Doubt Cast Over Endowment Commitment to ESG

(July 19, 2012) — College and university endowments, previously regarded as the white knights of responsible investing, are falling well short of their supposed commitment to so-called environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) investing, according to a survey by an advocacy group.

The study, funded by the Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute (IRRCI), blasts endowments for making investments that are sustainable in name only, ascribing the difference to “confusion about ESG semantics.”

Given that endowments are what the report termed “ESG pioneers,” the authors found the results surprising. “The findings are somewhat counter intuitive to what one would expect from the university community,” said Jon Lukomnik, IRRC Institute executive director. “Historically, endowments were groundbreaking institutional investors that addressed social and environmental considerations in their investments far earlier than others. Our findings indicate that today’s endowments no longer are leaders in the institutional ESG investment arena.”

The study found that ESG misperceptions abound in the endowment community and that the funds typically do not comprehend ESG investing strategies, trends, opportunities, and language.

Endowments were also criticized for a lack of ESG investment transparency. “We also found a general lack of transparency on ESG practices,” said Lukomnik. “Investment policies are remarkably opaque, even at some state-funded universities. We also find that the educational community largely is absent from the national and global institutional investment networks. For example, not a single endowment is amongst the 900 signatories of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment, and only one is a member of the Council of Institutional Investors, the leading US association of institutional investors.”

While the report lauded some experiments at specific endowments, such as the clean tech investment programs at Middlebury and Dickinson Colleges, it asserted that much more work had to be done in the endowment community. “Many colleges remain marred by a siege mentality,” the study concluded. “To advance more research on sustainable and responsible endowment investment, colleges and universities will need to be more forthcoming and transparent about their activities in the space, particularly with the many groups that have a stake in them.”

To read the report, click here.