A major Community Economic Development (CED) event made a mark at the beginning of June in Canada. The 2009 National CED Conference, "Full Circle: Sharing a Vision for the 7th Generation" was hosted at the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba. This event was also the occasion to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Canadian CED Network (CCEDNet), a "member-driven organization that seeks to increase the scale and effectiveness of CED - helping organizations and individuals strengthen their communities and create solutions to local needs" (more about CCEDNet).

Hoggan & Associates  conducted a survey of 4300 Canadians to gather our views on attitudes of sustainability.   The survey was conducted in April and May of 2009 and will be available publicly later this year.

The driver question is, what would a sustainable Canadian society look like? The environment ranked high on our list of priorities.  However 67% indicated that the economy and the environment need to be addressed simultaneously and we cannot forsake one for the other.  For instance,  79% of Canadians believe we need stricter laws to protet the environment.

A surprising $47 billion dollars are invested in wind energy world wide in over 60 countries. Making a significant contribution to energy demand. An exciting element about wind energy is that it can be built to different scales allowing for different types of ownership. With the right types of social finance options, community groups can be stimulated to build locally owned wind development. For example, Municipal Equity Ownership exists in Quebec and First Nations Equity Ownership.

Socially Responsible Investing is typically understood in terms of publicly traded equities, but SRI can impact other asset classes such as fixed income or real estate.

An engaging panel at the SIO Conference provided us with lots of thought provoking ideas on the subject of green real estate. This topic has generated considerable interest because many of the asset managers who signed on to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment are not only owners of stocks and bonds, they have significant holdings of real property. Responsible property investment is an approach to property investment that recognizes environmental and social considerations along with more conventional financial objectives. And because green real estate has widely accepted benchmarks like LEED, and the business case is easily quantified, socially responsible real estate may be an easier first step for mainstream investors.

In 2007, it seemed socially responsible investing had finally reached its "tipping point" in Canada - institutional investors were on board following the UN's Principles of Responsible Investment and on the retail side, the big banks were launching their first-ever SRI funds.

But, thanks to the credit crisis, the euphoria was short-lived, and today, SRI advocates are once again seeking ways to engage new investors. That was one of the topics of an advisor panel discussion held Monday at the Canadian Responsible Investment Conference in Winnipeg.