RI Briefing, August 4: Maryland, Pembina, Co-Operative, Eumedion

The $31.8bn (€24bn) Maryland State Retirement and Pension System has been named lead plaintiff in a consolidated shareholder lawsuit against Toyota; the action relates to the faulty accelerator problem earlier this year. Link

The Pembina Institute, the Canadian researcher, has released a new briefing Canadian Oil Sands and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The Facts in Perspective. It says that if “Alberta were a country, it would have per capita emissions more than three times that of either the US or Canada”.

The Co-operative Financial Services and environmental campaigner WWF-UK have called on pension fund investors to engage with companies to encourage them to report emissions and disclose forward-looking information about carbon costs in a report called Toxic fuels; toxic investments

Eumedion, the Dutch corporate governance forum, is developing a set of stewardship principles on voting and engagement, according to the Financial Times. A consultation is expected in the autumn, which may lead to a government-led stewardship code. Link

The IFC’s Corporate Governance Forum has started a project to improve the governance skills of Indonesian bank directors with the Indonesian Institute for Corporate Directorship and bank association Perbanas. Link

Investors have been asked to take action on forced labour by the Global Unions Committee on Workers’ Capital. The CWC says its is an investment risk issue, in a briefing paper Investing in Decent Work.An academic conference, Corporate Governance and Performance: causation? is being held at the Yale School of Management on November 12-13. It’s part of the Yale ECGI Oxford series organised by the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance, the European Corporate Governance Institute and the Said Business School.

The latest edition of the World Bank’s Little Green Data Book has been released. First published in 2000, the 235-page publication has become a key reference for many in the environment and development field. Link

Asset manager Climate Change Capital is planning to raise more cash from investors, according to an interview with company executive vice chairman James Cameron. He told Bloomberg News the firm is ready to raise money “for follow-on funds”. Existing backers include the Universities Superannuation Scheme, SNS Reaal and bank groups like Standard Chartered and HSBC.

Drinks firm Coca-Cola Co. has made a $70m investment in cleantech venture funds run by Element Partners and RockPort Capital Partners, according to a newspaper report. The Atlanta Business Chronicle quoted Coke’s director of sustainability Jeffrey Foote as saying the investments are tools to help make it more sustainable. Link^3721491
The quality of information disclosure on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange has improved, according to an appraisal by the exchange. Some 51 companies listed on the SZSE main board rated excellent for disclosure.