SustainabilityHQ.com Weekly Highlights September 23, 2011

Henry(“Hank”) Boerner Named to Prestigious 2011 NACD Directorship 100 “People To Watch” Roster (Governance and Accountability Institute)  Governance & Accountability Institute is pleased to announce that Henry ("Hank") Boerner, its Chairman has been named to the National Association of Corporate Directors’ (NACD’s) 2011 Directorship 100 "People to Watch" roster, in recognition of his work promoting the highest standards of corporate governance. Mr. Boerner will be among those recognized at a gala dinner on November 8 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, during the NACD Directorship 100 Forum.  As Chairman of Governance & Accountability Institute, Mr. Boerner has shown his commitment to NACD’s mission of promoting board diversity and boardroom excellence by his more than 30 years of involvement in corporate governance affairs, including the last 10 years as contributing editor of Corporate Finance Review (the professional journal published by Thomson Reuters, and his work as strategist and advisor through G&A Institute).  Associated Profiles : Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc

Do US Companies Finally 'Get' Carbon Disclosure? Yes, But...  (Greenbiz.com)  U.S. companies are getting better about disclosing their carbon footprints and integrating climate change into their business strategies, but in some areas, American businesses as a group seem to be taking a few steps backwards. Associated Profiles : Carbon Disclosure Project

SEC Probes Firms for Trades Before U.S. Rate Cut: Report  (The Street)  -- Securities regulators have sent subpoenas to hedge funds and other firms as they probe possible insider trading before the U.S. government's long-term credit rating was cut last month, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Securities and Exchange Commission officials demanded more information about specific trades made shortly before Standard & Poor's downgraded the U.S.'s rating to double-A-plus from triple-A on Aug. 5, the people said. Associated Profiles: S&P

Chocolate tainted with child labor  (Record-Bee)   As another Halloween approaches and parents in the Kelseyville area think about buying chocolate as treats for children, here is something to consider: The chocolate you buy could be tainted with child labor. Sept. 19 marks the 10-year anniversary of the signing of the Harkin-Engel Protocol, an agreement by the country's largest chocolate companies to put an end to forced child labor on cocoa farms in West Africa by 2005. Ten years later, not enough progress has been made. Hundreds of thousands of children are still forced to work under abusive conditions for long hours on cocoa farms in West Africa while others are victims of trafficking and forced labor.  Associated Profiles : TransFair USA

Commentary
Hobbes’s Choice: ‘Life of Man’ & Government  (Peter D. Kinder)  Fifteen years ago, few with power in Massachusetts exercised it with more relish and publicity than then Boston University president, John Silber.  As one wag put it, Silber was like life in Thomas Hobbes’s state of nature:  nasty, brutish and short. [1]  With Hurricane Irene bending the birches like bamboo and bursting the brook’s banks, Hobbes seemed the right writer for the moment – one who understood humanity’s darkest forces and lent his name to their summative adjective, ‘Hobbesian’.

US Pension Funds
Suit seeks PERA retiree benefit data  (Chieftain.com)  Colorado  Treasurer Walker Stapleton and Attorney General John Suthers filed a lawsuit Monday in Denver District Court to try to force the Public Employees' Retirement Association to reveal information PERA officials say is confidential financial data about its beneficiaries. In June, Stapleton, a PERA board member, asked for information on the top 20 percent of the 94,000 retirees in the system. He wanted to know their annual benefit, the age when they retired and the year, in what division they worked, their last five years of salary and their current ZIP code. Associated Profiles : Colorado Public Employees Retirement System (PERA)

Treasurer criticizes, panel lowers bonus for state pension exec (Herald online)  COLUMBIA -- The state's top investment officer won't get $65,000 in bonus money after state Treasurer Curtis Loftis criticized it Thursday. Robert "Bob" Borden, who received a 37 percent raise in July that brought his base pay up to $485,000 a year, also was scheduled to receive a $242,500 bonus. Associated Profiles : Virginia Retirement System

CalPERS suspends investment chairman, adopts governance reforms  (Global Pensions)

 The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has suspended the chairman of its Investment Policy Sub-committee following complaints by colleagues. The plan's Board of Administration publicly censured board member JJ Jelincic and also suspended him as vice chairman of its Health Benefits Committee for his involvement in a personnel action based on complaints filed by co-workers

. Associated Profiles : California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS


Sovereign Wealth Funds
China to keep buying U.S. Treasuries: report  (International Business Times) 

China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt, will keep buying U.S. Treasuries, the official People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's mouthpiece reported on Tuesday, citing government researchers. In an article about the reasons for China's increased purchase of U.S. Treasuries, the newspaper cited Yan Xiaona, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, as saying that the dollar "is relatively safer than the euro" because of the unfolding sovereign debt crisis in Europe.

Associated Profiles : State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) Investment Company (China)

Devil’s stocks outperform!  (Tradingfloor.com)

The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund (aka the Petroleum Fund), has ethical standards concerning where to and not to invest. On its black list are individual companies involved in child labour, environmental damages, breaches of human rights, etc. These are all standards we agree on, as they are morally wrong.

Associated Profiles:   Norwegian Government Pension Fund – Global (Statens pensjonsfond – Utland) , Norwegian Government Pension Fund - Norway

Ease UN sanctions on Libya – Britain  (Pretoria News) 

United Nations

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Britain has circulated a draft resolution to Security Council members that would ease UN sanctions against Libya and hopes to have a vote on it this week, diplomats said on Wednesday. The draft would have the council begin lifting six-month-old punitive measures imposed on Libya when former leader Muammar Gaddafi was overseeing a crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators across the country. 

Associated Profiles : Libyan Investment Authority Asset Managers
Rising stars in emerging market debt revealed  (CityWire)

 In this column we find highlight the top performing emerging market global bond managers, who are not yet eligible for a Citywire rating but have delivered strong risk-adjusted returns over the past year. Leading the pack is Amundi’s Thomas Delabre (pictured), with a one-year manager ratio of 0.91. London-based Delabre’s Amundi Funds Bond Global Emerging IU portfolio returned 18.51% over the same period.

Associated Profiles : Amundi

Rogue trader causes $2 billion loss at UBS  (KMTR.com) 

GENEVA (AP) — Swiss banking giant UBS said Thursday that a rogue trader has caused it an estimated loss of $2 billion, stunning a beleaguered banking industry that has proven vulnerable to unauthorized trades. Police in London said they arrested a 31-year-old man in connection with the loss. 

Associated Profiles : Credit Suisse Group AG  

Schroders’ Buxton fears HSBC to exit UK over ring-fencing plans  (Investment Week

)  Schroders’ Richard Buxton has warned plans to ring-fence banks will force HSBC and Standard Chartered to redomicile outside the UK, causing more woe for the economy. Last week the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB)’s final report called for banks to ring-fence their retail arm from their wholesale businesses to prevent consumers bearing the brunt of investment banking losses

. Associated Profiles : Schroder 

This is just a sample of som e of the articles from this weeks SustainabilityHQ Highlights.  You can view the full Highlights by using the following links.  Sustainability | ESG, Highlights for the Week of September 23, 2011