Events

Implementing Responsible Investment

A United Nations Investor Roundtable

16 June 2004 | Paris, France

On 16 June 2004, the UNEP FI Asset Management Working Group held an Investor Roundtable 'Implementing Responsible Investment' in Paris, hosted by Groupama Asset Management. The 40 participants included pension funds from across Europe, consultants, analysts and representatives from the member firms of the Working Group. The key points that were realised from the meeting included:

• Environmental, social and corporate governance issues are clearly material – especially over the long term – and companies and their investors who do not take these issues into account do so at their own peril.
• These issues must be brought into the mainstream and firmly integrated into the work of all players, whether they be investors, fund managers, brokers, investment consultants or companies themselves.
• Collaboration by investors in their shareholder engagement activities is essential to achieve improvements in corporate behaviour in order to address the risks and opportunities posed by environmental, social and corporate governance issues. There is a clear need for a global alliance of investors to collaborate across borders to bring about this change.
• Research, education and the upgrading of skills to address these issues is required on a global basis. There is significant experience with engagement processes in a small number of countries, and this experience can form the basis of a global collaboration.
• There are significant opportunities involved in responsible investment in emerging markets, but more research, better information and regulatory frameworks are required to minimise the risks.

Topics and presentations

• Introduction (PDF: 76 KB)
  Carlos Joly, Storebrand; Co-chair, Asset Management Working Group

Topic 1: The materiality of social, environmental and corporate governance issues

• Extra-financial analysis and investment processes (PDF: 129 KB)
  Eric Borremans, Head of SD Research, BNP Paribas Asset Management
• Attempting to integrate social and environmental analysis into sell-side research. Our experience in Energy: Social & Environmental Issues Count (PDF: 286 KB)
  Anthony Ling, Co-Director of European Research, Goldman Sachs
• Playing with fire - Insurance and Sustainability (PDF: 380 KB)
  Volker Kudszus, West LB Equity Markets

For an in depth discussion of these topic, see the report, "The Materiality of Social, Environmental and Corporate Governance Issues to Equity Pricing." (PDF: 1.1 MB)

Topic 2: Responsible investment and fixed income portfolio management.

Integrating environmental social and corporate governance criteria into fixed income investments, bonds and MMF.

• Case Study: HSBC (PDF: 260 KB)
  Xavier Desmadryl, SRI Analyst, HSBC
• Michel Ducommun, President, Caisse de Prevoyance du Canton de Geneve

Topic 3: Best-practice shareholder engagement strategies

• SRI Engagement (PDF: 243 KB)
  Luigi Minerva, Company Analyst, Morley Fund Management
• Is shareholder engagement making a real difference on corporate behaviour? (PDF: 352 KB)
  Barbara Krumsiek, President and CEO, Calvert
• Investor Perspective
  Raj Thamotheram, Senior Advisor, Responsible Investment, Universities Superannuation Scheme

Topic 4: Responsible investment in emerging markets

Current issues for pension fund investments in emerging markets

New tools for ensuring long-term stable returns

• Current issues of pension fund investments in emerging markets (PDF: 333 KB)
  Pedro Angeli Villani, Portfolio Manager, ABN AMRO Brazil
• Emerging markets equity process (PDF: 279 KB)
  Erda Gercek, Emerging Markets Equity Country Specialist, Citigroup
• Investor Perspective
  Luiz Carlos Aguiar, Chief Investment Officer, PREVI

Moving ahead

Convening a forum for promoting global best practice.

Global investor principles for responsible investment.

Facilitator:

• Vincent Zeller, Co-Chair Asset Management Working Group, General Manager and Chief Investment Officer, Groupama Asset Management

Resources

• UNEP FI Analysts Project Report: The Materiality of Social, Environmental and Corporate Governance Issues to Equity Pricing (PDF: 1.1 MB)
• Just Pensions Guide for Trustees and Fund Managers
• Investor Network on Climate Risk