Partners - Canadian Business Ethics Research Network

Partners

CBERN
The Canadian Business Ethics Research Network (CBERN) aims to promote knowledge-sharing and partnerships within the field of business ethics and across private, governmental, voluntary and academic sectors. CBERN also aims to support work from inception to dissemination, from graduate student research and fellowship opportunities to promoting the projects of established professionals.

In the Spring of 2007 CBERN was awarded a $2.1 million grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. This seven-year project crosses academic disciplines and economic sectors. It invites active dialogue between researchers and experienced practitioners in government, business, community and voluntary sectors.

Our website aims to provide an online venue to promote knowledge-sharing and partnerships within the field and across private, governmental, voluntary and academic sectors in the area of business ethics.

Responsible Investing Initiative / Community-University Research Alliances (RII CURA)
In order to ensure the stability of our national and indeed global economies, the financial market crash of 2008/2009 points to the critical need for greater oversight of today’s financial markets. Increasingly large institutional investors are being called upon to provide this type of active engagement and ownership in our capital markets. Many institutional investors are using their influence to engage and in some cases aggressively challenge the management of corporations in order to improve the environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards of the firms in which they invest. Such activity forms the core of institutional investors’ responsible investing strategies and as a result investors hope to ensure long-term shareholder value for future beneficiaries. Raised corporate ESG standards have positive impacts for Canadian communities and indeed communities around the world. In light of recent financial and environmental crises, such long-term investment policies are essential to ensuring the health and growth of our economies going forward.

A subset of responsible investing is impact investing. Here institutional investors look for ways to direct their investment in order to generate both a market rate of return and positive impacts on societal areas of broad concern. Impact investing is critically important for Canadian communities, particularly as they struggle to recover from the current financial crisis that has severely limited access to capital so vital for their growth. Impact investing seeks financial returns in combination with ancillary benefits such as brownfield redevelopment, urban revitalization, clean technology, sustainable energy, and affordable housing. Extending our understanding of the supply of capital to these community-based investments is critical both to engage institutional investors in this arena and in the development of the public policy frameworks required to stimulate such investment.

The objective of the Responsible Investing Initiative (RII) CURA is to have more Canadian institutional investors take up responsible investing with its attendant positive impacts for Canadian communities. Such a shift to responsible investing requires deep changes at the institutional and policy level in order to move beyond advocating change to actual change in institutional behaviour. This requires permanent capacity be built within our institutions with time, resources and the necessary research on which to base these important investment decisions. The RII CURA provides the necessary research and dissemination that such a change requires.

Collectively, our CURA partners represent thirty national and international organizations and networks of practitioners, academics and stakeholders on responsible investing. Our partners include practitioners from the sector, university research centers, and key stakeholders from our target audience. Housed at the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation, the initiative will provide institutional investors with concrete, web-based access to new research and tools by which to implement their policies and programs. It will offer instructive case studies from which these institutions can learn. Through the Academic Network of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment it will bring international expertise in the topic to Canadian institutional investors and other stakeholders. It will provide opportunities for Canadian students and educational course materials to facilitate other institutions to take up this subject. Through an international conference held in Ottawa, it will explore the public policy implications of institutional investors’ responsible investment policies and practices.

PRI
The United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment Initiative (PRI) is a network of international investors working together to put the six Principles for Responsible Investment into practice.

The Principles were devised by the investment community. They reflect the view that environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues can affect the performance of investment portfolios and therefore must be given appropriate consideration by investors if they are to fulfil their fiduciary (or equivalent) duty. The Principles provide a voluntary framework by which all investors can incorporate ESG issues into their decision-making and ownership practices and so better align their objectives with those of society at large.

The PRI Initiative was created after the launch of the Principles to help investors to implement the Principles. The Initiative is managed by the PRI Secretariat and supports investors by sharing best practice, facilitating collaboration and managing a variety of work streams. The Initiative is incorporated as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee.

PRI Academic Network
The Principles for Responsible Investment Academic Network is a unique research community established to support the work of the PRI through research on responsible investing. It fosters a network of scholars, practitioners, policymakers and students interested in responsible investment issues. The network uses a web-based platform for knowledge exchange within the responsible investment community. It provides freely accessible avenues for research, education and network-building on critical responsible investment issues. The main objectives of the Academic Network are:

To provide open access to the most comprehensive resources for research and analysis on responsible investment;
To develop a global platform to deliver high-quality and accessible academic research to PRI signatory organizations;
To establish and foster a network of scholars, practitioners, policymakers and students interested in responsible investment issues.

Whether you are a student, academic or an investment professional, we welcome your participation in the PRI Academic Network. If you have any questions about how you can participate, please write us at academic@unpri.org.