EDITORIAL:

This first quarter, ASrIA has been laying the groundwork for its 2005 research programme. During March there were also several conference presentations, culminating in a road-show and standing-room-only forum on investment risks associated with climate change, organised with the assistance of the British Consulate General (see news item Asian News 1). The Council for Socially Responsible Investment in New Zealand also published the proceedings of its workshop on Climate Change and Investment (Asian News 10). Forestry and timber issues were an important theme this month, with Melissa Brown, ASrIA's Executive Director noting in a presentation at the Forest Dialogues Conference (Asian News 2) that banks are the biggest funders of the sector in South East Asia and that their due diligence and credit standards are crucial. However, for timber related companies coming to the market, it is key to press strongly for tougher stock-market listing standards and better disclosure, as investors can not analyse issues which are not disclosed. On the same theme analysis on timber financing was published comparing the policies of Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase (Asian News 6) and the most effective way! s by whi ch banks can bring leverage to bear on timber companies, in particular by insisting upon creditable certification of timber. 21 Japanese companies and 6 Australian companies are among 61 new companies globally to be included in the most recent reassessment of the FTSE4Good Index by ASrIA member FTSE (Asian News 5). 23 companies were also removed as a result of increasingly tightened environmental criteria. Lastly, the ASrIA website is currently being upgraded, and this month we would like to draw your attention to the new 'About ASrIA' section http://www.asria.org/asria/.

ASIAN SRI NEWS AND ACTIVITIES

1. CLIMATE CHANGE AND EMISSIONS RISK IN THE ASIAN CAPITAL MARKETS: PICKING THE WINNERS AND THE LOSERS
2. DIALOGUE ON ILLEGAL LOGGING
3. ADFIAP CO-ORGANIZES ENVIRONMENTAL FINANCE FORUM
4. GREENMONEY: SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTING ISSUE NOW ONLINE
5. 61 NEW COMPANIES JOIN THE FTSE4GOOD INDEX
6. COMPARING CITIGROUP AND JP MORGAN CHASE POLICIES ON INVESTING IN LOGGING OPERATIONS IN INDONESIA
7. SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING - BY THE DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND HERITAGE (DEH), AUSTRALIA
8. INTERNATIONAL CSR CONFERENCE IN SEOUL, CREATING VALUE THROUGH CSR
9. CHINA'S BUSINESS LEADERS JOIN TOGETHER IN RAISING BUSINESS STANDARDS
10. CSRI WORKSHOP ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND INVESTMENT
11. RENEWABLE ENERGY FINANCE ASIA EVENT
    

GLOBAL SRI NEWS

1. IFC HIGHLIGHTS ITS LEADERSHIP ROLE IN 2004 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
2. INVESTMENT BANK PUSHES TO EDUCATE ITS EXECUTIVES ON SUSTAINABILITY RISK
3. SRI ADVOCATE RETURNS TO HEAD UK SOCIAL INVESTMENT FORUM
4. WANTED: SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS
5. BITING THE HAND THAT FEEDS: MUTUAL FUND TIES TO CORPORATE CLIENTS CAN AFFECT PROXY VOTING
6. SUSTAINABILITY YEARBOOK COMPARES EXTRA-FINANCIAL TO FINANCIAL REPORTING
7. EUROPEAN PENSIONS 2005: THE PURSUIT OF RISK-FREE PENSIONS
8. LAUNCH OF INTERNATIONAL INTERFAITH INVESTMENT GROUP (3IG)
9. SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT 2005
10. CERES 2005 CONFERENCE, BUILDING EQUITY, REDUCING RISK
11. THE FIRST ANNUAL BUSINESS ETHICS SUMMIT - AN INTERACTIVE SYMPOSIUM FOR BUSINESS LEADERS
12. DUBAI TO HOST 2ND MIDDLE EAST CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) SUMMIT
    

3. SRI ADVOCATE RETURNS TO HEAD UK SOCIAL INVESTMENT FORUM
Penny Shepherd MBE has been appointed as the next Chief Executive of the UKSIF. As UKSIF Executive Director from 1997-2001, Penny Shepherd played a leading role in championing the government's SRI disclosure regulation for occupational pension funds and tripled UKSIF's membership.
http://www.asria.org/news/press/1109749024

4. WANTED: SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS
An academician searches for socially responsible real estate investment trusts, finding few that fit the definition, as well as disagreement over what criteria define SRI REITs. However he calculated that there was a $15 to $30 billion potential market for SRI REITs in the US.
http://www.asria.org/news/press/1111461699

5. BITING THE HAND THAT FEEDS: MUTUAL FUND TIES TO CORPORATE CLIENTS CAN AFFECT PROXY VOTING
Study reveals that individual mutual fund firms do not alter proxy voting whether companies are clients or non-clients, but fund firms with more clients tend to vote and adopt voting policies favouring management.
http://www.asria.org/news/press/1110941686

6. SUSTAINABILITY YEARBOOK COMPARES EXTRA-FINANCIAL TO FINANCIAL REPORTING
The Sustainability Yearbook 2005, published jointly by Sustainable Asset Management and PricewaterhouseCoopers, shows how adding extra-financial data to a financial report increases buy recommendations.
http://www.asria.org/news/press/1109586046

7. EUROPEAN PENSIONS 2005: THE PURSUIT OF RISK-FREE PENSIONS
11-12 April, 2005, Chatham House, London. Pension provision has now risen to the top of the agenda, not only in continental Europe, where painful reforms have been slowly progressing, but particularly in the UK, where until recently it had been one of the jewels in the UK's crown.
http://www.asria.org/news/events/1102915618

8. LAUNCH OF INTERNATIONAL INTERFAITH INVESTMENT GROUP (3IG)
11-12 April, 2005, Dartmouth House, London & 13 April, Montague Centre, London. 3iG provides the world's faiths with a vehicle that enables them to harness the economic power of their assets, including shares, land, properties, water resources, and intellectual properties to support and promote programmes, policies and practices that are consonant with their shared values and beliefs.
http://www.asria.org/news/events/1112066484/

9. SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT 2005
13-14 April, 2005, Frankfurt City, Germany. The "Sustainable Investment 2005" conference is based on research which has been founded by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BmBF) and will include a focus on supply chain issues.
http://www.asria.org/news/events/1109045912

10. CERES 2005 CONFERENCE, BUILDING EQUITY, REDUCING RISK
13-14 April, 2005, Boston, MA. For two action-packed days, the 2005 Ceres conference will bring together corporate directors, CEOs, national environmental leaders, investors, pension fund trustees, energy experts, analysts, scientists and corporate governance activists to launch solutions to the greatest threats to our planet and the economy.
http://www.ceres.org/conference/2005/

11. THE FIRST ANNUAL BUSINESS ETHICS SUMMIT - AN INTERACTIVE SYMPOSIUM FOR BUSINESS LEADERS "CORPORATE SCANDALS, CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND THE MEDIA: WHO SHOULD WE BELIEVE?"
21 April, 2005, Helmsley Hotel, New York. Corporate social responsibility and corporate scandals - business ethics and business ethics meltdowns - are increasingly perceived as two sides of the same coin.
http://www.asria.org/news/events/1107838229

12. DUBAI TO HOST 2ND MIDDLE EAST CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) SUMMIT
5 - 8 June, 2005, Dubai. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its importance for the region's growth and long-term development will be the focus of attention for Middle East business leaders at the 2nd Middle East Corporate Social Responsibility Summit.
http://asp.sriworld.com/asria/press_releases/article.cgi/3657.html

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