ESG Equity Market Monitor, March 2017 update The Global Sustainable Investment Alliance (GSIA) has recently published its latest biennial market review valuing sustainable investment assets at $22.89tn globally. But is this figure truly indicative of the real dollars invested in ESG? In our first quarterly update following the launch of Leaders Arena’s ESG Equity Market Monitor in December last year, we answer once more the question many IROs ask. How much capital invested in their companies can we truly categorise as ‘ESG’? Headlines from our research this quarter: The UK has overtaken Norway as the largest ESG market The average ESG ownership in companies reached 8.0%, 13% YoY growth rate
BlackRock to focus on company transparency around key ESG issues BlackRock's engagement priorities highlight their continued focus on ESG With $5.1T in assets, BlackRock’s 30-person Investment Stewardship team engages with approximately 1,500 companies each year on ESG. BlackRock has highlighted five areas of focus for their engagement priorities for 2017-2018. The New York City-based firm has stated that Environmental, Social, and Governance issues are integral to their investment stewardship activities. BlackRock takes a long-term view to its approach, looking for progress over time. Low, or bare minimum disclosure on any of the below topics would be a red flag and potential trigger for
Upcoming EU Directive will boost IR/shareholder ESG engagement The changes to the Directive will bring long-term shareholder engagement, governance and ESG communication to the fore. Context: On March 14, the European Parliament voted on an adopted proposal to amend the Shareholder Rights Directive. The proposal acknowledges that greater involvement of shareholders in environmental, social and governance factors (ESG) is one of the levers that can help improve the long-term financial and non-financial performance of companies in addition to other issues such as cross-border voting. What are the main changes to the Directive that will mostly directly impact companies? I. Objective: Enhance th
Norges Bank Investment Management’s Environmental, Social and Governance Integration / Key Insights for Investor Relations in 2017 With over USD 544bn invested across 9,000 companies globally, the largest Responsible Investor (RI) in the equity market has recently published its annual RI review. We consider this summary a must-read for ALL IROs as Norges Bank Investment Management’s (NBIM) evolving ESG policies will impact most Investor Relations (IR) teams and corporate communication strategy during 2017 and beyond. For the busy bees that need the key facts to support internal presentations, Leaders Arena provides here the main highlights of what NBIM’s ESG policies recent update means for
