Back to All Resources

Topic: Responsible Investing

Responsible Investing | Private Equity Insights

Approach to Sustainability Assessment and Reporting

In recent years, sustainability-focused investing has taken on many names and has been at the center of polarizing political conversations. CF Private Equity’s approach to mandates surrounding...
Responsible Investing | Private Equity Insights

Challenging Headlines Abound for “Cleantech 2.0” – As Opportunities Persist

Market cycles of euphoria followed by the inevitable hangover are not new for investors – but some headaches are sharper than others, the worst of which can blur one’s vision the morning after.
Responsible Investing | Private Equity Insights

Not Your Grandparent’s Farm: Emerging Opportunities in an Often-Overlooked Sector

The Rationale for Investing in Agriculture: Growth, Diversification, Sustainability, Inflation Hedge Commonfund Forum 2024 convened a panel to examine emerging trends and opportunities for private...
Responsible Investing | Private Equity Insights

Unlocking Sustainable Investment: Insights from Ethan Levine

At SuperReturn Energy, Ethan Levine, Managing Director, CF Private Equity, discussed the continued focus on sustainability and ESG, touching on net zero, decarbonization and climate pledges.
Responsible Investing | Private Equity Insights

COP28 Reflections: Can Intention Be Met With Action?

The 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (“COP28”) recently concluded in Dubai on December 13th, 2023. Unique to this year’s conference was the...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Four Things we Learned from Foundation Leaders

Following the release of the Council on Foundations–Commonfund Study of Investment of Endowments for Private and Community Foundations (the “Study”), Commonfund Institute hosted a three-part Coffee...
Responsible Investing | Videos

Impact and Value-Aligned Investing - Commonfund Coffee Talk

Impact and value-aligned investing The final session in our Commonfund Coffee Talk 2023 series, foundation leaders discuss impact and values-aligned investing, a focus for many foundations and the...
Responsible Investing | Private Equity Insights

Investing in the Sustainable Evolution of the Industrial Ecosystem

CF Private Equity’s Real Assets and Sustainability team recently hosted a fireside chat webinar with the Noveon Magnetics CEO, Scott Dunn. Preceding this conversation was a brief overview of CF...
Responsible Investing | Articles

Presidential Veto Upholds Legitimacy of ESG Investing

In March 2023, President Biden acted to secure the U.S. Department of Labor Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Rule as foundational investment policy that permits fiduciaries of private...
Responsible Investing | Articles

How to Implement ESG at Your Institution

The following has been adapted from a presentation delivered at Commonfund Forum 2023. The presenters were Rachel Stavola Clivaz, Associate Director, and Anthony Peretore, Managing Director,...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Why Governance Matters to ESG

According to the Financial Times “Investing within an ESG framework is now the fastest-growing segment of the asset management industry.” In line with this growth is the increasing number of...
Responsible Investing | Private Equity Insights

Investing into Energy Security

On February 24, 2022, Russia fired the first shots of its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, setting off a cascade of global changes that systemically altered the world order. The horrific humanitarian...
Responsible Investing | Articles

Aligning Endowments & Investments with Foundation Values

Reflections from the Council on Foundations' webinar The 2020 Council on Foundations-Commonfund Study of Investment of Endowments for Private and Community Foundations (CCSF) is the field’s most...
Responsible Investing | Articles

Viewpoint | The Climate for Responsible Investing is Changing

Climate change is a source of concern around the world—from environmental scientists to government policymakers to ordinary citizens. In a more figurative sense, the climate for responsible investing...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

ESG and Sustainable Investing

ESG and environmentally sustainable investment are increasingly capturing the attention of the institutional investment community. To assess the state of ESG and sustainable investing and how they...
Responsible Investing | Videos

Investing in ESG and Sustainability

ESG and environmentally sustainable investments are increasingly capturing the attention of the institutional investment community. Historically, we saw more conversation and less broad investment...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Commonfund’s Second Invitational Diverse Manager Day

Earlier this month, Commonfund held its second invitational Diverse Manager Day with 19 managers identified through our Diverse Manager Portal. These diverse managers1 , from historically...
Responsible Investing | Press Releases

Diverse Manager Portal Re-opens

WILTON, CT (August 24, 2020)— Commonfund, a prominent asset manager for endowments, foundations and public pension investors, announced today the re-opening of its online Diverse Manager Portal (“The...
Responsible Investing | Articles

Intergenerational Equity and Sustainable Investing

Intergenerational equity was defined by economist James Tobin in 1974. He wrote, “The trustees of endowed institutions are the guardians of the future against the claims of the present. Their task in...
Responsible Investing | Videos

Examining the Sustainability Conundrum

Sustainable investing, sometimes called ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) investing, has been a hotly contested topic for years. And the debate continues with both supporters and naysayers...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

DEI and Crisis Management: Staying the Course in Uncertain Times

The times we are living in are unprecedented. On March 11th, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the spread of COVID-19 constituted a global pandemic. Currently, in the U.S., the virus...
Responsible Investing | Articles

Viewpoint | Responsible Investing Practices: Evolution, Not Resolution

In recent years, responsible investing has received mounting levels of attention from all quarters of the investment management field, from institutional investors large and small to global asset...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Commonfund’s First Invitational Diverse Manager Day

On January 16th Commonfund held its first invitational Diverse Manager Day. The day was made possible as a result of the success we had from submissions to the Diverse Manager Portal launched last...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Impact Investing Trends - A Market Matures

Investment strategy influenced by altruistic intentions – broadly, impact investing – has long held sway in a small number of portfolios. Historically, impact investing has failed to gain significant...
Responsible Investing | Private Equity Insights

Integrating ESG into Private Equity Portfolios

Many investors today, particularly nonprofits, are seeking to align their investment portfolio with the mission of their organization. Commonfund is a signatory to the PRI and as part of our...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Announcing the Commonfund Diverse Manager Portal

In the fall of 2018, Commonfund announced the creation of its Diversity and Inclusion Office with the mission to “intentionally promote and foster inclusion and equity across Commonfund and our...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Looking at Gender Lens Investing

What is Gender Lens Investing? Gender lens investing has garnered significant traction in the last decade. Broadly speaking, it aims to achieve financial returns and benefit women. Given the breadth...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Emerging and Diverse Manager Programs: Worth Doing Well

Michael Rowland is the Commonfund Institute Summer Intern. He is a rising senior at Case Western Reserve University. He is majoring in Finance and Accounting. What are Diverse and Emerging Manager...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Commonfund Forum: A Carbon Neutral Event in 2019

In just two years Commonfund will celebrate its 50th anniversary as a non-profit investment manager for educational endowments, foundations and other tax-exempt investors. Throughout those almost...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

How to get Started in Responsible Investing

The biggest challenge in implementing any type of responsible investment program is in clearly defining and prioritizing those issues most relevant to an organization. Although it may seem a...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Identifying an “E” Factor

Over the past year the Commonfund investment teams have undertaken research to identify and isolate a new factor associated with the environmental sustainability of a stock (or a portfolio of...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Applying the Endowment Model to Diversity and Inclusion

Commonfund recently launched a Diversity Office, a formal, cross departmental effort focused on diversity and inclusion. The mission of the Commonfund Diversity Office is to intentionally promote and...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Viewpoint: Responsible Investing - Read All About It

The new and newsworthy in this year’s Council on Foundations–Commonfund Study of Investment of Endowments for Private and Community Foundations® (CCSF) is headlined by responsible investing. No other...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

What are the Differences Between SRI and ESG?

The Challenges of Terminology There are a great many terms referring in some way to practices related to responsible investing: socially responsible investing; mission-related investing; impact...
Responsible Investing | Articles

Diversity and Emerging Managers

The benefits of diversity are widely recognized in the work place and among educational institutions and other nonprofits. Yet, the concept of investment management firms that are minority owned and...
Responsible Investing | Articles

Should Investors Be Concerned with ESG Investing

The subject of ESG, or investing in accord with environmental, social and governance principles, arose in several sessions at Commonfund Forum 2018. One session, in particular, was devoted to the...
Responsible Investing | White Papers

From SRI to ESG: The Changing World of Responsible Investing

Investment professionals debate whether a portfolio’s long-term performance can be enhanced by including environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations in the security selection process.
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Investing in Diversity

At Commonfund, we scour the globe to find investment managers that we believe have the ability to consistently produce excess returns (alpha) over and beyond their benchmark. But alpha alone is not...
Responsible Investing | Articles

Viewpoint: Responsible Investing for Foundations

Introduction In recent years, growing attention has been paid to the use by endowed institutions of so-called responsible investing practices. The three main practices — environmental, social and...
Responsible Investing | Articles

Viewpoint: A Firmer Foundation

How long is the long term? A year ago, private and community foundations appeared to many observers to have recovered from the losses suffered in the 2008–09 global financial crisis. Double-digit...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Better Understanding Responsible Investing Practices

How can you do the most good, with limited resources, when facing enormous problems? That question lies at or near the heart of every decision at a foundation. This is true of the grant dollars which...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Integration of ESG Factors in Practical Steps

In the current climate of slow global economic growth and resource constraints at many institutions, integration of ESG considerations in an organization’s investment portfolio may be perceived as a...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Bridging the Gap: Carbon and Fiduciary Responsibility

Most institutional investor discussions and actions regarding global warming have been at two ends of the spectrum: either divest from fossil fuels entirely or remain fully invested. A better...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Responsible Investing for Foundations

Commonfund and the Council on Foundations are thrilled to announce the release of the 2016 Council on Foundations – Commonfund Study of Responsible Investing. It is the largest and most detailed...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Common Concerns about Responsible Investing

Discussions about whether responsible investing strategies help or hurt investment performance are complicated by the fact that, there are several broad categories of responsible investing practice...
Responsible Investing | Articles

Ideas for Next Gen Energy Investing

Advances in alternative energy technologies promise to reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels. Largely, however, they remain just that—a promise. So, where are the opportunities to invest in...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Responsible Investing: Terminology and Background

The terms socially-responsible investing (SRI), mission-related investing, impact investing and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing – all frequently grouped under the heading of...
Responsible Investing | Articles

Impact Investing: Balancing the Best of Responsibility & Opportunity

Impact investing is showing growth around the world. According to the most recent J.P. Morgan/Global Impact Investing Network Impact Investor Survey, the number of institutional investors engaging in...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

What is ESG Investing?

Generally speaking, Environmental Social and Governance, or ESG for short, is used to describe a group of characteristics that can have a material impact on the long-term success of a company and,...
Responsible Investing | Articles

ESG: Principles for Responsible Investment

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are a topic for active discussion in board rooms. Here’s an update on Commonfund’s thoughts and actions and how ESG may relate to you. In general,...
Responsible Investing | Articles

ESG and Your Institution: Doing Well by Doing Good

Investing according to environmental, social and governance principles is maturing into a distinct discipline. Robust research results dispute the conventional wisdom about performance trade-offs. If...