NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

The discussion will build on TIIP’s previously published Tipping Points 2016: Summary of 50 Asset Owners’ and Managers’ Approaches to Investing in Global Systems and focus on its forthcoming publication Effective Investing for the Long Term: Intentionality at Systems Levels, written by Steve Lydenberg, William Burckart, and Jessica Ziegler of TIIP.

The event follows the publication of The Investing Enlightenment: How Principle and Pragmatism Can Create Sustainable Value Through ESG written by Dr. Robert Eccles of Arabesque Partners and Mirtha D. Kastrapeli of the Center for Applied Research at State Street, which outlines a holistic model for integrating ESG considerations into investment decisions.

TIIP’s report examines the strategies that more and more investors are utilizing to act with intentionality to balance efficiency in maximizing self-interested returns with maintaining the resilience of the environmental societal, and financial systems that are the ultimate source of this wealth creation. The event will examine this new thinking as it becomes a part of the investment industry. Panels will explore why asset owners are increasingly demanding the integration of ESG factors and are extending this interest to impact systems-level considerations.

We will also unpack key findings of TIIP’s new report, and discuss the challenges and opportunities that asset managers face when attempting to bridge the divide between portfolio decision-making and systems-level thinking.