GLOBAL – Companies remain laggards in sustainability, according to Germany's oekom research.
In its Corporate Responsibility Review 2013, the rating agency found that more than half of the companies in the global MSCI World equity index (52.3%) have so far taken little or no action in this area.
Only one in six companies (16.7%) demonstrate a good level of commitment to sustainable development, while not a single one qualified for the 'very good' company.
Around one-third of the companies (31%) can point to at least some sustainability management initiatives, but sustainability management is still not being integrated systematically and comprehensively in companies' management systems.
In the sectoral comparison, companies from the paper and forestry industry have taken the lead, with an average score of 47.7 out of a possible 100 for their sustainability management.
Matthias Bönning, COO and head of research at oekom, said: "The very industry that more than any other stands for sustainable management has thus failed to achieve even half of the maximum possible score."
In other news, First State Investments has announced that its responsible-investment governance structure will this year be strengthened by the creation of a Global Responsible Investment Committee (GRIC), as well as the formation of a new committee to support and inform company engagement and to promote collaboration across investment teams.
It will also create an ESG risks committee, which will assess the exposure to ESG risks across asset classes.
At the London event to launch the asset manager's sixth annual responsible investment report, Divyesh Hindocha, global head of research at Mercer, said to improve the savings value chain asset owners should undertake a performance review only once a year and evaluate the portfolio during the year relative to initial expectations, as well as agree a pre-commitment with the asset manager for the investment horizon.
Asset managers meanwhile should have a mandate to engage and influence and adopt a farming, nurturing, influencing investment approach.
Among First State's ESG priorities for this year are bribery and corruption, environmental risks from coal-seam gas and fracking, supply chain ESG risks and exploitation, tax avoidance by multinationals, the circular economy and new measures of growth, executive compensation models and their alignments with long-term interests, health and safety and community engagement as well as water and carbon risk management.
First State's sixth annual responsible investment report can be found here.
Meanwhile, the Institute for Human Rights and Business has launched a new guide to help investors integrate human rights into their investment decisions and engagement.
'Investing the Rights Way: A Guide for Investors on Business and Human Rights' can be found here.
Lastly, the March 2013 semi-annual review saw 20 new additions to the FTSE4Good index series.
Asia-Pacific country representation in the index continues to increase with six new companies from the region, while another six companies joined from the US.
Japanese Mitsubishi, Swiss Nobel Biocare, US-based Applied Materials and Micron Technology have been deleted for not meeting the index's climate change, environmental and human and labour rights criteria, respectively.
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