Franklin Templeton Joins SASB's Investor Advisory Group

LONDON and SAN MATEO, Calif., May 22, 2019 /3BL Media/ – Franklin Templeton today announced that it has joined the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Investor Advisory Group (IAG), a group of leading asset owners and managers that are committed to improving sustainability-related disclosures to investors. 

The announcement, made at the IAG’s meeting in London today, reflects the growing relevance of SASB’s sustainability accounting standards for global institutional investors, with the addition of new representatives from Canada, France, Japan, Norway and the United Kingdom.

“We welcome Julie Moret, Head of ESG at Franklin Templeton, to this important group that provides valuable feedback and guidance to SASB,” said SASB CEO Madelyn Antoncic. “The interest of the world’s leading institutional investors in SASB’s standards shows that better understanding of sustainability-related risk and opportunity is a crucial concern across global capital markets.”

SASB established its Investor Advisory Group in late 2016 to provide investor feedback and guidance for the organization, and to demonstrate investor support for a market standard for investor-focused sustainability disclosure. A total of 44 firms, accounting for more than $33 trillion in assets under management, now serve as IAG members.

Moret commented: “We are delighted to serve as members of SASB’s IAG to further support the industry’s efforts to promote corporate disclosure on financially material, decision-useful information to investors. Franklin Templeton is a strong supporter of SASB’s work in establishing a market-based set of sustainability accounting standards that have been created collaboratively with industry and investors, representing industry specificity and comparability across industries.”

In November 2018, SASB published the world’s first complete set of 77 industry-specific sustainability accounting standards. SASB’s standards enable businesses to identify and communicate performance, on an industry-specific basis, on the sustainability issues that matter most to financial performance. What makes SASB standards unique in the marketplace is its industry-specific focus, its emphasis on communicating to investors and its focus on financial materiality.

About Franklin Templeton
Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization operating as Franklin Templeton. Franklin Templeton’s goal is to deliver better outcomes by providing global and domestic investment management to retail, institutional and sovereign wealth clients in over 170 countries. Through specialized teams, the Company has expertise across all asset classes, including equity, fixed income, alternatives and custom multi-asset solutions. The Company’s more than 600 investment professionals are supported by its integrated, worldwide team of risk management professionals and global trading desk network. With employees in over 30 countries, the California-based company has more than 70 years of investment experience and over $720 billion in assets under management as of April 30, 2019. For more information, please visit franklinresources.com.

For more insights from Julie Moret, Head of ESG, Franklin Templeton, read her latest blog here.

About SASB
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board Foundation (SASB) is an independent, nonprofit standard-setting organization that develops and maintains robust reporting standards that enable businesses around the world to identify, manage and communicate financially material sustainability information to investors. SASB standards are evidence-based, developed with broad market participation and are designed to be cost-effective for companies and decision-useful for investors. To download any of the 77 industry-specific standards, or learn more about SASB, please visit www.SASB.org.