Fund managers call for better environmental reporting

Citation

(2004), "Fund managers call for better environmental reporting", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 5 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijshe.2004.24905dab.002

Fund managers call for better environmental reporting

In a report launched this summer at a UN Summit in New York, fund managers from America, Europe and Japan called on investors, governments and businesses to promote better corporate reporting of environmental and social issues.

A key finding of the report is that corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance “impacts both positively and negatively on long-term shareholder value”. Consequently, financial institutions need clarity and uniformity in CSR reporting to make sound investment decisions, it says.

Disclosure on CSR issues in annual reports is often incomplete, due in part to “lack of certainty” regarding government policy. Financial disclosure regulations should be modified to include environmental, social and corporate governance issues, the report states. The fund managers, which collectively represent US$1.6 trillion (1.3 trillion) of assets, based their conclusions on sector reports developed over six months by brokerage houses.

The report was produced for the UN environment programme (UNEP) finance initiative and launched at a summit to mark the fourth anniversary of the UN Global Compact, a set of voluntary principles for business that include environmental issues.