SustainabilityHQ.com Weekly Highlights March 18, 2015

Capitalizing on Capital Markets Through ESG –
A Commentary This Week on Forbes’ Blog by Chris Skroupa…

In the American investment community, asset owners, their managers, and a growing number of financial analysts are considering the ESG strategies, performance and outcomes of companies in portfolio – or being considered for portfolio or inclusion in benchmark or index.  That has been the case in Europe for a much longer period.  U.S. corporate boards and managements are adopting effective ESG strategies to guide their “sustainability journey,” and to address the investor concerns.

And so there is the “business case” and the “investment case” and the “supply chain case” and so on – responding to the rising interest in ESG performance and the sustainability journey on the part of stockholders and stakeholders.  This is creating the “new, new normal” in investing, and in corporate strategy-setting.  Result?  In our survey of S&P 500 Index companies’ focus on sustainability, we found that in 2013 three out of four U.S. companies in the widely-used benchmark were publishing reports to tell the story of their sustainability journey.

This week, Forbes’ contributing commentator Chris Skroupa of Skytop Strategies published an interview with G&A Institute’s leadership, Hank Boerner and Louis D. Coppola:  Capitalizing on Capital Markets Through ESG.”  It’s the Top Story this week (below).   Chris came to know and appreciate the work of the G&A team through our collaboration to present an important event at the NASDAQ Market Site in June.  There’s information in Chris’s report.  We invite your reading! 

Top Story of the Week

Capitalizing on Capital Markets Through ESG
(Monday - March 16, 2015)
Source: Forbes - Henry (Hank) Boerner, chairman and chief executive officer of Governance & Accountability Institute (G&A Institute), has served as board member and chair of the Issues Management Council, a global professional membership...

Sustainability in Focus

Corporate Sustainability: The Board’s Role in Oversight
(Friday - March 13, 2015)
Source: Corporate Counsel - MCC interviews Robyn Bew, director of research, National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), which recently published its Director’s Handbook on Oversight of Corporate Sustainability Activities.

Sustainable Funds' Virtuous Cycle: More Demand, More Options
(Friday - March 13, 2015)
Source: ABC News - More people are looking for investments that not only rise in value but also hold true to their personal values. Enter sustainable mutual funds, which are also referred to as socially responsible funds or impact investments. Just...

This is just a sample of some of the articles from this weeks SustainabilityHQ Highlights.  You can view the full Highlights by using the following links. Sustainability | ESG, Highlights for the Week of March 18, 2015