Events and Recommended Links

Events

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Finance Week
11 – 18 July 2012
St Andrews, Scotland

Jointly organised by RBF and Responsible Investor this event consists of three parts:

• The first – ESG Analytics for Finance Professionals - is aimed at finance professionals, asset owners and marketers who need to understand more about ESG research and market developments as increasing numbers of clients place sustainability in their investment requirements.
• The second - Financial Analytics for ESG Professionals – is aimed at those professionals whose experience has tended to be in the ESG fields but who are seeking a more developed financial framework for their work.
• Sandwiched between the two training courses is the 'big ideas' weekend: The ESG Finance Lab, a weekend of blue-skies-thinking presentations and discussions inspired by the TED conference phenomenon. A number of excellent speakers will be in St Andrews to get the creative mind-juices flowing around the sustainable finance theme.

Download the pdf brochure.

Recommended Links

Banking

• American Finance Association (AFA)
• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
• European Central Bank
• European Economic Association (EEA)
• European Financial Management Association (EFMA)
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
• Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
• Financial Management Association (FMA)
• International Monetary Fund
• World Bank

Initiatives promoting Sustainability

• ASrIA - Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia: Association promoting corporate responsibility and sustainable investment practice in the Asia Pacific region.
• CERES: Under the slogan 'Investors and Environmentalists for sustainable prosperity' this organisation aims to integrate sustainability into capital markets for the health of the planet and its people.
• Eurosif - European Social Investment Forum: Association for socially responsible investment issues at the European level, whose mission is to address Sustainability through Financial Markets
• Forum NachhaltigeGeldanlagen: Association of German, Swiss and Austrian organisations supporting responsible investment
• RIAA - Responsible Investment Association Australasia: Association committed to promoting the concept and practice of responsible investment to an increasingly curious general public, the mainstream investment community as well as any other stakeholder group.
• SIF - US Social Investment Forum: Association dedicated to advancing the concept, practice, and growth of socially and environmentally responsible investment
• SIO - Social Investment Organization: The Canadian Association for Socially Responsible Investment promotes the practice of socially responsible investment, which they define as the integration of environmental, social and governance factors in the selection and management of investments.
• Sustainable Value
• TED: Non-for-profit organisation devoted to spreading innovative ideas across all fields. TED ideas have the potential to change the world.
• UKSIF - UK Social Investment Forum: This association promotes responsible investment and other forms of finance that support sustainable economic development, enhance quality of life and safeguard the environment.
• United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment: These principles provide a menu of possible actions for incorporating environmental, social and governance issues into mainstream investment decision-making and ownership practices. They have been signed by $ 18 trillion to date, which represents about 1/5 of all assets under management.

For Students

• Google Refine: A tool to for cleaning up messy databases.
• Google Scholar: Search engine for academic research (Links to published journal articles, working papers, conference papers etc.)
• Journal of Economic Literature Classification System
• SSRN (Social Science Research Network): SSRN allows authors to upload abstracts and Articles pre-publication. It is a great tool to get a full picture of the existing and upcoming literature.
• SCImago Journal & Country Rank
• Writing Tips for PhD Students: Recommendations on structured writing and presenting by Chicago Finance Professor John Cochrane. Despite originally targeted on PhD students, they are likely also immensely valuable for Master and Bachelor students.
• MetaCrawler: A search engine searching google and all other available search engines.
• Prezi: Great for putting your presentations online.
• Khan Academy: An "online school" with videos explaining a variety of concepts; helpful for brushing up on your skills (especially maths) and learning new concepts.

Please note: External websites are not the responsibility of the School of Management or the University of St Andrews.