1 / 10

Socially Responsible Investment (SRI)

MGT 427 - Corporate Governance. Socially Responsible Investment (SRI). Faisal AlSager. Week 6. Objectives. To understand the different approaches that may be used for socially responsible (ethical) investment

ruana
Download Presentation

Socially Responsible Investment (SRI)

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. MGT 427 - Corporate Governance Socially Responsible Investment(SRI) • Faisal AlSager Week 6

  2. Objectives • To understand the different approaches that may be used for socially responsible (ethical) investment • To appreciate the role of institutional investors in socially responsible investment • To be aware of some indices that may be used to assess the performance of socially responsible funds

  3. What is SRI? • SRI involves considering the ethical, social, and environmental performance of companies selected as well as their their financial performance. • SRI is also called ethical investment • SRI covers different areas: genetic engineering, the environment, employment conditions, and human rights

  4. SRI for Institutional Investors • Institutional investors have become aware of the importance of SRI because • client demand • corporate citizenship • potential economic benefits

  5. Strategies for SRI • Three basic strategies for SRI • Engagement - identify areas for improvement in the ethical, social, environmental policies of the companies invested in, and encourage them to make improvements • Preference - fund managers work to a list of guidelines that trustees prefer companies invested in to meet • Screening - trustees ask for investments to be limited to companies selected (screened) for their ethical behavior. May be ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ screening

  6. International Guidance • Global Sullivan Principles (1977) - principles that are directed toward increasing CSR throughout the world, based on self-help • The MacBride Principles (1984) - consists of nine fair employment, affirmative action principles • UN Global Compact (1999) - nine principles relating to the areas of human rights, labor standards, and environmental practices • OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (2000) - cover areas such as disclosure, environment, employment, industrial relations, and consumer interests

  7. International Guidance • Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Guidelines (2002) - the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and CERES formed a partnership in 1999 to encourage NGOs, business associations, corporations, and stakeholders to undertake sustainability reporting. The 2002 guidelines represent the latest consensus on a reporting framework for sustainability reporting

  8. CSR Indices • FTSE4Good Indices • designed to reflect the performance of socially responsible equities • three criteria: human rights, stakeholder relations, environmental • launched in 2001 • four Markets: US, UK, Europe, and global • DJSI (Dow Jones Sustainability Indices) • aimed at providing indices to benchmark the performance of investments in sustainability companies and funds • includes only leading sustainability companies worldwide • criteria: corporate governance, scorecards and measurement systems, environmental performance, and external stakeholders

  9. SRI Increasing Importance • SRI is highly considered in the UK and USA, especially in institutional investors • SRI is seen as a mainstream corporate governance issue • There is the increasing perception that SRI can help to maintain or increase shareholder value

  10. References • Corporate Governance: Mallin, Tina. Oxford.

More Related