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Sharif Tarver published The Great Investment Turnaround: how to finance a sustainable world economy in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-22 20:24:43 -0400
The Great Investment Turnaround: how to finance a sustainable world economy
The Great Investment Turnaround: how to finance a sustainable world economy | Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact ResearchJuly 20, 2016UBS, AXA, CDP, Climate-KIC, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) hosted leading representatives of finance and climate research to discuss the best strategies for a turnaround in investing this week in Berlin.
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Sharif Tarver published Bloomberg Brief - Sustainable Finance News, Analysis, and Commentary in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-22 20:20:44 -0400
Bloomberg Brief - Sustainable Finance News, Analysis, and Commentary
Sustainable Finance News, Analysis, and Commentary | Bloomberg BriefJuly 21, 2016Only 14 insurers are making tangible efforts to protect their investment portfolios from financial risks related to climate change, according to a new report by Asset Owners Disclosure Project. Also how gun control advocates might be unknowingly backing the firearms industry via their retirement investments; Wells Fargo can't find enough impact funds to invest in; Private equity firm Abraaj says global sustainable investment opportunities stem from cities, not countries.
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Sharif Tarver published Foundations Slowly Come Around to Responsible Investing in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-22 20:14:49 -0400
Foundations Slowly Come Around to Responsible Investing
Foundations Slowly Come Around to Responsible Investing | ThinkAdvisorJuly 18th, 2016A new study released jointly by the Council on Foundations and Commonfund Institute found that a third of U.S. private, public and community foundations have implemented or are actively considering mission-related investing practices in managing their endowed assets. This study is intended as a tool for investment committees, board members and investment staffers who are exploring new strategy options.
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Sharif Tarver published Does Your Institution Have a Low Carbon Social Choice Fund? in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-22 20:12:36 -0400
Does Your Institution Have a Low Carbon Social Choice Fund?
July 13, 2016Last year, NextGenU.org got TIAA-CREF (the $866 billion professors’ pension fund) to create a Low Carbon Social Choice Fund for university professors, but thus far, only a few colleges/universities have made this option available. NextGenU is mounting a campaign to teach people about making this fund option available and selecting it, and provides an email for professors to send their university’s human resource department.
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Sharif Tarver published Northeastern University Sustainable Pledge Draws Mixed Reactions in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-22 20:09:35 -0400
Northeastern University Sustainable Pledge Draws Mixed Reactions
Northeastern University Sustainable Pledge Draws Mixed Reactions | The Huntington NewsJuly 20, 2016As of July 11, Northeastern announced that it will be directing $25 million of its endowment funds toward sustainable investments over the next five years. Though NU has no direct investments in fossil fuel companies, some members the student activist group “DivestNU” disagree with the university’s investment policies.
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Sharif Tarver published Sustainable ETF Range Expanded With Launch Of Two New iShares By BlackRock in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-22 19:50:25 -0400
Sustainable ETF Range Expanded With Launch Of Two New iShares By BlackRock
Sustainable ETF Range Expanded With Launch Of Two New iShares By BlackRock | Blue & Green TomorrowJuly 13th, 2016The two new funds track indices consisting of companies with MSCI environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings level BB and above. This metric rates companies on 37 key ESG factors including carbon emissions and business ethics. The indices aim to minimise exposure to activities involving alcohol, tobacco, gambling, civilian firearms, military weapons, nuclear power, adult entertainment and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Both funds are physically-replicating, meaning they buy the securities of the index, and have a total expense ratio of 0.35% and 0.30% respectively
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Sharif Tarver published FlexShares Launches Two Sustainable Investing ETFs in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-22 19:48:22 -0400
FlexShares Launches Two Sustainable Investing ETFs
FlexShares Launches Two Sustainable Investing ETFs | Business WireJuly 14, 2016FlexShares® Exchange Traded Funds, sponsored and managed by Northern Trust, today introduced the FlexShares STOXX® US ESG Impact Index Fund (NASDAQ: ESG) and FlexShares STOXX® Global ESG Impact Index Fund (NASDAQ: ESGG). These funds use the latest data science techniques to combine key performance indicators (KPIs) in each of the environmental, social and governance buckets that are most influential in improving risk-adjusted returns.
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Sharif Tarver published Northern Trust Asset Management bolsters ESG team in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-22 19:45:48 -0400
Northern Trust Asset Management bolsters ESG team
Northern Trust Asset Management bolsters ESG team | Pensions & InvestmentsJuly 13th, 2016Julia Kochetygova was named senior ESG research analyst at Northern Trust Asset Management. It is a new position. Ms. Kochetygova, who started Tuesday in London, will support the firm as it looks to expand its ESG capabilities. She reports to Mamadou-Abou Sarr, Northern Trust’s global head of ESG investing.
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Sharif Tarver published AXA Investment Managers Launch Smart Beta Sustainability Fund in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-22 19:43:32 -0400
AXA Investment Managers Launch Smart Beta Sustainability Fund
AXA Investment Managers Launch Smart Beta Sustainability Fund | FIN AlternativesJuly 14th, 2016In another sign that sustainable investing continues to command a portion of the alternatives space, AXA Investment Managers has announced the launch of a new smart beta equity fund that concentrates on investments that adhere to environmental, social and governance standards.The new fund, named the AXA World Funds Global SmartBeta Equity ESG fund, hopes to deliver long-term returns while reducing risk through investments that carry high ESG scores and low carbon footprints.
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Sharif Tarver published UBS Hires Baldinger to Lead Sustainable Investment Efforts in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-22 19:41:10 -0400
UBS Hires Baldinger to Lead Sustainable Investment Efforts
UBS Hires Baldinger to Lead Sustainable Investment Efforts | FIN AlternativesJuly 8th, 2016UBS is one of the world’s premier financial institutions. It is a leading fund house in Europe, the largest mutual fund manager in Switzerland, the third-largest international asset manager in Asia, and the second largest fund of hedge funds manager in the world. This Swiss bank has recruited former RobeccoSAM CEO Michael Ballinger to become its head of sustainable investing. Read more about how this impacts UBS's asset classes.
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Sharif Tarver published Northern Trust wins $1.2bn US Endowment Fund Mandate in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-22 19:38:09 -0400
Northern Trust wins $1.2bn US Endowment Fund Mandate
Northern Trust wins $1.2bn US Endowment Fund Mandate | Global CustodianJuly 8th, 2016Northern Trust has won the contract to act as custodian for the $1.2 billion Virginia Commonwealth Investment Management Company. The mandate will cover all global custodian duties for the Virginia Commonwealth University endowment fund and other university assets.
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Sharif Tarver published Maryland Endowment Plans to Cut Worst-Performing Hedge Funds in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-22 19:34:59 -0400
Maryland Endowment Plans to Cut Worst-Performing Hedge Funds
July 8th, 2016The University of Maryland’s endowment is planning to yank the most expensive and worst performing hedge fund investments, following other managers who are frustrated with high fees and low returns.
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Sharif Tarver published 93 Percent Of Public Companies Face Climate Risk; Only 12 Percent Have Disclosed It in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-22 19:31:26 -0400
93 Percent Of Public Companies Face Climate Risk; Only 12 Percent Have Disclosed It
July 13th, 2016Almost all U.S. publicly traded companies face risk either from climate change itself or from the changes needed to fend it off, experts agreed Monday at the S&P Global offices in New York—but few companies have warned their investors.Some executives seem to be in denial, while other executives may not have any idea how to assess climate risk, according to panelists convened by the international Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.
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Sharif Tarver published Shareholder Activism on Sustainability Issues in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-22 19:29:53 -0400
Shareholder Activism on Sustainability Issues
Shareholder Activism on Sustainability Issues | Jyothika Grewal, George Serafeim, Aaron S. YoonJuly 6th, 2016Shareholder activism on sustainability issues has become increasingly prevalent over the years, with the number of proposals filed doubling from 1999 to 2013. We use recent innovations in accounting standard setting to classify 2,665 shareholder proposals that address ESG issues as financially material or immaterial, and we analyze how proposals on material versus immaterial issues affect firms’ subsequent ESG performance and market valuation. Proposals on immaterial issues are associated with subsequent declines in firm valuation while proposals on material issues are associated with subsequent increases in firm value.
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Sharif Tarver published The Fastest-Growing Cause for Shareholders Is Sustainability in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-22 19:27:30 -0400
The Fastest-Growing Cause for Shareholders Is Sustainability
The Fastest- Growing cause for Shareholders is Sustainability | Harvard Business ReviewJuly 12, 2016Ask someone to name the demands that activist hedge funds make of companies and they’ll likely list corporate governance issues like board changes and executive compensation, or perhaps some form of restructuring. In fact, the largest number of shareholder resolutions filed by investors — the method through which activists work — now concern social and environmental issues. Read more about this recent phenomenon and a number of solutions that has increased dramatically over the past five years.
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Sharif Tarver published New York City Pension Fund to Divest Itself of Gun Retailer Stock in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-22 19:25:10 -0400
New York City Pension Fund to Divest Itself of Gun Retailer Stock
New York City Pension Fund to Divest Itself of Gun Retailer Stock | New York TimesJuly 14, 2016New York City’s employee pension fund will sell all its holdings of three American retailers because they sell guns, and will continue to press ahead in its efforts to get Walmart and a division of the supermarket chain Kroger to remove guns from their store shelves. The $59 billion New York City Employees’ Retirement System voted to divest itself of the shares on Thursday at its board of trustees meeting.
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Sharif Tarver published The Evolution of ESG an Interview with Erika Karp in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-22 19:16:37 -0400
The Evolution of ESG an Interview with Erika Karp
The Evolution of ESG: An Interview with Erika Karp | CFA InstituteJuly 14th, 2016As a financial tool, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) analysis is evolving rapidly. Awareness that it is more than just a “feel-good” term is growing, as is the knowledge that it is useful for both risk management and return enhancement. CFA Anjali Pradhan addresses the current state of sustainable investing with Founder of Cornerstone Capital Group Erika Karp.
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Robert Litterman
Bob Litterman, Chairman, Risk Committee and Academic Advisory Board at Kepos Capital LP
Robert Litterman is the chairman of the Risk Committee and Academic Advisory Board at Kepos Capital LP. Prior to joining Kepos Capital in 2010, Litterman enjoyed a 23-year career at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he served in research, risk management, investments, and thought leadership roles.
He oversaw the Quantitative Investment Strategies Group, a portfolio management business formerly known as the Quantitative Equities and Quantitative Strategies groups, and Global Investment Strategies, an institutional investment research group.
While at Goldman, Litterman also spent six years as one of three external advisors to Singapore's Government Investment Corporation (GIC). Bob was named a partner of Goldman Sachs in 1994 and became head of the firm-wide risk function; prior to that role, he was co-head of the Fixed Income Research and Model Development Group with Fischer Black. During his tenure at Goldman, Litterman researched and published a number of groundbreaking papers in asset allocation and risk management. He is the co-developer of the Black-Litterman Global Asset Allocation Model, a key tool in investment management, and has co-authored books including The Practice of Risk Management and Modern Investment Management: An Equilibrium Approach (Wiley & Co.).
Litterman earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. in human biology from Stanford University. He is also the inaugural recipient of the S. Donald Sussman Fellowship at MIT's Sloan School of Management and serves on a number of boards, including Commonfund, the Sloan Foundation, and World Wildlife Fund.
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Sharif Tarver published Pax World Launches ESG Beta, Quality Fund in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-10 11:35:41 -0400
Pax World Launches ESG Beta, Quality Fund
Pax World Launches ESG Beta Quality Fund | Pax World InvestmentsJune 30th, 2016Pax World Management LLC, investment adviser to Pax World Funds and a pioneer in the field of sustainable investing, today announced the launch of the Pax ESG Beta Quality Fund (PXWGX), sub-advised by Aperio Group, LLC (Aperio), a leading provider of customized factor investing strategies.
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Sharif Tarver published Are Do Good Companies Really Doing That Much Good? in Weekly News Round-Ups 2016-07-10 11:23:53 -0400
Are Do Good Companies Really Doing That Much Good?
Are Do-Good Companies Really Doing That Much Good? | The Wall Street JournalJuly 4th, 2016How can an investor know if such a company really is having an impact on climate change or sex discrimination with its business practices and policies? Two professors, one from City University of New York and one from Harvard University, have joined up with financial-services firm UBS GroupAG to find ways of measuring how effective companies are at doing something positive for the world.