Library | Sustainable Finance Practices
Governance and directors’ duties
Resources on the responsibilities of boards and directors in overseeing sustainability, ensuring accountability, fulfilling fiduciary duties, and promoting long-term value creation.
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Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI)
Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI) is a Japanese policy think tank founded in 2001. RIETI conducts theoretical and empirical economic research, bridges academe and government, and offers evidence-based trade, industry and economic policy recommendations.
Exit versus voice
This report summarises research comparing the effectiveness of “exit” strategies, such as divestment and boycotts, with “voice” strategies, such as shareholder engagement, in influencing corporate behaviour. It concludes that when most investors are even slightly socially responsible, engagement leads to socially optimal outcomes, whereas exit rarely does and can reduce welfare.
Evaluation project on the effects of engagement
The report by Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) evaluates how engagement by external asset managers has affected investee companies from 2017–2022. Using causal inference analysis across over 26,000 engagements, it finds positive links between engagement and improvements in corporate value, governance, decarbonisation, and diversity.
EDHEC Climate Institute
EDHEC Climate Institute (ECI) equips finance professionals and decision-makers with climate risk research, tools and scenario analysis. It focuses on physical risks, transition risks, green assets, resilience technologies and climate policy. ECI bridges academia, industry and public stakeholders to support low-emission investment strategies.
Corporate governance and equity prices
This report examines the link between shareholder rights and corporate performance in the 1990s. Using a Governance Index across 1,500 firms, it finds that stronger shareholder rights were associated with higher valuations, profits, and growth, while weaker rights correlated with lower performance and abnormal underperformance.
Presidential address: Sustainable finance and ESG issues: Value versus values
This report examines how investor and manager motivations—driven by either financial value or personal values—shape sustainable finance and ESG practices. It highlights definitional ambiguities, performance debates, and cultural differences, calling for clearer research to distinguish pecuniary risk-return considerations from non-pecuniary preferences in ESG investing.
Sustainable investing in practice: Objectives, beliefs, and limits to impact
This paper surveys 509 equity portfolio managers on their treatment of environmental and social factors. Findings show most prioritise financial returns, with limited willingness to sacrifice performance. ES constraints from mandates, policies, and client values strongly influence decisions. Beliefs and constraints outweigh fund labels in shaping sustainable investing practices.
DBS Bank
DBS Bank India is a digital-led universal bank offering personal, SME, corporate and wealth management services. Features include resident and non-resident (NRI) savings and fixed deposit accounts, remittance, loans, digital payments and credit/debit card solutions. Positions as Asia’s safest bank with a wide India branch network.
ShareAction's point of no return series
The Point of No Returns benchmark series assesses the world’s largest asset managers on responsible investment across climate, biodiversity, social issues, governance, and stewardship. Published by ShareAction, the series provides rankings, sector-wide analysis, and examples of practice to guide improvement and accountability.
Externalities and the common owner
This article analyses institutional investors’ incentives to internalise negative externalities across their portfolios. It focuses on climate change, showing how large asset managers influence fossil fuel companies to reduce emissions, disclose risks, and limit lobbying, reframing shareholder primacy by prioritising portfolio-wide welfare over firm-level profit maximisation.
Companies should maximize shareholder welfare not market value
This report summarises why firms should maximise shareholder welfare rather than market value, noting that investors often have ethical and social preferences beyond profit. It proposes shareholder voting on corporate policy to better align company decisions with investor welfare, particularly where externalities are inseparable from production.
Aotearoa New Zealand climate standards series
The Aotearoa New Zealand Climate Standards series is a benchmark series issued by the External Reporting Board. It sets out the framework for climate-related disclosures, including governance, strategy, risk management, metrics and targets, adoption provisions, and general requirements. The series provides entities with a consistent structure to report climate-related risks and opportunities.
Unlocking value from technology in banking: An investor lens
The report outlines how banks can link technology investments to value creation. It presents a framework to improve returns through strategic allocation, outcome-based execution, and transparency. It identifies five tech-enabled themes that align with shareholder value drivers such as revenue growth, fee income, and risk mitigation.
How can we advance climate action on boards?
The report explores how board directors perceive and advance climate action. While most recognise its importance and opportunity, competing priorities and knowledge gaps hinder progress. Local Chapters of the Climate Governance Initiative are shown to support action through resources, training, and peer networks across varied global contexts.
Corporate climate litigation in Australasia: (Re)shaping the private law-climate interface
The report examines how corporate climate litigation in Australia and New Zealand is shaping private law. It highlights legal actions involving directors’ duties, disclosure obligations, consumer protections, and tort law. The analysis shows incremental adaptations in private law to address climate change impacts, especially through anti-greenwashing and climate accountability claims.
Artificial intelligence in financial services
AI is reshaping financial services by enhancing efficiency, reducing costs and unlocking new revenue opportunities. With $97 billion in projected investment by 2027, firms must address risks like misinformation and data bias while prioritising governance, regulation and workforce reskilling to ensure responsible, secure and effective AI adoption.