engagement

PRI in Person

Asset owners step up battle against climate change

Spurred on by its vocal student body and a rich ESG precedent it’s no surprise that the $91 billion University of California is leading on climate change investment. “We thought about our beliefs and realised that climate change matters because it will impact our investments over the long term. We can’t afford to sit idly […]

Sarah RundellSeptember 11, 2015

Opinion

Big owners should act like big owners

One of the key ways that institutional investors can promote a long-term orientation in the companies they invest, is by rejecting a company’s compensation plan if it puts too much emphasis on short-term results, says Bob Pozen, visiting senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Writing in the Financial Analysts Journal, he says […]

Amanda WhiteAugust 5, 2015

Sustainability Digital – Sept 2020

The power of engagement

It is called the “CalPERS’ Effect” but it could easily be called the asset owner effect, or the institutional investor effect, or the power of engagement effect. Wilshire, which is a consultant to the $300 billion Californian fund CalPERS, has provided an update on its study measuring the effect of engagement on a targeted list of companies called the Focus List.

Amanda WhiteJune 17, 2015

Uncategorised posts

Home bias in corporate engagement revealed

Investors should take care in selecting corporate engagement firms to ensure the engagement reflects their portfolio holdings, warn academics at Oxford and Maastricht Universities following a new study which reveals a home bias in such activity. As the investment portfolios of large institutional investors become increasingly global, it is particularly important that they carefully select […]

Amanda WhiteApril 24, 2014

Research

Active ownership

Academics from the London Business School, Boston College and Temple University, examine the outperformance of US public companies following corporate social responsibility engagement.

Amanda WhiteMarch 19, 2014

Uncategorised posts

Dry up: how investors assess water risks

The world is running short of water, but what does that mean for investors? Asset owners in the Netherlands and Norway assess and manage the water-related risks in their portfolios, including the measurement of portfolio companies’ water dependence and water security. The drought hitting South Africa’s North West Province sounds another warning shot around the […]

Sarah RundellNovember 8, 2013