Greenwashing, also called green sheen, is a form of advertising or marketing spin that deceptively uses green PR and green marketing to persuade the public that an organization's products, goals, or policies are environmentally friendly. Companies that intentionally adopt greenwashing communication strategies often do so to distance themselves from their environmental lapses or those of their suppliers. Firms engage in greenwashing for two primary reasons: to appear legitimate and to project an image of environmental responsibility to the public. Because there "is no harmonised definition of greenwashing", a determination that this is occurring in a given instance may be subjective.
The CFA Institute is a global, not-for-profit professional organization that provides investment professionals with finance education. The institute aims to promote standards in ethics, education, and professional excellence in the global investment services industry. Since 1945, the institute has published the peer-reviewed, quarterly journal, the Financial Analysts Journal. It also publishes the Enterprising Investor blog.
BlackRock, Inc. is an American multinational investment company. Founded in 1988, initially as an enterprise risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with US$11.5 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, 2023. Headquartered in New York City, BlackRock has 70 offices in 30 countries, and clients in 100 countries.
Sustainability reporting refers to the disclosure, whether voluntary, solicited, or required, of non-financial performance information to outsiders of the organization. Sustainability reporting deals with qualitative and quantitative information concerning environmental, social, economic and governance issues. These are the criteria often gathered under the acronym ESG.
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is an institutional investor that manages several public and parapublic pension plans and insurance programs in the Canadian province of Quebec. It was established in 1965 by an act of the National Assembly, under the government of Jean Lesage, as part of the Quiet Revolution, a period of social and political change in Quebec. It is the second-largest pension fund in Canada, after the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. It was created to manage the funds of the newly created Quebec Pension Plan, a public pension plan that aimed to provide financial security for Quebecers in retirement. The CDPQ’s mandate was to invest the funds prudently and profitably while also contributing to Quebec’s economic development. As of December 31, 2023, the CDPQ managed assets of C$434 billion, invested in Canada and elsewhere. The CDPQ is headquartered in Quebec City at the Price building and has its main business office in Montreal at the Édifice Jacques-Parizeau.
Corporate Knights is a media and research company based in Toronto, Canada, focused on advancing a sustainable economy. The company publishes a magazine, Corporate Knights, and produces global rankings, research reports, and financial product ratings based on corporate and environmental sustainability performance, including the "Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World" and the "Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada".
Socially responsible investing (SRI) is any investment strategy which seeks to consider financial return alongside ethical, social or environmental goals. The areas of concern recognized by SRI practitioners are often linked to environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics. Impact investing can be considered a subset of SRI that is generally more proactive and focused on the conscious creation of social or environmental impact through investment. Eco-investing is SRI with a focus on environmentalism.
Principles for Responsible Investment is a United Nations-supported international network of financial institutions working together to implement its six aspirational principles, often referenced as "the Principles". Its goal is to understand the implications of sustainability for investors and support signatories to facilitate incorporating these issues into their investment decision-making and ownership practices. In implementing these principles, signatories contribute to the development of a more sustainable global financial system.
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, operating as CPP Investments, is a Canadian Crown corporation established by way of the 1997 Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act to oversee and invest the funds contributed to and held by the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).
The Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation was an office new to the Obama Administration, created within the White House, to catalyze new and innovative ways of encouraging government to do business differently. Its first director was the economist Sonal Shah. The final director was David Wilkinson.
A green bond is a fixed-income financial instruments (bond) which is used to fund projects that have positive environmental benefits. When referring to climate change mitigation projects they are also known as climate bonds. Green bonds follow the Green Bond Principles stated by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), and the proceeds from the issuance of which are to be used for the pre-specified types of projects. The categories of eligible green projects include for example: Renewable energy, energy efficiency, pollution prevention and control, environmentally sustainable management of living natural resources and land use, terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity, clean transportation, climate change adaptation.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) is shorthand for an investing principle that prioritizes environmental issues, social issues, and corporate governance. Investing with ESG considerations is sometimes referred to as responsible investing or, in more proactive cases, impact investing.
The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative is a partnership between the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the global financial sector to catalyse action across the financial system to align economies with sustainable development. As the UN partner for the finance sector, they convene financial institutions on a voluntary basis to work together with them, and each other, to find practical solutions to overcome the many sustainability challenges facing the world today. UNEP FI does this by providing practical guidance and tools which support institutions in the finance sector to find ways to reshape their businesses and commit to targets for limiting greenhouse gas emissions, protecting nature, promoting a circular economy and supporting financial inclusion to address inequality. The solutions developed effectively form a blueprint for others in the finance sector to tackle similar challenges and evolve their businesses along a sustainable pathway. The creation and adoption of such a blueprint also informs policy makers concerned with sustainability issues about what would constitute appropriate regulation for the finance sector at large. Founded in 1992, UNEP FI was the first organisation to pioneer engagement with the finance sector around sustainability. The Finance Initiative was responsible for incubating the Principles for Responsible Investment and for the development and implementation of UNEP FI's Principles for Responsible Banking and Principles for Sustainable Insurance as well as the UN-convened net-zero alliances. Today, UNEP FI provides sustainability leadership to more than 400 financial institutions, with assets of well over $80 trillion headquartered around the world.
Gender lens investing is the practice of investing premised on the understanding that gender is material to financial, business, and social outcomes The term was coined around 2009 and became an increasingly popular practice in the mid-2010s as part of reducing gender inequality.
Wealthsimple Inc. is a Canadian online investment management service. The firm was founded in September 2014 by Michael Katchen, Brett Huneycutt, Som Seif, and Rudy Adler and is based in Toronto. As of September 18, 2024, the firm holds over C$50 billion in assets under management. It is primarily owned by Power Corporation indirectly at 55.1% through investments made through their holdings in Power Financial, IGM Financial and Portag3.
NN Investment Partners was a Netherlands-based asset manager, with headquarters in The Hague and offices in 15 countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas. The company was acquired by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, the asset management division of Goldman Sachs in April 2022.
The Rumie Initiative (Rumie) is a non-profit based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The organization develops and delivers low-cost technology that enables the distribution of digital learning resources to communities with limited Internet access.
Sustainable finance is the set of practices, standards, norms, regulations and products that pursue financial returns alongside environmental and/or social objectives. It is sometimes used interchangeably with Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) investing. However, many distinguish between ESG integration for better risk-adjusted returns and a broader field of sustainable finance that also includes impact investing, social finance and ethical investing.
The DWS Group commonly referred to as DWS, is a German asset management company. It previously operated as part of Deutsche Bank until 2018 where it became a separate entity through an initial public offering on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. It is currently headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany and is a constituent member of the SDAX index.
In the 2010s Private equity massively grew. As of 2019, there were nearly 7,000 private equity firms within the United States, nearly $2.5T globally in unspent cash, and dealmaking in private equity accounted for 13% of global acquisitions.
