All Articles About Investor Perspective

BSR Insight Article: The Value of Using Environmental, Social, and Governance Criteria in Mainstream Investing

Laura Gitman, Managing Director, Advisory Services

Many mainstream investors have begun to use environmental, social, and governance criteria (ESG) to inform their investment decisions. According to Thomson Reuters' 2008 survey of 25 global buy-side investors, 84 percent claimed to evaluate ESG criteria. And in a 2009 Responsible-Investor.com survey of 75 respondents representing more than US$28 trillion in assets under management, 60 percent said they use an ESG strategy for at least a portion of their assets, and 73 percent believe that asset owner interest has grown since 2008 as a result of stakeholder, political, and regulatory pressure, as well as risk management. Read more →

Posted: September 15, 2009 | Topics: Financial Services, Investor Perspective

Report: Sustainable Investment in China 2009

BSR's recently-released "Sustainable Investment in China 2009" is the first research of its kind on the topic, according the World Bank Group's International Finance Corporation, which commissioned the report. Available in a full-length version and as a shortened overview, the report surveys the sustainable investment (SI) landscape in China, identifies the challenges associated with the nascent field, and makes recommendations for speeding up the growth of the SI market. Read more →

Posted: September 11, 2009 | Topics: Financial Services, Investor Perspective | Download (PDF)

Report: ESG in the Mainstream: The Role for Companies and Investors in Environmental, Social, and Governance Integration

With Bloomberg launching a new environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data service for its stock data service subscribers, ESG data are becoming increasingly visible and available to mainstream investors and analysts, even if they're not specifically looking for it. Read more →

Posted: September 9, 2009 | Topics: Financial Services, Investor Perspective | Download (PDF)

Report: Environmental, Social and Governance: Ready for Mainstream Investing?

Understand the hurdles keeping environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria from gaining wide acceptance among mainstream investors, plus discover the potential solutions to overcoming the barriers preventing ESG progress in our latest report.  Read more →

Posted: August 8, 2008 | Topics: Financial Services, Investor Perspective | Download (PDF)

Report: Word from the Street: Water

This brief includes a set of guidelines, described in the Water & Finance Workstream of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Finance Initiative publication “Half Full or Half Empty?”, which companies can use to evaluate their level of risk exposure to water constraints in order to respond to the growing community of investors and financiers who are including water criteria in their investment decisions. Read more →

Posted: May 28, 2008 | Topics: Financial Services, Investor Perspective, Water | Download (PDF)