Lloyd’s, the specialist insurance company, has become the first founding supporter of the Business and Peace Fund, which will help to develop corporate awareness of business’ role in regions of conflict. The fund – set up by International Alert, a peace-building NGO – will also promote best practice among businesses that have operations in conflict prone areas and will seek to engage with the private sector. Lloyd’s Charities Trust, the company’s grant-making body, donated £50,000 to help set up and develop the fund and announced the partnership on August 30.
The UK Social Investment Forum has published a report to celebrate its first 15 years. Sustainable and Responsible Finance in the UK considers the last 15 years and highlights UKSIF’s mission, values and operating principles. It also looks at the future of sustainable finance and describes the movement as going “from the margins to the mainstream”. It further considers pensions, ethical investment and the role of indices.
Investment in renewable energy could reach $750bn in the next decade according to the latest Ernst & YoungRenewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index released on August 6. According to the professional services company, demand for alternative sources of energy is growing at an unprecedented rate and that this is being driven by government incentives. Ernst & Young’s All Renewables Index, which scores investment in all forms of renewable energy from solar, to wind and biomass, shows that the US is still the global leader in the field.
Financial institutions in South Africa and Nigeria are increasingly incorporating sustainability issues into their business operations according to a report from the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative. However, the report – Banking on Value: A new approach to credit risk in Africa – also found that the banks have “yet to fully realise their potential to contribute to sustainable development”. The report, published in June, went on to make recommendations such as the identification of country-level sustainability champions that can get involved in capacity building and awareness raising campaigns as well as the ongoing support and co-ordination between international finance institutions, organisations and local stakeholders.
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