Eurosif May 2015 Newsletter

Eurosif is seeking sponsors for seminar on green bonds

Green bonds have been recognised as an important market development in the Capital Markets Union Green Paper and Eurosif has started to explore how policy-makers could further help growing this market. This event seeks to foster exchanges between industry players, EU policy makers and stakeholders around these emerging investment instruments.

Interested to sponsor the event and position yourself as thought policy leader? Contact francois@eurosif.org .

Eurosif is hiring a Head of Policy & Research

We are looking for a highly self-motivated individual to join our team in Brussels. The role involves policy monitoring and analysis as well as the exciting opportunity to coordinate our research-related projects. Interested? You can find more information on the role and application process HERE.

Global Sustainable Investment Alliance (GSIA) is on Twitter!

Follow: @GlobalSIF

Eurosif Policy

Capital Markets Union | #CapitalMarketsUnion

To coincide with the end of the pan-European public consultation on the Capital Markets Union (CMU), a key part of the Juncker Investment Plan, Eurosif published a Manifesto for a Sustainable Capital Markets Union as also tipped earlier this month at an event in Brussels with all major CSR stakeholders.

The Manifesto makes 23 policy recommendations to incorporate growing investor concerns over issues such as sustainability and excessive short-termism into the foundation of the CMU. The policy recommendations are grouped around five high-level themes.

The document has been already sent out to over 400 policy-makers and Brussels-based stakeholders while Eurosif is now performing some joint work around the Capital Markets Union with E3G to strenghten the voice of the SRI industry. E3G – a not-for-profit organisation focused on accelerating the transition to a low carbon economy. E3G has argued that in working to achieve Europe’s return to prosperity, the CMU should not only to mechanistic reforms to improve the flow of capital across the EU but also include qualitative impacts. E3G is working with a coalition of capital markets participants to make the case that reforms should also encompass measures to help capital markets identify, price and manage systemic risks related to the carbon bubble and wider ESG concerns. Member Affiliates interested in finding out more about the coalition please contact Ingrid Holmes at ingrid.holmes@e3g.org

Access the Manifesto HERE. Access the Press Release HERE.

More on Eurosif's work on CMU

Shareholder Rights

Mid-May the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament voted upon an amended report on the Commission’s Proposal on Shareholdeer Rights. The voted text reinforces the importance of the non-financial dimensions in several instances (e.g. remuneration and engagement policy) which is seen as a positive from a Eurosif perspective.

Prior to the vote Eurosif had reached out to MEPs sitting in the Legal Affairs committee with a letter pressing them to support an ambitious text. | Access the letter HERE.

More on Eurosif's work on Shareholder Rights

Conflict Minerals | #ConflictMinerals

The European Parliament unexpectedly voted on Wednesday 20 April in favour of a mandatory monitoring system for minerals originating from conflict zones. MEPs in Strasbourg voted to enforce an obligatory monitoring system for the whole supply chain of "conflict minerals", affecting 800,000 European companies.

Eurosif applauds this vote as it supported - prior to the vote - a group of global sustainable and responsible investors and investment organizations urging MEPs to strenghten their position by expanding the scope of the legislation to ensure that all companies placing minerals on the market, in raw form or contained in semi-finished or finished goods, are legally required to source responsibly. | Access the statement HERE .

SIF News

FIR -  FIR-PRI European Research Awards «Finance and Sustainability»

have been successfully launched with 51 candidates representing 30+ Universities and 18 countries. Jury (academics and practitioners) will meet in May and June. Award ceremony will take place on October 8 during 2015 French SRI week (October 5-11). More info contact@frenchsif.org

FFS - Finance for food: an initiative on sustainable finance within EXPO 2015

A series of five seminars, promoted by FFS and RITMI (the Italian microfinance network) within EXPO 2015, aimed at identifying and highlight the best practices in financing food security and sustainable agriculture, both at national and international level. Official website:https://finance4food.wordpress.com/

FNG - “FNG label – application period starts 7 July 2015

The preparation for the launch of FNG’s sustainable fund label is entering the final stage: The application period officially starts on 7 July with a kick-off event in Frankfurt and will provide interested asset managers with information on the methodology, general conditions and attached processes. For further information please contact office@forum-ng.org.”

Spainsif - SRI week 2015 

From the first ot the ninth of June Spainsif is hosting the “Spain Week of the SRI 2015”. This year special interest is given to the Environment and relevant concerns. The  week includes, lectures and debates as regards offer and demand of SRI products. More information here.

VBDO - HUMAN Conference

UKSIF submitted our final response to the UK’s Department of Work and Pensions on changes to the Investment Regulations. UKSIF would like to thank everyone involved in the process. See the final response here.

See this and other stories in UKSIF’s May newsletter.

Member Affiliate News

Etica Sgr

In conjunction with the participation to EXPO 2015, Etica Sgr will focus the shareholder engagement activities on themes related to nutrition and environmental protection such as the usage of palm oil and the traceability of ingredients and raw materials. More info HERE.

CSSP - Center for Social and Sustainable Products AG Family Office Academy & myImpact Academy launched

Launched in March 2015, CSSP offers two online academies, completely free-of-charge, focusing on impact investments on the one hand, and family offices on the other. Completely built on user generated content, by industry specialists, we aim to provide world-class education on today’s issues. Want to contribute or to sign up? Visit our website or contact us at any time. More information: www.familyoffice-academy.com /www.myimpact-academy.com

oekom - Solactive oekom Ethical Low VolatilityIndex launch

In May 2015, the Solactive oekom Ethical Low Volatility Index was launched. The index was created to track the price movements of low volatility stocks passing the ESG screenings of oekom research. It provides sustainable investors with guidance on which companies have systematically integrated sustainability into their management systems.

Triodos - Conflict minerals at OECD Forum

On May 6th representatives of Triodos Research and  of BNP Paribas Investment Partners participated in a panel discussion at the  9TH ICGLR-OECD-UN GoE Forum on Responsible mineral supply chains, at the OECD in Paris. The OECD forum aimed to clarify international expectations on responsible production and sourcing and showcase the international support for sourcing responsibly from conflict-affected and high-risk areas. Both panelists presented how they approach the risks related to conflict mineral use by investee companies, and collaborative engagement carried out in this area. Also the investor statement of October 2014, supported by Eurosif was mentioned. The OECD was pleased to hear how an increasing number of investors values their due diligence guidance* and how they engage with companies to apply them.

Member Affiliate Research

Candriam Investors Group - Engagement Report and Proxy Voting report 2014

Access the Engagement Report HERE Access the Proxy Voting Report HERE

LGT Capital Parnters/ Mercer - Global Insights on ESG in Alternative Investing

survey shows: institutional investors believe ESG factors improve risk-adjusted returns and play an important role in alternative investment allocations. The survey of 97 institutional investors titled “Global Insights on ESG in Alternative Investing,”  was published on 24.03.2015 | Access HERE

MSCI - Beyond Divestment: Using Low Carbon Indexes

MSCI’s latest Research Insight provides a framework for evaluating ways to reduce two dimensions of carbon exposure - current carbon emissions and potential future emissions embedded in fossil fuel reserves - and explores new and more financially viable ways of managing carbon risk. | Access HERE

Nordea - Managing Water Risk

Nordea has partnered with CDP on a project to inform emerging market investments on water-related risk. A dialogue was inititated with the companies in Nordea's Emerging Stars which have shown high risk on water-related issues. | Access  HERE

RobecoSAM - Do companies with diversified boards have higher stock returns?

In a unique cooperation between RobecoSAM’s Governance and Active Ownership team, Robeco’s Quantitative Equity team and Yifan Zhang from Tilburg University, we researched the link between gender diversity of company boards and stock returns. The results are promising: although we require more research to confirm the results, the data do show a positive link between board diversity and stock performance. | Access HERE

Sustainable Business Insitute (SBI)  

SBI has analysed the performance of apprx. 397 European retail funds using ESG criteria. Further information is available on the platform HERE .

Sustainalytics - Utilities—The Great Transformation Begins

In “Utilities—The Great Transformation Begins,” Sustainalytics examines the investment risks and opportunities of 234 public and non-public utilities companies. Download the executive summary of this report as well as additional Sustainalytics’ reports HERE.

Events

RI Europe 2015: Strategic, risk-aware investing in a rapidly changing world Tuesday 2 - Wednesday 3 June 2015, The Guoman Tower Hotel, London UK. Eurosif Executive Director, Francois Passant is speaking in plenary on "What is the EU doing to support long-term, sustainable institutional investment?"

• More information HERE

Eurosif Member Affiliates will benefit from a 20% receive discount.

ICGN - 2015 Regional and Annual Conference Wednesday 3 - Friday 5 June 2015, Guildhall, London

• More information HERE

Eurosif Member Affiliates will benefit from a 20% receive discount.

Public Hearing on the Next steps to build a Capital Markets Union 8 June, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium Eurosif will be represented at the hearing with a view to promote the recent publication of the Sustainable Capital Markets Union Manifesto .

• More information HERE

European Sustainable Energy Week 2015 15 - 19 June, throughout Europe

• More information HERE

COP 21 Sustainable Inovation Forum 2015 Monday 7 - Tuesday 8 December 2015, Le Bourget, Paris

• More information HERE

SRI Jobs

For details of current SRI jobs, please see the jobs section of the Eurosif website here.