Call for proposals for a new Greenleaf Publishing book series

Responsible Investment

General Editor: Dr Rory Sullivan (Head of Responsible Investment, Insight Investment)

The capital markets have a critical role to play in the global economy, through the provision and efficient allocation of capital. The effective deployment of capital is an essential ingredient of sustainable development: it can support economic growth, provide capital for essential infrastructure and services, contribute to a vibrant and entrepreneurial private sector, and support the taxation base that governments need to provide schools, hospitals and other essential infrastructure and services. Despite the importance of capital to the global economy, investors have been criticised for their focus on financial innovation and short-term profit rather than longer-term sustainable growth, for failing to ensure that the companies in which they invest operate to high standards of corporate governance and corporate responsibility, for exacerbating problems such as global warming, resource depletion, bribery and corruption, and for not being properly accountable to regulators or to wider society.

These criticisms, together with the growing recognition of the financial opportunities presented by issues such as climate change and the importance of good corporate governance to long-term investment performance, have triggered a dramatic change in investors’ attitudes to corporate governance and corporate responsibility issues. ‘Responsible investment’ is increasingly seen as a mainstream part of investment management; the European Social Investment Forum estimates that the total socially responsible investment (SRI) assets under management in Europe had reached €2.6 trillion by the end of 2007, and some 500 asset managers, pension funds and other investment-related organisations have now signed the UN Principles for Responsible Investment. Many investors now explicitly include consideration of environmental, social and governance issues in their investment decisions, there has been a significant growth in the amount of money invested in areas such as renewable energy and microfinance, and investors have – individually and collectively – contributed to important outcomes such as improved governance and remuneration practices in many firms reduced prices of AIDS medicines, improved management of greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants and wastes, and the adoption of environmental standards and improvements in labour conditions in retail supply chains. Investors have also started to play a greater role in public policy, most notably on climate change but also on issues such as revenue transparency and bribery and corruption.

The Greenleaf Responsible Investment Series

In 2006, Greenleaf published the ground-breaking collection Responsible Investment, edited by Rory Sullivan and Craig Mackenzie. In response to the very positive feedback we have received on this volume, and given the central importance of investors in ensuring high standards of corporate governance and corporate responsibility as well as the wider importance of the capital markets to sustainable development, we have decided to establish the Greenleaf Responsible Investment Series.

The series aims to provide a forum for outstanding empirical and theoretical work in all aspects of responsible investment. It will seek to explicitly integrate theory about responsible investment with management practice, providing a forum where the tensions and practical realities of responsible investment can be addressed in a readable, robust, and conceptually and empirically rigorous format. The series will publish the best ideas and research on responsible investment in a manner that is accessible, engaging, interesting and useful for readers in business, consultancy, government, NGOs and academia.

The scope of the series is deliberately broad, reflecting the breadth of issues, strategies and actors involved. We welcome proposals/publications on all aspects of responsible investment, including but not limited to:

• Responsible investment strategies (engagement, voting, screening, investment integration, etc.), examining question such as the investment performance of different investment strategies and the environmental, social and governance outcomes that have been achieved.
• Responsible investment in different asset classes (equities, fixed income, commodities, government debt, private equity, hedge funds, fund-of-fund strategies, etc.)
• Responsible investment by different actors (e.g. pension funds, asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, private equity funds, insurance companies). This could include consideration of the strategies adopted, the outcomes achieved, the political context within which responsible investment has been implemented, the barriers to action, and the manner in which organisational issues (beliefs, resources, capacities) have been addressed
• Responsible investment in different geographical regions, and how geography, politics and economics influences the shape, form and outcomes from responsible investment
• Investor collaboration, focusing on how collective initiatives such as the Carbon Disclosure Project, the UN Principles for Responsible Investment and PharmaFutures have functioned and the environmental, social and governance outcomes they have delivered
• The public policy implications of responsible investment. This could include analysis of the role of investors in public policy processes, and the policy contribution of self-regulatory initiatives such as the UN Principles for Responsible Investment
• Responsible investment and fiduciary duty. This could include analysis of issues such as investor time horizons, governance issues within the investment chain or obstacles to mainstreaming responsible investment
• Stakeholders’ views on responsible investment, including examples of where stakeholders have sought to harness the capital markets to deliver on their specific campaigning objectives
• The role of responsible investment in responding to specific environmental, social or governance issues. This could be analysed thematically (e.g. climate change, executive remuneration, responsible banking, development/poverty alleviation, human rights) or could be a wider look at the role of the capital markets in the global financial crisis
• The changing investment landscape. For example, what are the wider implications of mainstreaming responsible investment (e.g. will investors’ expectations coalesce around lowest-common-denominator approaches), and how will the move from defined benefit to defined contribution affect the market for responsible investment

We welcome proposals for both authored books and edited collections. We are also interested in proposals/abstracts for case studies or stand-alone articles. These may be considered for dedicated issues of the Journal of Corporate Citizenship or Greener Management International , or for specific collections in this series.

Once we have received these materials, we will initiate a review process and aim to provide a detailed response as quickly as practicable.

Proposal guidelines: books/edited collections

Authors should send to us:

• A covering letter that explains the concept and aims of the proposed book. Will it contain primary research or work not previously published?
• A description of the intended readership. Will the readership be especially strong in any particular geographic area? Will the book be useful to an academic or practitioner audience? If academic, at what level?
• A description of how the proposal differs from other books currently on the market. Why is it unique? What other material has been published on this topic (please provide details)?
• A CV
• A detailed Table of Contents or, for an edited collection, a list of possible/probable contributors
• An indication of the intended size of the book, either in A4 pages or word extent
• Several sample chapters including an introductory chapter
• A likely completion date
• Suggestions on how the book might be marketed (key audiences, networks that may be interested, potential course adoptions) and whether there are possibilities for bulk purchases by the author(s) or their organisation

Proposal guidelines: articles/chapters/case studies

Authors should send to us:

• 300-500 word abstract that explains the concept and aims of the article/chapter/case study
• A CV
• A likely completion date

Please address proposals to:

John Stuart
Managing Editor
Greenleaf Publishing
Aizlewood Business Centre
Aizlewood’s Mill
Nursery Street
Sheffield S3 8GG
UK
john.stuart@greenleaf-publishing.com