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.

Building the business case for sustainability

How do you ensure that your sustainability strategy actually is implemented at all levels in the organization? The core is in motivating and involving managers and employees with a core message which aligns with their targets and reality. Concurrently this often happens from the passion of the GreenTeam which communicates too much from their own world. It is key also to fulfill the financial wishes of the organization. David Bent of Forum for the Future recently published a shortlist with seven steps to support the business case for sustainability, rooted in his experiences at British Telecom.