As the world grows ever more connected, access to financial tools has expanded dramatically. Today, 79% of adults worldwide have a bank account, an increase from 51% in 2011. This is a remarkable gain.
To meet the growing need of leading institutional investors for a longer-term view, the investors in CECP’s Strategic Investor Initiative’s (SII) Advisory Board released a letter—signed by Bill McNabb, Chairman, Vanguard and 9 other leading investors--with a call-to-action to reframe communications between CEOs, companies, and investors to focus on long-term value creation.
Last week, smallholder farmers convened in a field on the outskirts of Gonaives, Haiti to harvest cotton for the first time in 30 years. Once Haiti’s fourth largest export crop, cotton growing stopped in the 1980s due to policies and politics of the time. Now outdoor lifestyle brand Timberland, in partnership with the Smallholders Farmers Alliance (SFA) and other companies, aims to bring cotton back as phase two of its ongoing work to help reforest Haiti and benefit smallholder farmers.
Goldcorp and FLSmidth have been recognized for their co-development of EcoTailsTM, as the joint winners of the Mining Magazine Editor’s Award 2017, an award given annually to celebrate outstanding new technologies, innovations and initiatives within the mining sector.
Andy Kessler made some interesting points in his piece, “Stocks Weren’t Made for Social Climbing." Chiefly, we at CECP: The CEO Force for Good, agree with his emphasis on the importance of profits. The issue is how you get there and how to create sustainable value, not just short-term gains. When he suggests that to invest in socially motivated companies, one is passing up gains, he proceeds from a false dichotomy. Properly realized, the value proposition of a corporation—its outputs, its employee and community relations, its returns, and, yes, its philanthropy—are not linear; they are circular.
Gayle Grindley, Natural Channel Sales Director for Unilever, has travelled with Whole Planet Foundation and met microcredit clients in Austin, San Diego, Phoenix, in Guatemala in Central America (pictured), in Paraguay, South America and in Togo, West Africa.
Last week the team went to the EDIE Sustainability Awards 2018. We were proud to be a finalist for the employee engagement and behavioural change category for our Sustainable September campaign. Unfortunately we lost out to Virgin Atlantic Airways (Congratulations to them!) but we are still very proud of the recognition and excited to continue in our progress towards our 2025 Sustainability goals as a corporation! Sharene Katsoulas, Isabel Gonzalez Jungblut, Jenny Wassenaar
Technology can be a double-edged sword – especially when it comes to small business lending. While there’s plenty of justified excitement over the potential of providing underserved SMEs with fast access to loans through digital platforms, there are also considerable reasons for caution. Though alternative lending products can boost access, many lack transparency regarding the true cost of the loan, and therefore risk trapping small businesses in a cycle of debt.
Environmental, Social, and Governance reporting has become a hot topic for publicly traded companies around the world. We sat down with Jeannie Renne-Malone, Vice President of Sustainability at Prologis, a logistics real estate firm, to discuss her views on ESG reporting and how integration of new health and well-being questions are helping push their sustainability program to new heights.
Mirvac has turned their new Sydney headquarters at 200 George Street into a living lab outfitted with sensors that collect building data on everything from vibrations to façade temperature. The space reflects the group’s passionate curiosity in sustainable, healthy buildings – and their desire to transform knowledge directly into action. We spoke to both Sarah Clarke, Group General Manager, Sustainability and Reputation and David Palin, Sustainability Manager who explain how continuous learning, transparency, and trust are helping them stand out as leaders in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting.
Everyone’s financial journey is different. We make intentional efforts to meet the individual needs of clients and communities through a diverse range...
Highlighting the top news, commentary, and research for the week coming from SHQ. The highlights newsletter also spotlights one profiled organization...
