Sustainable Finance & Socially Responsible Investment

The Citi Foundation today announced an expansion of its Community Progress Makers Fund, through an investment of an additional $20 million in leading nonprofit organizations across six U.S. cities. Organizations serving Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, D.C., may apply for grants up to $500,000 through the open Request for Applications. The deadline is December 18, 2017.

Rabobank and UN Environment announced the creation of a new one-billion-dollar facility to finance sustainable agriculture using a combination of public and private funding. Together they also invite other interested financial institutions to sign up and work actively with global food companies to put this into practice.

Kern High School District in California installed SunPower carport solar systems at 25 of its sites, allowing them to save money and conserve energy, thanks to financing from Wells Fargo.

Most people don't know that food packaging plays a vital role in reducing food waste. By embracing better food packaging best practices, we can help take action against hunger.

Boeing today announced more than $50 million in grants to more than 500 nonprofit organizations across 50 countries globally. The annual contributions include a three-year commitment of more than $25 million in support of veterans’ recovery and rehabilitation programs and transition services. The charitable grants package will fund programs through 2018 and supplement an anticipated $117 million in company-wide business and employee contributions to similar causes—bringing Boeing’s total community investments to approximately $167 million this year alone.

​Launched in October 2016, the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards are the world's first global standards for disclosing ESG performance. The GRI Standards replace the G4 Guidelines, which will be phased out by 30 June 2018. Here's a recap of what has happened since the launch last year.

The foundation of Northern Trust's responsible investment principles, as with our entire decision-making process, is that we will act in a manner to protect our clients’ financial well-being.

"The" voice of authority for many board members and C-suite executives is The Harvard Business Review. Sustainability pioneer and influential thought leader John Elkington in the current "HBR" talks about the practice of "issues framing" at the highest levels of the corporation, and suggests (to leaders) that to change our usual way of perceiving, prioritizing and investing time/effort/money, that "re-framing" for social change is the wave of the future.

There's no shortage of opinion on how governments can reduce economic and social disparities, but what about the private sector? The long-held belief that focusing on the environment and society is at odds with making a profit is increasingly being challenged.