IPE/RI Landscape 2009 survey opens to gauge crisis impact on responsible and sustainable investment

Global institutional asset owners and fund managers are being asked to indicate what impact the credit crisis has had on their responsible and sustainable investment strategies with the launch today of the IPE/RI Landscape 2009 survey (see link at foot of article). In the second annual barometer of the responsible investment market, Responsible Investor and IPE magazine aim to gauge responses from one of the broadest institutional investor readerships worldwide as to whether it has become more important than ever to consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in institutional investment, or if RI was a luxury for rising markets? The survey will also probe what the role is for responsible investment at the heart of a systemic financial breakdown and how investors should prepare for the advent of the so-called new green economy? The IPE/RI Landscape Survey is a unique annual snapshot of responsible and sustainable investment trends that aims to plot the changing contours of the market through insightful comparative data and incisive commentary from both asset owners and asset managers based on their reactions to topical questions. The findings of the RI Landscape 2009 Survey will be published in a comprehensive report in June byIPE and Responsible Investor, following a high-level round table of pension funds and asset managers to discuss the findings. Last year’s round table event included senior speakers from PGGM, which manages over €88bn in assets for the Dutch healthcare pension fund Zorg en Welzijn, ERAFP, the €8.4bn French public service supplementary pension scheme, PensPlan, the €500m pension services provider of the semi-autonomous Trentino Alto Adige region in northern Italy, and the UK Pensions Protection Fund.
The 2008 RI landscape study revealed that institutional asset owners, mostly pension funds and investment foundations, managing over $1.5 trillion in assets planned to increase their commitment to responsible investment by $137bn before the end of 2010.
The 73 asset owners who responded to the survey said they managed $1.24 trillion assets in adherence to responsible investment criteria, a figure they predict to rise to $1.38 trillion. The numbers underlined the increasing shift to responsible investment by the world’s biggest institutions, mirroring the success of initiatives such as the UN Principle for Responsible Investment, which has signatories, including fund managers, representing more than $17 trillion in assets.
Link to RI Landscape 2009 Survey