News Archives » socially responsible investing
“Values in Finance: Are we ready to learn the lessons?” September 27th, 2011
In a talk given at Trinity College, Dublin on the 15th Anniversary of Clann Credo – The Social Investment Fund, Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI talked about the need for the faith community to engage with business on questions of ethics and to work for more sustainable practices and institutions. He made three main points:
- Faith communities and traditions need to re-engage in the discussion of purpose and operations of the financial systems and their priorities.
- The damage that has been done to the people and the environment for the sake of fat profits and in the name of “progress’ has been tremendous and needs to ne examined.
- Religious communities, institutions and believers have always been willing to dream, innovate and risk new initiatives for the promotion of the common good.
Fr. Finn is active in faith responsible investing through the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility where he serves on the Board, and in 3iG, an international, interfaith coalition of institutional investors.
ConocoPhillips Improves Corporate Human Rights Position August 12th, 2011
ConocoPhillips has amended its corporate Human Rights policy to include recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples as articulated in UN declarations and conventions. This action, approved by ConocoPhillips Chair/CEO Jim Mulva as well as the Board of Directors, is one result of ICCR member shareholder dialogs with the company led by Steven Heim at Boston Common Asset Management. The Oblates have been engaged in this dialog for several years and remain deeply concerned about the impacts of corporate activity – particularly oil and gas exploration – on indigenous peoples.
The company’s position on the rights of indigenous peoples now reads:
“The Company’s approach to engagement with indigenous communities, in locations where they are an important stakeholder group for our operations, is consistent with the principles of the International Labour Organization Convention 169, concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”
In May of this year, the company announced it was pulling out of a controversial project slated for northern Peru. The project threatened two uncontacted tribes in the area.
Read the company’s Human Rights Position statement…
Note to Gekko: Governance is Good August 3rd, 2011
Read Fr. Seamus’ latest blog on Huffington Post on the Murdoch news scandal and why corporate good governance is important.
See Fr. Finn’s current and past blog entries on faith-consistent and socially responsible investing.
Interfaith Investor Group Urges Fed and Top Banks to Restore Public Confidence in Financial System April 20th, 2011
Citing Widespread Confidence Loss in U.S. Banks, Members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility Advance Shareholder Proposals at Citigroup and Other Top Banks.New York, NY
Today, a task force from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) meets with representatives from the Federal Reserve to discuss its progress implementing regulation passed as part of the Dodd-Frank Bill last July. At issue are structures created by the Operations Management Group to monitor the global trading of derivatives in an effort to limit the excessive risk-taking that nearly toppled the financial system in 2008, left millions jobless and homeless, and shook global confidence in the markets to its core.
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Investors Encourage Corporations to Report on Water Use April 16th, 2011
Thirty-three faith-based and socially responsible institutional investors with assets under management of $2.3 trillion have written to encourage companies who failed to submit a 2010 report to the Carbon Disclosure Project’s Water Disclosure Project. The investors, which included the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, are encouraging the heavy water-using companies targeted by the Report to complete the questionnaire for 2011, or explain why they are not planning to participate. Company submissions can help identify areas of both strength and weakness in water management.
Many corporations are only now beginning to look seriously at their water use, realizing that a global water crisis could pose significant risks if this vital resource is not managed carefully. Climate Change is widely expected to aggravate worldwide water shortages in the coming decades. Credit Suisse estimates that, by 2020, 37 percent of the global population will face severe water stress.
Increased demand is a major problem. Since the 1940s, the global population has tripled to more than 6 billion people worldwide. Over the same period, global water use has quadrupled. Agriculture uses 70-80% of the water used globally. In many areas, including parts of the US, which are drawing on underground aquifers, this rate of water use is unsustainable, in other words, it is being used at a faster rate than it is being replenished.
While the metrics for reporting on water use are in the process of being refined at an international level, the CDP Water Disclosure is an important step in this process.
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate have been engaging a range of U.S. companies on water use and reporting issues, and are a signatory to the CDP Water Disclosure Project.
