Emerging Markets ESG – 16th edition of Updated Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) published today – Friday, July 5, 2013

Today, Friday, July 5, 2013 Emerging Markets ESG publishes the 16th edition of its Updated Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI).

The Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program published an inaugural Database of Contacts in the Field of SRI on the capital markets research page of the PFS Program website on October 25, 2002. The inaugural database contained contact information about more than 275 organizations whose SRI activities were reported online and/or in the financial press. Thereafter, the PFS Program updated the database eight times.

Emerging Markets ESG published a 10th edition of the database in July 2010, an 11th edition of the database in December 2010, a 12th edition in July 2011, a 13th edition in December 2011, a 14th edition in July 2012 and a 15th edition in December 2012.

This 16th edition of the database, with current information as of June 30, 2013, contains 1,722 organizations and 1,139 conferences/events divided among the following 15 categories: Academia (85 institutions); Awards and Prizes (39); Companies – Listed Companies (453); Conferences and Events (1,139); Exchanges (31): Financial Institutions (254); Governmental Organizations (74); Indices (67), Media (85); Networks (102); Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) (260); Private-Public Partnerships (17); Professional and Trade Associations (94); Rating and Research (138); and Standard-Setting Organizations (23).

The updated database includes institutions from 81 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.  This edition of the database contains:  the Africa Carbon Forum – a multi-stakeholder event – in Cote d’Ivoire, the first entry from this country; and the first two entries from Pakistan – a microfinance network and a microfinance summit organized by Pakistani microfinance institutions, donors and multilateral financial institutions.

The 15th edition of the database contained 1,654 organizations and 956 conferences/events in 79 countries. Thus, the 16th edition contains 68 new organizations and 183 new conferences/events.

A table of contents appears as the first worksheet and a statistics worksheet appears as the last worksheet in the database.  Each worksheet is sorted alphabetically by institution; each worksheet may also be re-sorted alphabetically by country.

Several observations may be made about the updated database, which was compiled between January 16 and July 3, 2013:

First, the scope and size of the database continue to grow. The number of entries grew in each category of the database and the scope of conferences/events as well as organizations broadened. As was the case with the four previous editions of the database, in this edition there is a noticeable increase in the number of events about and organizations engaged in clean energy, cleantech, impact investing, microfinance, social entrepreneurship, sustainable finance and venture philanthropy.

Second, the geographical diversity of the database continues to expand.  In addition to the first entries from the two countries mentioned above, the 16th edition of the database also includes the following new entries:  an academic institution in Spain; and several public-private partnerships active in Africa.  This edition of the database, like the previous four editions, includes the designation “unspecified,” since the website of several organizations does not specify the country where the organization is located.

Third, this edition of the database includes many cross-cutting and multi-stakeholder initiatives, such as the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves – a public-private partnership – an initiative led by the United Nations Foundation, and Making Finance Work for Africa, a public-private partnership whose secretariat is hosted at the African Development Bank.

Fourth, the database includes six new organizations engaged in ratings and research.  Thus the number and geographic range of institutions engaged in ratings and research continues to grow.  The database now includes a total of 138 rating/research institutions in 26 countries.

Fifth, as noted in the eight most recent editions of the database, the number of conferences and events on SRI topics continues to increase. During the first half of 2013 this trend continued.

The number of conferences and events on SRI topics increased to 1,139, from 956 as of December 31, 2012.  The figure was 807 on June 30, 2012; 657 on December 30, 2011; 551 on July 29, 2011; and 423 on December 31, 2010.

Of the 1,139 conferences/events listed in the 16th edition of the database, 346 took place in the USA, 193 in the UK, 55 in France,  48 in Switzerland, 44 in the Netherlands, 41 in Germany, 30 in Canada, 26 in Belgium, 24 in Australia, 17 in South Africa, 12 in China and 12 in Singapore.

The 16th edition of the database contains 116 webinars, compared with 89 webinars at the end of December 2012.

Acquisitions, consolidation and mergers in several areas, including corporate governance advisory, indices, proxy voting, ratings and research continued throughout the first half of 2013.  Every effort was made to update contact information in each worksheet. If a reader notes any out-of-date information, please contact Emerging Markets ESG. We will update the entry.

Emerging Markets ESG would appreciate your constructive criticism and feedback regarding the database.

The 17th edition of the updated database will be published in late December 2013.

To download the database, please click on the link below:

     Emerging Markets ESG – Updated Database of Contacts in the Field of SRI – June 2013