4th Pan-European IR Conference Euronext Amsterdam

After three successful editions in the previous years, the Investor Relations associations of Belgium (BIRA), France (CLIFF), the Netherlands (NEVIR) and Portugal (FIR) will organize for the fourth time the Pan-European IR Conference in Amsterdam from 28-30 September 2015.

2015 Dow Jones Sustainability Index Results - DJSI Services

On September 10th, RobecoSAM and S&P Dow Jones Indices announced the results of the annual Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI). Once again, our customer Telenet reconfirmed its position as the industry group leader in the worldwide media sector, now for the fourth year in a row. Other industry group leaders include Unilever, Akzo Nobel, Roche Holding, and Air France-KLM.

From BlackRock to Black Angus: Adapting Global to Local

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has recently called for "urgent concerted policy responses" to deal with the growing threat of climate change to global food security. With predicted demand for ruminant meat to almost double between 2000 and 2050, which is in line with earlier reports concerning the growth effects of dairy and poultry on global warming, the FAO flags potential problems to be addressed – particularly on the issue of water scarcity. When looking at the broader range of materialities surrounding the highly globalized food industry, there appears to be a strong need for a local approach to address these issues in an effective manner.

The 2015 RobecoSAM Forum

The RobecoSAM Forum is a community platform of thought leaders to launch initiatives and discuss solutions in the field of sustainability investing. Corporates, asset owners and RobecoSAM experts will come together for two days in Zürich, Switzerland to exchange their views on the impact of sustainability on financial markets and the future of ESG investing.

Building a Culture of Long-Term Investment and Growth

The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, has teamed up with nonprofit sustainability leader Ceres to create guidance for institutional investors on engaging with companies and policymakers on sustainability issues. The guide “21st Century Engagement: Investor Strategies for Incorporating ESG Considerations into Corporate Interactions” includes tactics and case studies from 37 experts spanning 6 countries.

12 Questions to Test Your Sustainability Strategy

Sustainability strategy is a notion easily used, but hard to capture. The fact that only 37 percent of CEO’s trust they have a clear business case for sustainability triggered us, as many companies claim to be sustainable. Projecting an image that differs from the real situation leads to an ‘authenticity gap’ where stakeholders receive insufficient or wrong information regarding your sustainability efforts. So how to design an accurate sustainability strategy that is part of the regular business and not functions as an add-on for communications?

Creating Shareholder Value Key for Aligning CSR and Financial Performance

Many corporations have initiated sustainability programs: they’re using renewable energy, recycling waste materials or supporting charitable projects in Africa. Yet only a fraction of these companies have developed a truly strategic approach to sustainability which takes the interest of all stakeholders into account and addresses the material issues that are surrounding the organization.

Unfolding the Materiality Matrix - A Consulting Approach

In 1999, many of us got to know ‘The Matrix’ as the world we humans live in, and the real world, which is a layer around the Matrix that is controlled by machines. Was this spectacular science fiction movie the inspiration for many organizations to think beyond their small world, to start interacting with stakeholders and develop a materiality matrix? Probably not. However, since the beginning of the new millenium, we have seen a spectacular increase in the use of the materiality matrix in sustainability strategy design and reporting.

Institutional Investors Are Becoming More Sustainable

The estimated size of the global market for Responsible Investing (RI) was €7,6 billion in 2010 (EUROSIF). Some more key facts: Europe owns 66% of the global RI assets, USA 28% and Canada 5%. European RI assets are for 92% owned by institutional investors and the top 5 countries in Responsible Investing are France, UK, Norway, Netherlands and Italy. But what exactly is RI?

Impact of a Corporate Culture of Sustainability

Harvard Business School tested the performance of a sample of 90 companies that had adopted sustainability policies since the early 1990s when CSR was still at nascent stage, against a control peer group of 90 companies that only adopted sustainability more recently. Next, they used selected SAM/Dow Jones Sustainability Index data and found several interesting correlations.