New European corporate engagement platform launched

(12 Jan '07)

Scientists at RSM Erasmus University and the University of Maastricht join forces for leading international institute ECCE

Rotterdam/Maastricht, 11 January 2007 --- The launch of a new website today at www.corporate-engagement.com formally opens the European Centre for Corporate Engagement (ECCE) research platform. ECCE aims to become the international source of innovative and practically relevant information on corporate social responsibility and sustainable investment, with both academics and practitioners in mind. Through research, ECCE intends to help (institutional) investors remove barriers to successful implementation of sustainable investment strategies. ECCE also explicitly aims to develop new instruments.

ECCE is a joint initiative of Professor Kees Koedijk, affiliated with the RSM Erasmus University, Professor Rob Bauer of the University of Maastricht, and assistant professor Jeroen Derwall. In 2002 and 2005, their team received the U.S. Social Investment Forum’s prestigious Moskowitz Prize. Also in 2005, they obtained a large grant from the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (Mistra) to conduct research into the role of financial markets in promoting sustainable development. These awards have underpinned the existence of the ECCE.

 

Partners
ECCE has a broad, and continually expanding, international network, which covers leading academic institutions, financial markets, and the business community. For instance, ABP Investments, a partner, expects to benefit from new insights on sustainable investment offered by ECCE’s research. The largest Dutch pension fund provides input for research projects and is co-involved in translating results into concrete policies. Roderick Munsters, CEO of ABP Investments, comments on the importance of ECCE: ‘ECCE’s research helps us to include sustainability issues in our regular investment policy. It is extremely important for us that, via ECCE, we have direct access to knowledge and instruments that shed new lights on the relationship between sustainability and investment risks and returns.’ In addition to ABP, Fortis supports the ECCE initiative with a Sustainable Finance Chair at RSM Erasmus University. International ties have also been established with Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, Governance Metrics International (GMI), Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), and the Swedish partners MISTRA and Umea School of Business.

 

Innovative research
ECCE’s research approach is innovative because the focus lies on analyzing extra-financial information from companies. Extra-financial information can be described as information that is not of an explicitly financial nature, but does – directly or indirectly – have financial consequences for investors. It often involves company-specific features in the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) areas. The goal of ECCE is to show at a higher level of detail whether there is a relationship between certain sustainability factors and corporate financial performance. Combining its research with information on ESG practices of companies, ECCE will work on developing new and practical tools for investors.

 

Broad target group
ECCE’s activities are relevant to a broad target group, such as (institutional) investors, companies, financial analysts, consultants, and regulators. The scope of the research team includes all major markets, such as public equity, private equity, property, and bond markets. ECCE also regularly organizes events for its targets audiences with the objective to encourage an ongoing dialogue among practitioners and scholars on ESG issues. The ECCE website is an all-encompassing source of publications on common ESG themes, such as corporate social responsibility and sustainable investment, provided by both ECCE and other parties.