The Global Financial Crisis should have taught us once and for all that free market capitalism simply does not work without adequate checks and balances, yet onward we trudge likely only to have another bubble burst at some point.
Is there a better way? That's the goal of the Network for Sustainable Financial Markets (which I act as Executive Director among my affiliations), to look at what is broken or missing and incubate solutions.
For example, our Network is best known perhaps for incubating the Climate Bonds Initiative which has developed standards as well as an 8 point plan to promote the transition to a lower carbon economy as follows:
More money into climate bonds would be an important wedge among all the steps needed and presently inadequate to the task. Subscribe for updates at the Climate Bonds website. It's been great to even some companies getting into the Climate Bond act of late, such as Unilever and Toyota.
The Network also features active working groups, including one on Fiduciary Duty, featuring many thought leaders on the subject. We will be reviewing their new Handbook on Fiduciary Duty very soon.
How investors can act in the interest of both present day and future generations, within current laws, or are new laws required, is an ongoing topic of hot debate.
The Network has also featured webinars with many thought leaders including leading investors such as Matthew Kiernan, a pioneer of investing positively with sustainability in mind, Roger Martin, a leader in the realm of strategy, Robert Monks, a pioneer on corporate governance and much more.
The Network also published papers including last year heralding the idea of a Financial Transition Tax, well in advance of the current HFT debate sparked by the recent book of Michael Lewis - this idea remains largely to the side, but would arguably level the playing field, minimize the HFT threat and advantage, and bring about arguably more sustainable financial markets.
Having been a going concern for roughly 6 years now, the Network was the brainchild of Dr. Raj Thamotheram a leader in the UK on the subject of Responsible Investing, and is now chaired by Helen Wildsmith, Head of Responsible Investing for CCLA.
Academics and practitioners are welcome to Join the Network - see details at the website.
The Network also hosts an active Listserv, where healthy debates on related subjects are fostered, most recently on the Divestment movement, sparked by the original piece featured at the About.com website here, leading to a three part piece on the subject by Dr. Thamotheram here.
Unlike industry associations which act as trade associations, the Network fosters individual development, and allows mostly senior professionals the opportunity to step out of their dayjobs and talk about controversial subjects they may not be able to address from within silos.
We see scope for helping incubate a global professionals association on sustainable investing for individual professionals, more work is needed on curriculum on sustainable investing as well, and we'll be talking about this as well in a future piece. More work too is needed on climate change and investing strategies in other asset classes, wealth management and government strategies also need more focus as well.
Mostly, we need younger folks interested in joining the field, asking the difficult questions, but also seizing the positive opportunities that can emerge and are emerging.
Is there a better way? That's the goal of the Network for Sustainable Financial Markets (which I act as Executive Director among my affiliations), to look at what is broken or missing and incubate solutions.
For example, our Network is best known perhaps for incubating the Climate Bonds Initiative which has developed standards as well as an 8 point plan to promote the transition to a lower carbon economy as follows:
- Create deal flow – Bond investors need scale; renewable energy and energy efficiency projects (markets) need to be aggregated into larger offerings suitable for the appetite of the big investors;
- Engineer investment grade offerings – High demand of low risk investments. Renewable energy investments are seen as a “novelty”, we need to change this perception. In order to do that, a grand pact between governments and institutional investors is needed. Governments engineer a stream of large scale investment opportunities and does everything it can do to make sure they are investment grade; in return institutional investors turn on the taps;
- Be clever about public sector risk-sharing – Financial leverage (e.g. policy risk insurance and currency risk insurance) and regulatory leverage.
- Build green enabling institutions – Green Investment Units and Banks are needed;
- Give tax incentives for climate bonds – very little treasury loss can be a big boost to investment;
- Build an economic recovery narrative – the transition to a green economy revamps our economy across every sector and addresses the climate change threat;
- Use Climate Bond Standards as a screening and preferencing tool – a tool that helps investors monitor and verify the climate effectiveness of their investments;
- Make it easy for politicians – bond investors and business issuers have to get better at packaging politically sellable solutions, help politicians see how they can successfully sell those plans to voters
More money into climate bonds would be an important wedge among all the steps needed and presently inadequate to the task. Subscribe for updates at the Climate Bonds website. It's been great to even some companies getting into the Climate Bond act of late, such as Unilever and Toyota.
The Network also features active working groups, including one on Fiduciary Duty, featuring many thought leaders on the subject. We will be reviewing their new Handbook on Fiduciary Duty very soon.
How investors can act in the interest of both present day and future generations, within current laws, or are new laws required, is an ongoing topic of hot debate.
The Network has also featured webinars with many thought leaders including leading investors such as Matthew Kiernan, a pioneer of investing positively with sustainability in mind, Roger Martin, a leader in the realm of strategy, Robert Monks, a pioneer on corporate governance and much more.
The Network also published papers including last year heralding the idea of a Financial Transition Tax, well in advance of the current HFT debate sparked by the recent book of Michael Lewis - this idea remains largely to the side, but would arguably level the playing field, minimize the HFT threat and advantage, and bring about arguably more sustainable financial markets.
Having been a going concern for roughly 6 years now, the Network was the brainchild of Dr. Raj Thamotheram a leader in the UK on the subject of Responsible Investing, and is now chaired by Helen Wildsmith, Head of Responsible Investing for CCLA.
Academics and practitioners are welcome to Join the Network - see details at the website.
The Network also hosts an active Listserv, where healthy debates on related subjects are fostered, most recently on the Divestment movement, sparked by the original piece featured at the About.com website here, leading to a three part piece on the subject by Dr. Thamotheram here.
Unlike industry associations which act as trade associations, the Network fosters individual development, and allows mostly senior professionals the opportunity to step out of their dayjobs and talk about controversial subjects they may not be able to address from within silos.
We see scope for helping incubate a global professionals association on sustainable investing for individual professionals, more work is needed on curriculum on sustainable investing as well, and we'll be talking about this as well in a future piece. More work too is needed on climate change and investing strategies in other asset classes, wealth management and government strategies also need more focus as well.
Mostly, we need younger folks interested in joining the field, asking the difficult questions, but also seizing the positive opportunities that can emerge and are emerging.
Source...