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
Senior sponsors of the Investment Leaders Group meet to provide a strategic steer for group’s work
4 February 2015
28 January 2015 – Senior sponsors joined their working group representatives at the Zurich Development Center, Zurich, Switzerland to be updated on the progress of the workstreams and to provide a strategic steer.
Launch of the Investment Leaders Group
4 November 2014
8 October 2013, press release – Launch of the Investment Leaders Group Cambridge hosts a new project to advance sustainable investing: The Investment Leaders Group will bring together leading firms in the sector.
Investor rigour key to green bonds success
3 November 2014
5 June 2014 – A Financial Times letter penned by the Chair of CISL’s Investment Leaders Group emphasises the critical link between investor rigour and the success of the green bond market.
3 November 2014
25–26 February 2014 – The Investment Leaders Group Working Meeting was hosted by ILG Chair Philippe Zaouati at Natixis Asset Management’s headquarters in Paris.
Investment Leaders Group inaugural working meeting
3 November 2014
8 May 2013 – Investment Leaders Group members were convened for the first time at a working meeting in London. The meeting focused on identifying key areas of shared interest and opportunities for impact on which the Group would focus its first stage of work.
The Value of Responsible Investment: The moral, financial and economic case for action
23 October 2014
May 2014 – Investors are uniquely placed to support economic activity that enhances the environment, sustains livelihoods and contributes to economic stability. And with thousands of signatories to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, support for these values has never been stronger. The imperative now is to convert ambition into effective investment practice.
