Sustainable Finance & Socially Responsible Investment

Understanding occupier satisfaction is vital to the success of the property industry. It enables continuous improvement in relationships between landlords and tenants, and encourages best practice property management processes by managing agents.

The emerging concepts of circular economy and resource-efficient design offer opportunities for developers. By embracing these approaches, they can reduce costs, de-risk material price volatility, improve residual values and appeal to a new generation of firms and employees for whom sustainability is a key priority.

While the debate over the use of nuclear power continues, the renewable energy sector is quietly forging ahead and independent power producers are adding much-needed capacity to the grid. Since the Department of Energy (DoE) embarked on its alternative energy drive in 2012, capital investments in renewables have totalled almost R200 billion.

South Africa has some of the best natural resources available for solar and wind power. This, together with a reputationally strong and well-run independent power procurement programme, has created opportunities for institutional investors like Futuregrowth − who is now a leading funder of the programme.

Bloomberg hosted an exclusive luncheon with the Hon. Mary Schapiro in Hong Kong on November 29. More than 60 of the city’s top business and finance leaders came together to discuss the RMB’s future following the recent U.S. elections.

More than two-thirds of total investment in infrastructure in the next 15 years will be made in cities. It's no wonder, as people are flocking to cities around the world.

Four years ago, Jeff Ruffell thought he might not work at a senior level again. He had spent two decades in sales management and another decade in the kitchen and bathroom industry, but a run of bad health and bad luck had left him jobless at the age of just 53.

“I was recovering from a serious car accident when the company I was working for folded,” he says. “The stress of the accident caused me to have a breakdown and I thought my depression would stop me finding work with a new company.”

Modernization of the U.S. power grid will not only require replacement of old components with new ones, it will also need to account for larger amounts of renewable energy and distributed generation. This movement is causing utilities to consider microgrids as a part of the solution.

KeyBank’s Community Development Lending & Investing (CDLI) group announced today it has provided $95.2 million in tax exempt bond financing to construct almost 600 units of 4% LIHTC affordable apartments in Auburn, Washington, called the Villas at Auburn and the Reserve at Auburn. Upon completion, the Villas at Auburn will offer 295 units of affordable housing for families; the Reserve at Auburn will offer 297 units of affordable housing for seniors. Both projects will serve residents making 60 percent or less of the area median income.

In response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement that it would stay the course on 2012 greenhouse gas (GHG) standards for automobiles and light duty trucks, major investors released statements supporting the decision: