The Investment Leaders Group (ILG) is a global network of pension funds, insurers and asset managers, with over $9 trillion under management and advice. The group is committed in its mission to advance the practice of responsible investment.The ILG is a voluntary initiative, driven by its members, facilitated by the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), and supported by academics in the University of Cambridge. |
Decisions and positions of the group do not represent the policies or positions of CISL or of the wider University of Cambridge.
Vision
The ILG´s vision is an investment chain in which economic, social and environmental sustainability are delivered as an outcome of the investment process as investors go about generating robust, long-term returns. Read more about the Value of Responsible Investment here.
ILG objectives and outcomes
Our projects...Are leading edge and innovation focusedConnect to change in the real economyLeverage a unique pre-competitive environment |
Helping to ...Decarbonise the global economyProtect and restore natureSupport inclusive and resilient societies |
By ensuring that..Capital acts for the long termCapital is priced according to the true cost of business activitiesFinancial structures better serve sustainable business |
Our activities drive impact by
- Providing unique access to world-class University of Cambridge research and academic excellence
- Internal capacity building and knowledge generation as projects are developed and adopted within member organisations
- Designing tools and services that provide commercial benefit for members and enhance best practice across the market
- Two-way dialogue and network engagement with CISL’s sustainable finance, corporate and policy communities
Areas of focus
Measuring sustainable investment impactsThe Sustainable Investment Framework offers a set of impact metrics that translate the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into measurable indicators that can be calculable, easily understood and implementable by members. |
Promoting long-termismThe ILG has developed a toolkit for investors aiming to design investment mandates to help shift the investment chain towards responsible, long-term value creation. Central to the toolkit is a checklist which allows asset owners and retail clients to assess a fund's long-term orientation and enables asset managers to review their own performance. |
Understanding consumer preferences and behavioursThe ILG, together with Cambridge academics from the Department of Psychology developed a Virtual Investment Experiment (VIE), to test investor preferences as to how they trade off financial performance against impact. |
Risk and resilienceOur research in this area aims to empower investors to understand how shifts in market sentiment induced by awareness of how present and future environmental risks could affect global financial markets in the short term. |
Meet the team
Elizabeth Clark
Programme Manager
Sara Taaffe
Senior Project Manager
Trisha Mani
Senior Project Manager
What our members say about the ILG
"Membership of CISL’s Investment Leaders Group delivers a powerful sweet spot that connects an impressive network of leading investment industry practitioners with first class academia and research specialists."
John Belgrove, Chair of ILG Senior Sponsors group and Director of Future Thinking, Aon
"We find the ILG’s mandate to provide member-driven, solution based outputs backed by world class academic expertise helps its members navigate sustainable investment challenges and makes for a very powerful combination."
Will Oulton, Chair, ILG Working Group, Global Head of Responsible Investment
"The ILG provides UBP with a valuable conduit of strong academic research covering broad areas within sustainability originating from a well-resourced, impressively connected institution in CISL, that has specialised in this important area for over 30 years. Much of what we learn from this body would be difficult to replicate from other sources. Furthermore, the opportunity to share approaches to sustainability within a forum of asset owners and investment managers shapes and enhances UBP’s own efforts and through collaboration, magnifies the impact we could hope to achieve alone."
Victoria Leggett, Head of Impact Investing, Union Bancaire Privée
Latest
Climate change sentiment – a risk to investment portfolios in the short term
19 January 2016
Climate change sentiment – a risk to investment portfolios in the short term In an article for Business Green, Dr Jake Reynolds, Director of Sustainable Economy at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, explores the case for stress-testing investments against shifting climate change...
Why we should stop talking about 'human capital'
14 January 2016
Why we should stop talking about 'human capital' In this article, Carlos Joly, Fellow at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, suggests that the business claim that 'people are our greatest assets' is misleading and argues that 'human capital' is an oxymoron. 14 January 2016 The...
Unhedgeable risk: How climate change sentiment impacts investment
10 November 2015
November 2015 – This report analyses how shifts in market sentiment induced by awareness of future climate risks could impact global financial markets in the short term.
Climate change sentiment could hit global investment portfolios in the short term (report)
10 November 2015
12 November 2015 – A new report by the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership reveals that global investment portfolios could lose up to 45 per cent as a consequence of short-term shifts in climate change sentiment.
Unhedgeable risk: How climate change sentiment impacts investment
9 November 2015
Unhedgeable risk: How climate change sentiment impacts investment Dr Jake Reynolds, Director, Sustainable Economy 12 November 2015 In an article for ESG Magazine, Dr Jake Reynolds explains why financial markets are not immune to the impacts of climate change in the short term. Climate change poses...
Feeding the planet: a mission for responsible investors
8 May 2015
Feeding the planet: a mission for responsible investors Guest blog from Mathilde Dufour, Deputy Head of Responsible Investment Research at Mirova 12 May 2015 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life' is the theme of the Universal Exhibition, Expo Milano 2015. From now until October, governments...
Expert advisory panel steers ILG framework on climate change portfolio risk
10 April 2015
13 October 2014 – Investors are beginning to ask how global environmental trends such as increased pressure on land for food production, soil degradation and extremes of weather will affect the financial performance of countries, industries and firms.
Fiduciary Duty in Support of Responsible Investment: Joint work with Harvard
30 March 2015
14 January 2015 – Conventional interpretations of fiduciary duty have often been a barrier to responsible investment, holding back the alignment of investments with long-term value creation. However, recent work in this area has emphasised the congruence of responsible investment with the legal obligations of fiduciary duty encompassed in its duties of loyalty, care, and prudence.
Old Mutual becomes the Investment Leaders Group’s newest member
17 March 2015
16 March 2015 – The ILG has recently welcomed its newest member, Old Mutual, to its group of global investors leading on directing capital towards sustainable economic development.
Responsible investment with teeth
26 February 2015
27 November 2014 – University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership Fellow Carlos Joly presents on ensuring real, positive ESG impact at the 2014 RIAA Conference.
