CorporateResponsibility.Net

Consultancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) will today accelerate its push into the emerging sustainability services sector with the acquisition of international advisory firm Sustainable Finance Limited (SFL).

PwC will shell out an undisclosed sum for the 10-strong SFL, which was founded in 2003 and boasts operations in the UK, US and the Netherlands.

The company specialises in environmental and social risk management services to the financial sector, providing firms with advice on their sustainability and climate change risks. SFL also helped develop the Equator Principles in 2003, the international industry standard for managing environmental and social risks in project finance, and more recently worked on the Carbon Principles governing investment in US energy projects. Read more

Source: Business Green

The China Banking Association has formally released its Chinese Banking Industry 2007 Social Responsibility Report, which is claimed to be the first of its kind for the mainland’s banking industry.

According to the report which was compiled by 51 Chinese banks, all of which are members of CBA, by the end of 2007, the total assets of China’s financial institutions had reached CNY52.6 trillion, an increase of 19.7% compared to the previous year. The total debt of the industry was CNY4.96 billion, up 18.8%. The report said that China’s financial institutions had all made dramatic achievements in capital adequacy rates, asset quality and risk management while expanding their scale of operations. Read more

Source: WBCSD

SAM, the sustainability investment specialist, and Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, have added four additional blue-chip indexes to the family of Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI). The new indexes provide market participants with tools to track sustainability leaders in the U.S., North America and globally.

The methodology for the new indexes applies the same approach as the Dow Jones STOXX Sustainability 40 Index and Dow Jones EURO STOXX Sustainability 40 Index. The sustainability scores are derived from a comprehensive annual assessment of general as well as industry-specific criteria covering issues such as corporate governance, risk management, emissions, water and energy consumption, human capital development and stakeholder relations. Read more (pdf) (DJSI)

Source: CSR Europe

Boards of directors are increasingly starting to integrate social and environmental considerations (CSR) into their strategy and risk management, according to the report “The Role of the Board of Directors in Corporate Social Responsibility” by the Conference Board of Canada, a non-profit that researches business and economic trends.

The report finds that the Canadian companies concentrate more on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) as it relates to operations than on CSR from a governance perspective. However, this trend is changing as more boards are starting to consider CSR issues, SocialFunds.com reports. Read more

Source: SocialFunds.com