Sustainable Finance & Socially Responsible Investment

Sustainability—both operational and environmental—is crucial for any enterprise. The pressures on companies are different and more urgent now than they were just ten years ago. Most companies now have business goals based around energy efficiency, reducing waste, and doing more with less, usually for good economic reasons. However, the environmental sustainability of a company is now fully intertwined with its operational sustainability.

We are completely reliant upon healthy natural systems. Unfortunately, not all natural systems are healthy, and only 3% of annual U.S. charitable giving goes to environmental and animal causes.

No matter their size, sector, location or scope, no business can ignore human rights. Their scope is wide, covering everything from the right to education to access to water, but one issue in particular is now the most pressing cause of human rights abuses across the world – human trafficking.

Millennials are leading the change toward a more organic agricultural system, with over 50 percent actively incorporating organic foods in their diet. More broadly, millennials identify sustainability as a priority in what they purchase; in fact, millennials are the most willing of any generation to spend more on items and causes that align with their values. Millennials are using their purchasing power to buy from companies they perceive as environmentally friendly, or committed to social values, or on organic products. Essentially, personal values are increasingly reflected in spending patterns. In 2014, millennials represented 36 percent of the workforce; it will be 46 percent by 2020. The millennial influence on food is evident in the increase in organic, specialty products and local,

Here is a new impact investing platform harnesses technology, social networks, and scale to help investors, institutions and their advisors invest with purpose.

Today, Cisco released its 2016 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report, which highlights Cisco’s progress delivering on the company’s CSR mission to accelerate global problem solving to positively impact people, society and the planet.

Fifty of our service dogs in training now know how to fly on a plane!

On December 3, we took our puppies in training to Harrisburg International Airport for a training outing. After parking in long-term parking, the dogs and their raisers took the shuttle to the terminal. Once in the terminal, the dogs practiced loose leash walking around the other travelers, as well as taking elevators and stairs.

The investment community -- especially fiduciaries -- continues to have a flow of more "green" products being made available from a growing number of issuers and their intermediaries; these include "green bonds." Charting this trend, a team of Barclays managers and researchers issued a report as part of the "Barclays Impact Series." Their findings: ESG investing can have a positive effect on portfolios for institutional and individual investors. There are small-but-steady performance benefits and no evidence of a negative impact for such investing.

Few places in Covington, Ky., illustrate this city’s proud past, recent struggles and current renewal more eloquently than the Hellmann Lumber building.