09:00 - 10:45

Tomohiro Matsuoka (Australia)
Independent SRI Research Consultant

Paolo Sardi (Luxembourg)
Founding Member and Chief Executive Officer - ECPI

Chinese Sustainability Indices

The Chinese government has clearly recognized the need for action to address some of the difficulties caused by its economic boom. Issues relating to land and water use, polluting industries and climate change, occupational health and safety as well as corruption and transparency figure increasingly on the country’s political agenda.
In line with its 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), the government is investing heavily in a number of key areas in an effort to achieve social, environmental and economic sustainability. The use of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ratings to better select investments, meanwhile, is increasingly popular among all classes of investors, from banks and asset managers to pension funds and foundations. Chinese investors is likely to follow this trend and the Local Regulator will foster such growth, creating an opportunity for the best positioned companies (and therefore their investors) to outperform.

Kathelijne Marritt Alers (Switzerland )
Regional Director - SAM Sustainable Asset Management AG

Sustainability Indexes - Rising Interest in Asia

Momentum in Asia for sustainable investment in general and sustainability indexes in particular is picking up. According to a 2008 study by Booz & Robeco, the Asian market for sustainability investment is expected to grow by more than 150% on an annual basis to approximately USD 2.8 trillion by 2015. Meanwhile, interest from Asian companies in sustainability is on the rise too. In 2005, the DJSI World had 61 Asian components, of which 53 came from Japan and Australia. In 2010, the DJSI family has been expanded to include indexes for Japan and Korea as well as the Asia Pacific Region. The presentation will focus on growth from an investor, asset manager and company perspective.

Su Jeong Moon (South Korea)
Senior analyst - Eco-frontier Sustainable Finance Center

SRI Index and Development of Responsible Investments in Korea

The size of SRI in Korea is approx. 2.9 trillion Won (as of May 2009), which is very low compared to foreign markets. Korean awareness of SRI remains low. Still Korean companies are gradually taking action due to governmental green policy and increase of ESG concerns of global investors. 50% of 100 listed Korean companies participated in CDP Korea 2009. The 2010 Global 100 (Most sustainable corporations in the world) includes Samsung Electronics and POSCO. The awareness of SRI management was accordingly required to be raised through the development of SRI Indexes. The SRI Index in Korea was developed in support of the government's policy for green finance. The Korea Exchange (KRX) asked Korea Corporate Governance Service (KCGS) and Eco-frontier (representative ESG research service provider in Korea) to assess ESG of the Korea companies (330). KRX has determined SRI index Components (70) in consideration of market capitalization-weighted, based on assessment results. The first SRI index in Korea was launched on 14 September, 2009. The SRI Index has been higher than KOSPI 200 in 2009. The SRI index and green finance of the Korea is expected to promote responsible investment.