SRI Monitor featured comprehensive coverage of last week's Canadian Responsible Investment Conference 2010. Below are excerpts from the blog's reporting.

Be true to yourself
By Doug Watt, Writer and editor and co-founder of SRI Monitor
"'We put ourselves out there and we repel as many people as we attract,' says Stephen Whipp, an SRI advisor with Manulife Securities in Victoria. 'It’s the branding, so that when someone walks in the office, they at least have an inkling of what it’s going to be like.' Whipp learned the hard way that as an advisor, it’s important to be yourself."
- Read more... (Full article on Advisor.ca)

Divestment and engagement
By Farnam Bidgoli, Jantzi-Sustainalytics
"Michael Jantzi, CEO of ESG research provider Jantzi-Sustainalytics, noted that the decision to use divestment didn’t necessarily sacrifice the chance to provoke change. Jantzi remarked that many companies do not want the reputational risks associated with being publicly excluded by investors, and therefore can be pressured using divestment. However, he concurred with the other panelists that engagement can also be an effective tool – as long as it is taken seriously and not used as an excuse to delay action."
- Read the full article...

Advisors key to SRI sales strategy
By Doug Watt, Writer and editor and co-founder of SRI Monitor
"Quebec investors don't know a lot about responsible investing, but a significant majority are interested in the concept — so interested, in fact, that 59% of those surveyed by Desjardins said they would consider investing in socially responsible investing (SRI) products. Furthermore, 64% believe that financial institutions have a duty to offer SRI products to their clients, and 92% said that offering SRI products positively affected their perception of Desjardins as a company."
- Read more... (Full article on Advisor.ca)

Engaging with the Oil Sands Sector
By Sucheta Rajagopal, Investment advisor specializing in SRI and co-founder of SRI Monitor 
"Michelle de Cordova from Northwest and Ethical Investments was categorical in her defense of remaining engaged. “You can’t change a company you don’t own. We are committed to our engagement because we see it working.” In addition to their engagement strategy, NEI’s sustainability team has produced some excellent research reports, most recently Lines in the Sands: Oil Sands Sector Benchmarking."
- Read the full article...

Impact Investing: Innovations for Social Finance in Canada
By Karim Harji, Manager for Partnership Development at Social Capital Partners, founder, socialfinance.ca
"Audience members also wanted to know if impact investing is consistent with fiduciary responsibility, because institutional investors are potentially giving up financial returns? David remarked that the big money – pension funds, universities, etc. – are managing for multi-generational time horizons, and so they should also be including the financial and non-financial implications of their investment decisions within the fiduciary process itself. Betsy Martin noted that the Freshfields II report and the UNPRI are important reference points for institutional investors seeking clarification on these issues."
- Read the full article...

Tips from the experts
By Doug Watt, Writer and editor and co-founder of SRI Monitor
"The panelists also agreed that many advisors are ignoring, though likely not purposefully, a huge under-served market receptive to responsible investing: women. Long-time responsible investor Beth Jones noted that 1.2 million people work in Canada's non-profit sector. Seventy percent are women and their average is 43. 'Women are demanding more say in their investment portfolios,' said MacMillan. Schueth agrees. 'Targeting women is really smart and not that hard to do.'"
- Read the full article...

Innovations in Cleantech Investing
By Laura Tozer, Program Coordinator at the Community Energy Partnerships Program
"The race to cleaner economies has become the new space race and Canada is being left behind. Parker pointed out that while countries like China and Korea directed huge portions of their "Great Recession" stimulus packages to green spending, Canada largely missed the opportunity to kick start its own clean economy."
- Read the full article...

Additional resources

• Canadian Responsible Investment Conference 2010 (Conference Website)
• Canadian Responsible Investment Conference 2010 on Twitter (Conference #Hashtag)
• Social Investment Organization (Conference Organizers)
• Social Investment Organization on Twitter
• Canadian Responsible Investment Conference 2010 Preview

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