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  • Responsible Investment Consulting Discussed at SRI in the Rockies

    November 03, 2009

    By David Wood, November 3rd, 2009

    At SRI in the Rockies last week, my colleague Valerie Berezin and I presented on interviews we are conducting with investment consultants about the uptake of Responsible Investment in their industry niche. We have been asking a set of consultants who define themselves as engaged in Responsible Investment how ESG/Mission investing relates to their general process for assessing managers. The goals of the interviews were to get an understanding of how the consultants identify and evaluate ESG managers during their selection process and to see if they conduct any assessment for ESG manager or product impact. We have heard from many of the consultants that they do not have a set of standards against which they measure environmental and/or social impact. Instead, they use traditional tools of due diligence to made a determination on how committed a manager is to their Responsible Investment strategy. Social return on investment remains a work in progress, but consultants are not waiting on established measurement tools to enter the field.

    In terms of mission investing, these important gatekeepers often follow the lead of their clients on which mission investment managers to evaluate -- our interviews have reaffirmed the notion that active conversations between endowments and consultants can be a productive means to advance the field.

    The presentation can be viewed here.

    posted 12:10PM 11/03/2009 by David Wood

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