Sustainable Investment

Arrow Electronics hosted “The Entrepreneur’s Journey” at General Assembly during this year’s Denver Startup Week 2017, offering an inside look at how two successful entrepreneurs overcame the challenges of developing and bringing smart, connected internet of things (IoT) products to market.

In this episode of the Champions for Social Good Podcast, Leor Rotchild, Executive Director of Canadian Business for Social Responsibility, speaks about the influence of CSR on investors and stock price.

Women continue to serve as pioneers in sustainability, leading the way through advocacy and implementation. The Cox Conserves Sustainability Survey (CCSS), which focused on small and medium-sized business owners (SMBs), found that 42 percent of female-run SMBs are committed to increasing sustainable business practices versus 35 percent of male-run SMBs. Women recognize sustainability as an important part of running a business.

Today the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing released a new report analyzing the communications disconnect between the environmental, social and governance (ESG) information investors seek and what companies provide. The paper, Sustainable Value: Communicating ESG to the 21st Century Investor, identifies the communications opportunities and best practices for companies to better communicate their ESG stories to enhance their business and investor value.

Today, Cox Enterprises released the results of the national Cox Conserves Sustainability Survey, which identified that small and medium-sized business (SMBs) owners are cautiously optimistic about sustainability in the United States. The survey, commissioned by Cox Enterprises, is a national study that examines SMB owners’ insights on sustainability.

Bechtel is building Edmonton’s Valley Line light-rail transit extension, the largest infrastructure project undertaken by Alberta’s capital city in Canada. It will expand the commuter-rail system by eight miles (13 kilometers), linking the urban center to distant suburbs across the Saskatchewan River. Edmonton has committed to reducing its carbon footprint by 111,000 tons per year by purchasing renewable energy, which will provide electricity from cleaner sources to power the trains.

As part of the PBS series, "Peril and Promise: The Challenge of Climate Change," the network's NewsHour reported on how a few large U.S. companies are doing their part to meet climate change challenges...and prospering...even as the Trump White House continues to move toward withdrawal from the historic Paris Agreement (COP 21).

The efforts of the giant retailer Wal-Mart Stores are highlighted in the broadcast. Wal-Mart stresses that it is striving to be recognized as a corporate leader in the "fight against climate change."

New research demonstrates the long-term impact of skills-based volunteering (SBV) on the social sector. As highlighted in our article, The Promise of Skills-Based Volunteering featured in Stanford Social Innovation Review's Fall 2017 issue, Common Impact embarked on a study to quantify the longitudinal impact of SBV on the social sector and heard first-hand about the transformational impact from our nonprofit partners. We reached out to over 400 nonprofits across 21 cities and across various mission areas who have participated in one or more projects with Common Impact. The results represent two decades of data that demonstrates the immediate, positive outcomes of these engagements on the social sector.

A quartet of experts writing in the Harvard Business Review has responded to the short-term, bottom-line pressures that we hear so much about throughout much of Corporate America.

To develop their case, the authors (three academics and a consultant) looked at Brazil's giant beef industry, a challenge for studying considering the size and complexity of the industry and its long-term impact on the planet.