Novethic : le media expert du développement durable
Novethic Annual Event
ESG STRATEGIES FOR RESPONSIBLE INVESTORS
Tuesday 4th December 2012, La Cinémathèque Française, Paris
The 2012 Novethic Annual Event aimed at asset owners is dedicated to the integration of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria in asset management.
This educational event gives its 300 participants the chance to gain insight into rolling out responsible investment practices and to build a network of responsible investors in Europe.
Experts and executives will focus this year's debate mainly on ESG risks for shareholders in the sensitive sectors of oil, agricultural commodities and health. Novethic will also present the results of its exclusive survey on the ESG practices of Europe's leading financial institutions.
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The 2011 Annual Event
The 2011 edition brought together over 150 European asset owners to discuss how to evaluate and integrate the financial repercussions of environmental risks, social troubles, or a lack of transparency in governance structures into investment management.
To what extent are institutional investors fully aware of ESG risks?
The study Novethic carried out among institutional investors, with the support of BNP Paribas Investment Partners, whose results were presented at the opening of the session constituted the first element of the response to this question.
The second part came from the accounts delivered by representatives of three prestigious financial institutions on their ESG practices: the European Investment Bank on long-term investment, BNP Paribas on risky sectors and KLP on exclusion.
Philippe Marchessaux, Chief Executive Officer, BNP Paribas Investment Partners (France)
Anne-Catherine Husson Traore, Chief Executive Officer, Novethic (France)
Remy Jacob, Director General, Strategy and Corporate Centre, European Investment Bank
Laurence Pessez, Corporate Social Responsibility Director, BNP Paribas (France)
Heidi Finskas, Responsible Investments Advisor, KLP (Norway)
Can extra-financial ratings be used to assess ESG risks?
Whether carried out by in-house analysts or bought from specialised agencies, extra-financial analysis is an indispensable tool. And yet is it enough to evaluate all the ESG risks? How should it be integrated into the management process to best assess the impacts of the main risks?
Dorothée de Kermadec, Director of Risks, Compliance and Sustainable Development, CNP Assurances (France)
Valéry Lucas-Leclin, Senior SRI Analyst, BofA Merrill Lynch (United Kingdom)
Nicole Notat, Chairwoman, Vigeo (France)
Dr. Astrid Zwick, Head of Department, Corporate Responsibility, Munich RE (Germany)
Does the integration of ESG criteria protect the reputation of financial institutions?
Depending on their size, activity and shareholder base, financial institutions attach a greater or lesser importance to their corporate image. That said, no business wants to be associated with a financial, environmental or social scandal that would tarnish their reputation and the general integrity of the company. Faced with this reputation risk, turning to the integration of ESG criteria seems on the surface of things to be the ideal remedy, but under what conditions?
Gerard Fischer, Chief Executive Officer, Swisscanto (Switzerland)
Bruno Gabellieri, Head of Communications and External Relations, Humanis (France) and General Secretary, European Association of Paritarian Institutions
Niall O'Shea, Head of Responsible Investment, The Co-operative Asset Management (United Kingdom)
Pierre Schereck, Head of the Employee Savings Scheme and SRI, Amundi (France)
China, United States, Africa- water shortage already affects many countries worldwide. The agricultural sector needs ever greater quantities of water and global industries are competing for this increasingly rare and polluted resource. The revocation of mining licences and reduced nuclear energy production are already visible consequences of localised droughts. However despite these statistics, no sector seems to be have implemented any strategies to address this disquieting situation.
Marc Olivier Buffle, Senior Analyst, Robeco SAM (Switzerland)
Marcus Norton, Head of CDP Water Disclosure, Carbon Disclosure Project (United Kingdom)
Gregory Schneider-Maunoury, Head of SRI, Inter Expansion / Humanis (France)
Responsible Investment in Asia : an emerging practice
Asian emerging markets offer promising opportunities for European institutional investors. But how can good financial performance be achieved without compromising ethical social and environmental strategies in countries with generally poor governance? What information is available for responsible investors willing to invest in this area?
Vipul Arora, Founder and Managing Director, Solaron (India)
Anatoli van der Krans, Responsible Investment and Active Ownership Director, Mn Services (Netherlands)
Mizue Tsukushi, Chief Executive Officer, The Good Bankers (Japan)
‘The Arab Spring': How does it impact investments?
Within a few months, revolutions in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia turned the political landscape upside down in the region. But what are their economic and financial repercussions in the short and long term? Are improvements in governance and human rights norms in these countries going to encourage investments or rather are new union claims and social activism combined with the current political uncertainty going to cause investors to pull out?
Greg Barker, Investment Research Director, Sustainable Capital (South Africa)
Jermyn Brooks, Chair of the Business Advisory Board, Transparency International (Germany)
Etienne Viard, Chief Executive Officer, Proparco (France)
Investors who seek to take ESG into account in their issuer selection process need these businesses to provide information pertaining to their ESG practices in order to evaluate them objectively. Given the lack of confidence in the current ESG reporting framework, how can relations at the company-investor interface be managed and improved? What are the current European regulations? Do the French and German policies concur?
Michel Doucin, Ambassador for Corporate Social Responsibility, (France)
Marie-Pierre Peillon, Head of Financial and Extra-Financial Analysis, Groupama Asset Management (France)
Yvonne Zwick, Scientific Advisor (Germany)
Yves Barou, Social Responsibility Director, Strategic Investment Fund (France)
Do we count the cost of risks in the energy sector?
The increase in fossil fuel and electricity profits seems to hide the cost of several risks. The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and then the nuclear disaster at Fukushima have respectively reminded the shareholders of BP and TEPCO that energy companies are not insulated from financial losses. How can these kinds of risks be factored into financial analysis models? Do new risk strategies restore investor confidence in the energy sector?
Erwan Créhalet, Sustainability and Climate Change Analyst, CA Cheuvreux (France)
Charlie Kronick, Senior Climate Advisor, Greenpeace UK (United Kingdom)
Regina Schwegler, Senior Analyst, Inrate (Switzerland)
Risky sectors: exclude them or foster their responsibility?
Faced with a sector posing multiple ESG risks likely to worry shareholders, many responsible investors exclude it straight off. Other investors choose rather to initiate dialogue with companies to work together towards an improvement of their practices. The respective merits of these divergent strategies were debated as well as an account given on the work of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
Christophe Butz, Sustainability Expert, Pictet Asset Management (Switzerland)
David Diamond, Head of Sustainable and Responsible Investment, Allianz Global Investors (France)
Céline Louche, Teacher and Researcher, co-author of « Dilemmas in Responsible Investment » (Belgium)
Rosl Veltmeijer, Head of Sustainability Research, Triodos Investment Management (Netherlands)
Exhibition photos: « In the Hell of Copper » by Nyaba Ouedraogo
A photographer from Burkina Faso, Nyaba Ouedraogo produces artistic photographs of the suffering endured by people faced with the social and environmental consequences of our consumerist way of life. The photos from “In the Hell of Copper” were taken in Ghana, one of the main dumping grounds for e-waste from Europe and the United States. These photos show how young Ghaneans poison themselves as they search for precious metals from amongst the thousands of decommissioned computers piled up in rubbish dumps.
