International Working Group
The International Working Group is a member-led initiative of the U.S. Social Investment Forum that has been meeting since 1997.
The three primary goals of the IWG are:
- Provide education on existing and emerging global SRI issues;
- Foster networks within the international SRI marketplace around issues of global relevance;
- Create a space to meet, share ideas, and develop collaborative action.
What's New
A Call to Action on ESG Disclosure in Emerging Markets
- Sign on the the Emerging Markets Disclosure Project Investor Statement by March 31; contact Kristin Lang if you wish to be a signatory.
SAVE THE DATE: May 17-18, 2010
IWG's Spring Symposium, The Paradox of China's
Transformation, in Washington, DC.
Please check http://www.socialinvest.org/projects/iwg/events.cfm for more information.
EMDP Baseline Report - Corporate Sustainability Disclosure Practices in Emerging Markets (2009)
Emerging Markets Disclosure Project - Fact Sheet (click)
Emerging Markets Investor Survey Report: An analysis of responsible investment in Emerging Markets (2009)
The Emerging Markets Disclosure (EMD) Project is well underway in Phase 3. This phase of the project, which began in May 2008 and will run through December 2009, is focused on outreach to corporations operating in Brazil, India, Korea, Russia, and South Africa to promote greater sustainability disclosure.
Emerging Markets Survey
The EMD Project has also distributed an emerging markets survey to UN PRI members, US SIF members, and other global parnters.
The objective of the survey is to assess the current level of investment in emerging markets by socially conscious investors and which ESG issues are of interest. This information will help guide future research and inform the direction of the project’s corporate engagement efforts. EIRIS will analyze the results and a report summarizing the results will be issued in June.
Project Background
The EMD Project began an international initiative to improve sustainability disclosure in emerging markets. Shortly after the idea was proposed by Calvert at the ‘PRI in Person’ Conference in July 2007, the project quickly became a collaborative effort by the Sustainable Investment Research Analyst Network (SIRAN) of the US Social Investment Forum (SIF), Calvert, KLD Research & Analytics, Inc. (KLD), ASrIA, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), PRI, and the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church.
Phase 1 of the project involved a benchmark report on the current state of sustainability reporting in several emerging markets, including China, India, South Africa, Brazil, Korea and Russia. The study, which was conducted by KLD on behalf of SIRAN, assessed 75 companies across three sectors: Energy (Oil and Natural Gas), Material (Metals and Mining), and Telecommunications. Corporate sustainability disclosure was assessed across five areas in September of 2007:
- Public disclosure of sustainability issues
- Dedicated sustainability area within the website or annual report
- Existence of stand-alone sustainability report
- Use of the GRI framework for the sustainability report
- Existence of sustainability goals and benchmarks
The results were announced at the Institutional Investor Events 2nd Annual Forum on Responsible Investing on January 24, 2008. According to the study, nearly 9 out of 10 companies (87%) offer at least some level of sustainability disclosure. South African companies emerged as the overall leaders, while Chinese companies were the laggards on sustainability disclosure. Overall, only 27% of the companies surveyed indicated that they use the GRI reporting framework. Additional conclusions can be found here (www.siran.org/pdfs/SIRAN-KLD_Report_for_EM_Transparency_2007.pdf).
Phase 2 of the project - coordinated by Calvert, SIRAN, IWG – involved a sign-on statement encouraging emerging market companies to use the GRI and to improve sustainability reporting. The sign-on statement calls on companies in emerging markets to improve their transparency of management of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues. Management of ESG issues helps investors determine which companies are best positioned to deliver potentially strong long-term investment performance. The sign-on statement has been endorsed by 28 global institutional investor signatories and 15 affiliated supporters (NGOs and research organizations).
The overall project continues to be coordinated by the US Social Investment Forum (SIF), with Calvert, International Working Group (IWG) of SIF, and the IFC acting as advisory co-chairs. Other investors/organizations participating in this project include F&C Investments and Innovest.
For more information on the EMD Project, please contact:
Lauren Compere, Boston Common Asset Management at lcompere@bostoncommonasset.com
Mike Lombardo, Calvert Investments at Mike.Lombardo@Calvert.com
Brunno Maradei, International Finance Corporation at BMaradei@ifc.org
Kristin Lang, Social Investment Forum at klang@socialinvest.org
Report on Sustainability Reporting in Emerging Markets (Phase 1)
Investor Statement on Sustainability Reporting in Emerging Markets (Phase 2)