Socially Responsible Investing News

Survey Finds That Corporate Responsibility Professionals Greet an Obama Administration with Optimism Conference attendees believe that better corporate responsibility could have lessened severity of fiscal crisis, and expect increased regulation of CR issues. - (11/13/08)

Report Finds That Most Corporations Fail to Address Risks That Threaten Long-Term Profitability EIRIS report on responsible business practices finds insufficient ESG risk management and inadequate disclosure and advocates PRI involvement for responsible investors. - (11/12/08)

Report on UK Fund Managers Finds Room for Improvement on ESG Issues FairPensions surveys thirty of the largest asset managers and finds relatively strong performance in governance but insufficient attention to climate change and social issues. - (11/11/08)

Institutional Investors Call on SEC to Require Climate Change Disclosure Fourteen large institutional investors join in request for improved ESG reporting as goal of SEC's 21st Century Disclosure Initiative. - (11/05/08)

Corporate Glass Ceiling for Women and Minorities is yet to be Shattered Reports on diversity in the workplace find women and minorities in executive positions remain in short supply, and corporations resistant to sharing data on diversity practices. - (11/04/08)

Climate Change Report Finds Silver Lining for Investors in Renewable Energy Deutsche Bank report on Climate Change emphasizes necessity of carbon pricing, while finding in the economic crisis opportunities for investment in clean technologies. - (10/30/08)

UNEP Launches Green Economy Initiative as Green New Deal United Nations program warns against retreat from sustainability and proposes global economy based on environment and natural infrastructure. - (10/29/08)

Executive Pay Comes Under Fire from Activist Shareholders for Contributing to Financial Crisis Study of shareholder voting by mutual funds shows SRI funds leading the way to increased shareholder activism on matter of executive compensation. - (10/28/08)

Studies Rebuff Charges of CRA Complicity in Financial Crisis Attempts by some conservatives to link the Community Reinvestment Act to predatory mortgage lending are shown to be misleading and often false. - (10/24/08)

Green Stocks Expected to Rebound in Wake of Financial Crisis Green stocks are down with rest of market as investor confidence wanes, but new tax credits and the need to address climate change point to likelihood of strong recovery. - (10/21/08)

Sustainable Investment Strategies Earn Respect in Aftermath of the Financial Crisis Having sounded warnings for years about the causes of the economic crisis, sustainable and responsible investment may be embraced by more mainstream investors. - (10/17/08)

Investors Focus on Presidential Candidates' Differences on Future of US Energy Consumption While both candidates pay homage to energy independence and renewable resources, major differences emerge for responsible investors to consider. - (10/14/08)

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News Briefs

New Sustainable Transportation ETF to be Launched on NASDAQ Invesco PowerShares Capital Management LLC plans to list its PowerShares Global Progressive Transportation Portfolio on the NASDAQ Stock Market on September 18, 2008.

Worldwide economic growth has increased demand for transportation solutions, but in most cases those solutions have not been matched by sustainable improvements in infrastructure. Sustainable transportation meets the needs of society without sacrificing ecological values.

To be traded under the ticker PTRP, the portfolio is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that is based on the Wilder NASDAQ OMX Global Energy Efficient Transport Index. An index-based exchange-traded fund seeks to replicate the movements of an index of a financial market.

The Wilder Index tracks innovative and energy efficient transportation by focusing on businesses that are engaged in cleaner and improved means of transporting goods and people. It includes a global group of companies engaged in four focus areas: alternative vehicles; rail and subway systems; sea, land, air and intermodal; and transport innovation.

Google Heats Up Next Generation Geothermal Energy More than $10 million in investments and grants will flow from Google.org into Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) technology. Google is also supporting research into governmental policies on geothermal energy and next generation geothermal resource mapping.

Google.org explains EGS as the technology needed to create the conditions of geothermal energy manually by passing water through fractured hot rocks and capturing the energy in steam turbines. Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source that could satisfy Google’s search for an energy that is cheaper than coal ( RE).

Fixed Income Classes Get Indexes with ESG Performance Factors The KLD US Corporate Bond (USCB) Index series is the first US index that applies environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors to fixed income asset classes. Launched by KLD Research & Analytics, Ryan ALM, and Mergent, the indexes are available as 1-3 years, 1-5 years and 1-10 years bond indexes.

All three indexes are offered for licensing. The bond indexes were created to help fixed income investors apply ESG factors to their portfolios. The KLD USCB indexes are equal-weighted with a 5% cap per issuer.

Charities Should Match Investments to Missions Says 83% of Public Eighty-three percent of the general public would give less money to a charity if they knew the charity was not investing it ethically, says a newly released survey by the EIRIS Foundation. More than nine out of ten people surveyed agreed with statement “charities should be investing their money in an ethically or socially responsible way.”

However, only 55% of large UK charities have ethical investment plans, according to a 2006 study by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). People are becoming more interested in how charities are investing their funds with 41% of people saying it is very important.