Library | ESG issues

Purpose & Mission

An organisation’s purpose defines its core reason for existence, guiding its strategies and operations. In the finance industry, aligning corporate purpose with sustainable practices involves developing innovative financial products, engaging in policy advocacy, and directing capital toward sustainable investments. This alignment fosters long-term value creation and supports the transition to a sustainable economy.

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AI corporate governance and Ben & Jerry’s risk

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)
This report analyses the governance structures of OpenAI, Anthropic, and Ben & Jerry’s. It examines the risks of appointing independent guardians to prioritise social missions over shareholder profits. The findings highlight how fully insulated guardians can harm investors and undermine their own missions without proper accountability mechanisms.
Research
3 May 2026

LP Scan

ImpactAlpha
ImpactAlpha’s LP Scan is a dealflow and market intelligence resource that tracks limited partner (LP) activity, fund allocations and investment trends across impact investing. It provides insights into institutional investors, capital flows and fundraising activity to help market participants identify opportunities and understand developments in sustainable and impact finance.
Online tool/database

Market-shaping states: A new theory of public sector capacities and capabilities

UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
This report introduces a market-shaping theory of the public sector, arguing that governments must act as proactive co-creators of public value. It presents a three-layered framework of structural capacities, organisational routines, and dynamic capabilities to help states navigate socio-technical challenges, steer innovation, and drive sustainable societal transformations.
Research
12 February 2026

Acceleration is not a strategy: A framework for directing AI towards public value before it's too late

Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)
This report outlines a framework for European governments to steer artificial intelligence towards public value rather than just accelerating sector growth. It recommends implementing AI directionism by targeting high-impact uses, preparing priority sectors for adoption, curbing big tech monopolies, and ensuring the economic benefits are broadly shared.
Research
15 April 2026

RIAA Conference Australia 2026 - Companion Resources

Responsible investment has moved well beyond principles and pledges. Today’s challenges require practical capability and informed judgement. The RIAA Conference is a must-attend event for finance, sustainability and industry practitioners who want to focus on the key themes for responsible investment in 2026 and what implementation really looks like. Designed as an immersive, hands-on experience, the program focuses on the systems that underpin strong financial performance, and will help you understand how climate, nature, technology, governance and regulation intersect. 

These specially curated companion resources have been recommended by the conference speakers and Altiorem team.
Article
14 May 2026

Hedging ambiguity with pro-social preferences: An illustration from green finance

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
The paper argues that pro-social preferences can offset ambiguity aversion in green finance by acting as a behavioural hedge. Using ambiguity-based investment models, the authors show socially motivated investors may accept uncertain green assets, lowering effective hurdle rates and supporting private capital flows into sustainable projects.
Research
22 April 2026

Tackling governance and financing for sustainability transitions

International Resource Panel
The report argues current financial systems misallocate capital towards resource-intensive activities, hindering sustainability transitions. It recommends policy, governance and financial reforms to redirect investment towards resource efficiency, low-carbon development and equitable transition pathways, particularly in resource-dependent economies.
Research
6 June 2025

Indigenous wisdom and co-creation towards decolonisation: A review of Indigenous inclusion in management education

This review finds Western business schools have often excluded Indigenous knowledge, and argues decolonising management education requires Indigenous self-determination, truth-telling, trust-building, co-created curricula and relational pedagogies grounded in Indigenous wisdom and communities.
Research
25 April 2026

Forever wild series

Forever Wild
This series outlines the Forever Wild Initiative’s approach to financing and managing large-scale wilderness landscapes through blended capital models, community co-design, and nature-based enterprises. It documents the development of equitable nature finance structures that integrate conservation, economic activity, and social outcomes across landscapes.
Benchmark/series
27 August 2025

Driving positive social change through co-operatives and mutual enterprises (CMEs)

Altiorem
This guide explains how co-operatives and mutual enterprises can support social change through democratic governance, member focus and long-term value. It argues they can improve stability, competition and sustainability in finance, while noting challenges including regulation, capital raising and market awareness.
Research
15 November 2024

Life, Climate Volatility, and What Comes After the Final No: Part 3—AFTER THE FINAL NO.

This final article in a three-part series explores how to navigate resistance to systemic change. Drawing on personal experience, it outlines a framework for resilience—building alliances, embracing interdisciplinary thinking, and storytelling—empowering leaders to persist through setbacks and turn persistent “no” into transformative, collective “yes.”
Article
25 March 2026

Life, Climate Volatility, and What Comes After the Final No: Part 2—CLIMATE VOLATILITY

This second article in a three-part series reframes climate change as volatility rather than warming. Drawing on finance and systems thinking, it explores how risk pricing, redesigned economic incentives, and nature-based solutions can build resilience, urging leaders to manage climate as the ultimate systemic risk.
Article
25 March 2026

Life, Climate Volatility, and What Comes After the Final No: Part 1 - LIFE

Written by Ken Coulson, a former global finance executive turned sustainability strategist, this first article in a three-part series explores humanity’s origins as a cosmic accident. It reframes Earth’s natural systems as a fragile inheritance under threat, urging a shift from extraction to stewardship through a unifying cosmic perspective on climate, responsibility, and systemic change.
Article
25 March 2026

Doughnut economics for regenerative business design

An edited volume applying Doughnut Economics to business design, using case studies and critical reflections to examine how purpose, networks, governance, ownership and finance can support regenerative and distributive business models. It focuses on redesigning firms to operate within ecological and social limits.
Research
9 March 2026

You Built This

This article argues that modern investment strategies fuel economic extraction while often underperforming simpler alternatives. It calls on investors to realign portfolios with productive, community-oriented investments that generate real economic and social value.
Article
23 March 2026

Thriving workplaces: How employers can improve productivity and change lives

World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum report examining how employer investment in employee health and well-being improves productivity, retention and economic value. It analyses global workforce health data, identifies demographic disparities in burn-out and holistic health, and proposes measurement frameworks and organisational strategies to build healthier, more productive workplaces.
Research
16 January 2025
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