Conference looks at bridging the gap between investor ESGrequirements and CSR initiatives.

Ministers of the Dutch and Norwegian governments will join some of Europe’s largest institutional investors and corporations on October 13th in Amsterdam to debate the gap between investor expectations on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and the CSR (corporate social reporting) initiatives of leading companies. The conference will also unveil the latest 2010 biennial research report by the European Sustainable Investment Forum (Eurosif) on the growth of the European responsible investment (SRI) market, the benchmark of the size of responsibly managed assets amongst institutional investors. The ESGEurope 2010 conference is organized by Responsible-Investor.com in partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Norwegian Embassy in The Hague, CSR Netherlands, and in association with Eurosif. The event is open to attendance by investors and corporations with asset owners (pension funds/foundations/charities) and corporates given complimentary access in an attempt to broaden out theESG discussion into new areas.
The conference subtitle is: Bridging the gap between investor ESG requirements and corporate CSRreporting. Speakers will include ministry representatives of the Dutch and Norwegian governments talking about the role of both countries in promoting market sustainability through ESG and CSRleadership. Attendees will be able to take away practical examples and experience from speakers of how sustainability is being looked at within corporates. They will also be able to input into discussions about the development of key sustainability performance indicators (KPIs), and which are likely to become the most important for companies and their investors. The conference will focus notably on

the debate over dual financial/CSR reporting and where latest regulation such as EC corporate governance, UK stewardship and US environmental reporting rules are heading.
Key topics and themes to be covered at ESG Europe 2010:
• How ESG and CSR connect and where the relationship is headed. 
• The growth of the European SRI market: Eurosif report.
• The mainstreaming of sustainability initiatives in corporates. 
• How companies can innovate in sustainable products.
• Where is the Carbon Disclosure Project headed? Water and biodiversity? 
• What’s holding investors back from allocating to the green space? 
• How are institutional investors globally looking at allying for investment in green tech. 
• Is corporate reputation risk increasing for investors? 
• Re-establishing sustainability in pensions and investment. 
• Investing for long-term market sustainability. 
• Impact of the EU Green Paper on corporate governance in financial institutions. 
• Has anything changed in the debate over shareholders as owners? 
• Institutional investors working together on corporate governance.

Details on the conference, including programme, location, attendance fees and testimonies can be found at: 
Link to ESG Europe 2010 conference site