Responsible Investing and Active Management
(Second Quarter 2009)

The push to deploy funds in a responsible and sustainable way seems to have gained momentum over the past couple of years. A combination of events, including the Nobel Peace price for work on climate change, the strengthening of shareholder rights, renewable energy and “green” initiatives, and higher prominence of emerging countries have put a host of non-financial issues on many company boards' agenda. The investment scene has also been active, with a number of new environmental, social and governance indices deployed, specialized mutual funds created and influential sovereign wealth funds directing allocations.

The need for active management to get involved is also growing as institutional investors consider different methods for meeting their new responsible investment goals. Since the fiduciary duties to a plan’s beneficiaries are the primary considerations of investment boards, adding non-financial goals to a plan poses a challenge. In this newsletter, we will look at what options are available to active managers for meeting this challenge.


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