CalPERS is undertaking a Sustainable Investment Research Initiative to drive innovative thought leadership that will inform and advance our understanding of sustainability factors and the impact they may have on companies, markets, and investment intermediaries from the perspective of a large, global, long-term, and multi-class institutional asset owner.
As part of this important initiative, the inaugural Sustainability & Finance Symposium will be held on June 7, 2013. Developed in partnership with the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, the symposium will convene leading academics and practitioners to foster a debate that will lead to a research agenda on sustainability and finance issues. The event will be held in the vicinity of Napa Valley’s wine country in Davis, California, with working dinners on both Thursday and Friday. Distinguished faculty from the UC Davis Graduate School of Management and the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at Columbia Law School will serve as program committee chairs.
We seek working paper submissions from scholars and investment practitioners in the fields of finance, economics, accounting, law, and business that will contribute to a rigorous debate and discussion on longterm value creation and capital market stability. This symposium will be an inquiry into the definitions and relevance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors and related policy issues for long-term capital providers. It will also consider the potential impact of ESG issues on capital markets, companies, and intermediaries in the investment chain, such as asset managers. We welcome both theoretical and empirical working papers. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
Selected papers will inform CalPERS Total Fund Sustainability strategy and development of investment beliefs.