Farsight Award for ESG research and Sustainable Finance winners announced

Awards handed out at London event on March 1.

The 2012 Farsight Award for the best investment analysis that integrates longer-term environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues has been awarded to Responsible Research, the Singapore- and London-based ESG research firm for their report titled: “The Future of Fish.”
The Farsight Award is supported by the City of London Corporation, the University Superannuation Scheme (USS), Gresham College and Z/Yen Group. The judging panel looked at 117 reports this year before settling on a shortlist of ten. Responsible Research picked up the winning award at The Sustainable City Awards last night (March 1), 2012, in London. The Farsight Award judges said three other organisations were also highly commended for their reports: Bank Sarasin for their report: “The Sustainable Fulfillment of Sovereign Obligations”, the Carbon Tracker Initiative for their report: “Unburnable Carbon: Are the World’s Financial Markets Carrying a Carbon Bubble?” and HSBC for their report: “Sizing the Climate Economy”. Responsible Research’s The Future of Fish report looks at the sustainability of seafood sourcing, looking at marine products as a key raw material for industries as diverse as agriculture, retail, pharmaceuticals, and pet food. The Sustainable City Awards also presented London-based Social Finance with the 2012 award for best sustainable finance initiative, a award decided by the members of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF). Social Finance has issued £5 million worth of Social Impact Bonds to investors based around re-offending rates of male prisoners leaving Peterborough Prison. The bonds provide funding for social sector organisations seeking to break the re-offending cycle. Three other organisations, Fair Pensions, Mercer and Truestone Impact Investment were shortlisted for the award.

Top 10 shortlisted reports for the Farsight Award:

  • Bank of America Merrill Lynch – Who Does What Where? (series of reports)
  • Bank Sarasin – Sustainable Fulfilment of Sovereign Obligations
  • Carbon Tracker Initiative – Unburnable Carbon: Are the World’s Financial Markets Carrying a Carbon Bubble?
  • Credit Suisse – Islamic Finance: Combining Faith-Based Values and Financial Returns
  • EDHEC-Risk Institute – Performance Of Socially Responsible Investment Funds Against An Efficient SRI Index: The Impact Of Benchmark Choice
  • When Evaluating Active Managers
  • HSBC – Sizing the Climate Economy
  • J.P.Morgan – Impact Investments: An Emerging Asset Class
  • Responsible Research – Sustainable Stock Exchanges: Real Obstacles, Real Opportunities
  • Responsible Research – The Future of Fish
  • West L.B. – Responsible Investing 2.1