EIRIS Conflict Risk Network’ Tuesday 9 July - Run twice to accommodate different time zones. Run first at 15:00 – 16:00 CEST (Paris), then at19:00 – 20:00 CEST (Paris). More information here.

EIRIS 30^th Anniversary Responsible Investment Conference & Celebration 25 September 2013 More information here.

SRI Jobs

Are you interested in SRI? Eurosif is hiring: Head of EU Policy and Research. Unique opportunity to lead EU policy and research efforts of the leading pan-European Sustainable and Responsible Investment Association. More information here

For details of current SRI jobs please see the jobs section of the Eurosif website. For more information. To Keep up to date with Eurosif Activities please follow us on Twitter @Eurosif

Eurosif July 2013 Newsletter

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