oekom’s Corporate Responsibility Review 2011

The third annual revew from oekom analyzes the CSR performance of approximately 3,100 companies across 50 companies finds only minimal preparedness for measuring and reducing environmental impacts.

Among the report’s findings:

• Overall,  sustainable  capital  investments  continued to expand their market share and volume during the financial and economic crisis. Worldwide, around eight trillion euros are invested taking environmental, social and governance-related criteria into account, Europe alone accounting for five trillion euros.
• In  the German-speaking countries, 354 mutual funds with a total volume of 34 billion euros had been licensed for distribution by the end of 2010. The number of funds has hit a new high, volumes have reached pre-crisis levels.
• Mutual funds in Europe have recorded new highs in terms of numbers as well as volume. 897 funds with a volume of 75.3 billion euros were licensed for distribution, as at 30 June 2010. France is by far the largest market for mutual funds.
• As  many  institutional  investors  reduced  the  proportion  of  equities  in  their  portfolios  due  to the financial and economic crisis in favour of money market investments and bonds, the interest in factoring ESG criteria into fixed-interest investments has risen markedly over the past two years. Additionally, more and more private and institutional investors are also taking social and environmental criteria into account when purchasing corporate or government bonds.
• Overall,  according  to  a  study  by  the  European  industry  association  Eurosif,  at  the  end  of  2009, sustainable investments in Europe had grown by approximately 87 per cent from the 2007 year-end figure, to five trillion euros. According to Eurosif’s calculations, this brings their share of the market to around 47 per cent. The bulk of this capital, however, is managed according to rather “soft” sustainability criteria.