Environmental harm is commonly associated with companies that extract, consume, and pollute our shared natural resources. Rarely are the 'unseen polluters', the financiers that sponsor and profit from eco-damaging corporations, placed at the forefront of the environmental debate.
By focusing on these unseen polluters, Benjamin Richardson provides a comprehensive examination of socially responsible investment (SRI), and offers a guide to possible reform. Richardson proposes that greater regulatory supervision of SRI will help ensure that the financial sector prioritizes ethically-based investments. In Socially Responsible Investment Law, he suggests that new governmental reforms should encourage companies to participate in socially responsible investments by providing a better mix of standards and incentives for SRI through measures that include redefining the fiduciary responsibilities of institutional investors to incorporate environmental concerns. By doing so, Richardson posits that corporate financiers, including banks, hedge funds, and pension plans, will become more accountable to the goals of ensuring sustainable development.
THE POTENTIAL AND LIMITS OF SRI; CORPORATE FINANCIERS AND THE SRI MOVEMENT; SRI'S IMPACT; OBSTACLES TO SRI: INVESTMENT REGULATION; SRI REGULATION; SRI GOVERNANCE BEYOND THE STATE; THE SRI AGENDA: CLIMATE CHANGE AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES; THE PATH TO ETHICAL INVESTMENT
"Building an economic system that is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable is the central ethical imperative of the 21st century. Benjamin Richardson argues that SRI has a central role to play in achieving that objective. This is a carefully reasoned and persuasive discussion that everyone concerned with the role of financial markets in encouraging sustainable development will want to read."
-Wesley Cragg, Schulich School of Business, York University
"This book superbly combines doctrinal, empirical and practical coverage, and will be appreciated well beyond those working in the law. Its broad sweep only enhances further the author's global standing in this area."
-Donald McGillivray, University of Kent Law School
"Benjamin Richardson's book provides critical insights into one of the least explored drivers of environmental harm and, consequently, one of the key mechanisms for environmental improvement: investment decision making. He follows the