The 11th annual Responsible Investor (RI) Europe Conference, held June 5-6, 2018, showed a marked departure in ESG themes and focus from previous years. Compared with prior sessions, there was a strong shift and a coming of age in the ESG movement. For example, the title for the keynote plenary of the RI 2018 Conference was aptly called “Action Speaks Louder Than Words.”
The mindset permeating through sustainable finance policy makers, practitioners, and investors is that of action and implementation. One example that highlights this call for implementation is the lack of breakout sessions regarding ESG data, which, in previous years, has been a prevalent and frequently discussed topic. In multiple previous RI conferences, topics centered on data consistency, data coverage, and data developments were commonly found on the agenda. In fact, one panelist from an asset owner exclaimed, “Let’s stop asking for perfect or more data. The data is good enough, and we need more action. It’s the next logical step.”
Responsible Investor Europe 2018 Conference: ESG Grows Up | S&P Dow Jones Indices
