We currently live in a world where:
– Atmospheric CO2 is at the highest level for 14 million years;
– 26 people own the same amount of wealth as the poorest 3.8 billion people;
– More than 10% of the global population are undernourished, but obesity has soared from 4% of children in 1975 to 18% in 2016;
– Current progress means it will take 202 years to close the gender pay gap.
ShareAction believes that the solution lies in the use of public policy, creating legal frameworks that bring about the disruptive innovation necessary to obligate investors into acting responsibly.
What will the project try to achieve?
ShareAction will publish a model ‘Responsible Investment Bill’ which looks to create top-down, transformational sustainable finance legislation essential to achieving tangible shifts in our economy as a whole. The ultimate goal is for the Bill to be adopted, introduced in Parliament and for it to become a Responsible Investment Act.
ShareAction is aware, however, that this process may be a long one, and the organisation would still be able to significantly advance the case for responsible investment even if this does not happen in the short-term.
As such, the publication will be used as a campaigning tool, setting out a package of recommendations for change, including:
• a re-definition of fiduciary duty and what it means to act in beneficiaries’ “best interests” (to include consideration of the wider consequences/impacts of investments on the real world),
• new due diligence requirements for investors around human rights abuses and environmental damage, and
• a focus on increased transparency to, and engagement with, beneficiaries.
Who might be interested in this project?
Policy makers, institutional investors and individual savers.