Ethos welcomes the publication of Boston Common Asset Management's fifth study on climate risk management by the world's major banks. This new study shows that the measures taken by the banks remain largely insufficient. Ethos has participated in this international initiative and is engaging in dialogue on this issue with Swiss banks, urging them to strengthen their commitments to finance the low carbon transition.
Ethos Foundation and 26 institutional investors with CHF 808 billion in assets under management, have sent an investor statement to the members of the Swiss upper house to ask them to support legislation for mandatory human rights due diligence. The legislation has been approved by the lower house on 13 June and will be discussed again next Thursday in Bern. The initiative committee has already indicated that it agrees to withdraw the original initiative if the proposed legislation is approved.
While the members of the Swiss lower house were approving the counter-proposal to the responsible business initiative, Ethos Foundation organised a conference and debate on Thursday 13th June 2019 in Bern on the topic of "multinational companies and respect for human rights: ethical, economic and political issues". Almost 120 people attended the event.
Ethos Foundation and 22 institutional investors with CHF 395 billion in assets under management, are asking the members of the Swiss lower house to support legislation for mandatory human rights due diligence which will be discussed in parliament on Thursday 13 June.
The Ethos Foundation has joined the Shareholders for Change engagement network, which provides a collective engagement platform that allows smaller institutional investors dedicated to socially responsible investment to increase the impact of their engagement activities with European companies.
Ethos is pursuing its efforts to combat climate change by supporting "The Investor Agenda" endorsed by 392 global investors at the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS), which is being held from 12 to 14 September 2018 in San Francisco.
The evaluation of Ethos’s activity report covering the year 2017 to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) is now available. As every year, the result of the assessment in which 1462 organizations participated places Ethos among the world leaders in sustainable finance with scores well above the median in all 6 dimensions analyzed, in 3 of which Ethos even received the best possible evaluation (A+).
Ethos and the members of the Ethos Engagement Pool International (EEP International) are launching a multi-year engagement program urging eight European electric utilities to develop ambitious climate strategies to facilitate the transition to a low-carbon economy. Several institutional investors across the globe have decided to support these efforts, in total the investor group represents approximately EUR 100 billion.
Ethos CEO Vincent Kaufmann is delivering a statement at the Credit Suisse annual general meeting today recommending that shareholders vote against the board’s proposals regarding board and executive remuneration and against the re-election of the chairman of the board. Ethos also asks that the board re-inforces its corporate social responsibility.