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Responsible investment is going through a period of rapid change, from voluntary to mandatory, with regulators working to tackle greenwashing, investors responding to client and savers' demands, a proliferation of new sustainability themes and increased focus on real-world impact.
Responsible investment is also 'growing up'. And part of growing up is acknowledging limits and complexities, and making difficult decisions. Responsible investment has got this far by sticking to the script and not talking about the awkward bits in public. But this is no longer an option, and so it's not surprising that it draws its critics.
Part textbook, part briefing, part storytelling, this book is a personal and accessible account about the growth of an industry, what it's got right, what it's got wrong and if responsible investment is to matter, where we go next.
List of contents
1. A blueprint for the future of responsible investment.- 2. It started with an idea: the term ESG, the Principles and what happened next.- 3. Fiduciary duties: the thorn in the side of responsible investment.- 4. The wilderness years, and the plod plod plod of responsible investment.- 5. The cheerleaders: The ESG influencers of Lady Rothschild, Al Gore, Mark Carney and Michael Bloomberg.- 6. The new regulation and the end of the beginning.- 7. Climate first: COP 21 and TCFD.- 8. The EU leads (helped by Trump and Brexit), HLEG and new partnerships.- 9. Mandatory ESG is the new normal.- 10. Climate Action 100+: Collective stewardship.- 11. Tackling greenwashing and the new taxonomies: DWS is only the start.- 12. COP 26 and Net Zero.- 13. Impact and beyond.- 14. What responsible investment means for me.
About the author
Will Martindale is co-founder and managing director at Canbury. Using the latest technologies, Canbury provides investors, companies and NGOs with decision-useful sustainability data sets, experienced advice, research and stewardship to help make sustainability meaningful.
Previously, Will was head of sustainability at Cardano and NOW: Pensions, responsible for specialist input on all aspects of Cardanös sustainability activities. Will also co-chaired IIGCC¿s policy advisory group and participated in PRI¿s legal framework for impact project and stewardship resourcing group.
From 2013 to 2020, Will was director of policy and research at PRI, leading PRI¿s global regulatory affairs and public policy activities. Will has a background in banking, joining JPMorgan¿s graduate programme in June 2004.
Will holds a MSC in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and a BSC in Maths from King¿s College London.
Report
"Martindale's book, Responsible Investment: An Insider's Account of What's Working, What's Not and Where Next, covers a broad swathe of responsible investment topics ... . Martindale's book offers a good overview of the responsible investment landscape and its history, as well as a verdict on the future of ESG. ... For those newer to the industry, the book provides a comprehensive and accessible history of responsible investment and many of the initiatives and standards it uses." (Dominic Webb, responsible-investor.com, January 5, 2024)
