News & Commentaries by Ron Robins

————————————————————-

Three Risks That Are Haunting Big Oil. “In the UK, climate related risk has moved from the NGO agenda to that of asset managers. A recent survey reported that fund managers believe International Oil Companies (IOCs) will be negatively revalued within a few years due to climate change related risks.”

[COMMENTARY]Finally, fund managers are getting the message! Even ’big oil’ is coming around to the potential problems for them cited in this research and post.
Three Risks That Are Haunting Big Oil, by Felicia Jackson, April 26, 2018, Forbes.

————————————————————-

Methods for Selecting Ethical Investments: Some Sociological Explanations, a research paper. “Nowadays the need for an ethical and socially responsible approach to finance appears increasingly evident, yet the sphere of ethical finance does not have the success that one could imagine.”

[COMMENTARY]This research delves into the subject that many of us in the ethical investment sphere have long been curious about: despite the large proportion of investors wanting to invest ethically, relatively few do!
Methods for Selecting Ethical Investments: Some Sociological Explanations, a research paper, by Caterina Galluccio, April 23, 2018, Advances in Applied Sociology.

————————————————————-

Time for a Global Financial Makeover. “In the past three years, the world has made some progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, but the fundamental issue of financing the SDGs remains unresolved. And, with the financial sector strongly oriented toward short-termism, the necessary investments may never materialize.”

[COMMENTARY]The UN is sounding an alarm that if short-termism in finance persists, the Sustainable Development Goals will never materialize. Many observers are sounding this warning. I’ve repeated it too over the past several decades. For long-term thinking, we need a new consciousness. Interestingly, some cultures have this orientation ingrained. For instance, China appears to think long-term in its economic and social planning. And they have done exceedingly well with it!
Time for a Global Financial Makeover, by Liu Zhenmin, April 24, 2018, Project Syndicate, USA.

————————————————————-

Weekend read. Capitalism coming of age: using the SDGs to bridge business strategy and social responsibility, by RobecoSam. “Our analyses of corporate philanthropy and citizenship practices shows that companies already recognize the need to address SDGs and are using their CSR programs to apply, advance and report efforts. However, stronger metrics are still needed, especially for companies and stakeholders to fully maximize impact.”

[COMMENTARY]A superb, insightful analysis and survey of the rise of CSR and the integration of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals into corporate thinking and activity .
Capitalism coming of age: using the SDGs to bridge business strategy and social responsibility, by RobecoSam, April 17, 2018, Switzerland.

————————————————————-

Impact assessment model finds ESG funds ‘low on sustainability.′ “Investment funds aren′t what they say they are when it comes to sustainability or environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria, according to the company behind a new impact measurement model.”

[COMMENTARY]There are many views on determining sustainability. Here is one perspective that many ESG-ethical fund managers might want to review.
Impact assessment model finds ESG funds ‘low on sustainability,’ by Susanna Rust, April 13, 2018, IPE, UK.

————————————————————-

First-Quarter Volatility Doesn’t Slow [US] Sustainable Funds. “Driven by the strong performance of the group′s core U.S. equity funds, one third of sustainable funds finished in the top quartile of their Morningstar Categories and 55% finished in the top half. Among sustainable funds in the large-blend Morningstar Category, 20 out of 37 finished in the top quartile, 28 beat the S&P 500, and 29 finished in the category′s top half.”

[COMMENTARY]These results help confirm that in unstable markets ESG-ethical investment funds likely have more stability, higher returns, and investor retention rates, than most other funds.
First-Quarter Volatility Doesn’t Slow [US] Sustainable Funds, by Jon Hale, April 12, 2018, Morningstar, USA.

————————————————————-

UK business leads in boards with climate change policies. “In North America, the US had the lowest proportion using and preparing to use carbon pricing, 15 and 9 per cent respectively, and, at 66 per cent, the lowest percentage of companies with board oversight…

The research, into 1,681 companies in 14 countries and eleven sectors, was conducted by the London-based Carbon Disclosure Project, or CDP.”

[COMMENTARY]France and Germany were next. This information might be particularly helpful for ethical investors allocating investments across regions. CDP continues to conduct terrific and important research for the investment community.
UK business leads in boards with climate change policies, by Brian Collett, April 9, 2018, TriplePundit, USA.

————————————————————-

SRI stutters in bid to take foothold in Asia: report. “Socially responsible investments still have a long way to go to gain a foothold in Asia ex-Japan′s retail markets, according to new research from Cerulli Associates.”

[COMMENTARY]Not just Asia — but particularly throughout the developing world — SRI assets lag. As countries mature, SRI gathers momentum.
SRI stutters in bid to take foothold in Asia: report, by Gary Robinson, March 29, 2018, International Investment, UK.

———————————————————-

Featured Book

The Little Big Number: How GDP Came to Rule the World and What to Do about It, by Dirk Philipsen, Princeton University Press 2015.
“GDP is not just a number but is code for a set of economic values and principles that we’re not supposed to question. Philipsen breaks that taboo by critically assessing the origins and impacts of our overreliance on this flawed metric. Anyone who wants to understand our economy’s weaknesses–and how to make them better–needs to read this book.”—Annie Leonard, author of The Story of Stuff and executive director of Greenpeace USA.