Brazil Finds Out Principles for Responsible Investing

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) launched, Wednesday, May 10, in Rio, Brazil,  the Principles for Responsible Investing in Latin America, to encourage financial institutions to incorporate the concept of corporate governance in their investments, loans, and other financial operations.

Corporate governance includes concerns over the environment, social development, and institutional quality.

According to Careen Abb, who is in charge of this sector in the UN regional office, the Principles have already been promulgated in the United States and Europe, and around 50 financial institutions have already endorsed these precepts.

"Our idea is, for example, to encourage investors to give preference to the activities of institutions with good social practices. And for investors to negotiate with the others to meet these criteria as a prerequisite for receiving financial resources."

The Bank of Brazil’s Employees’ Pension Fund (PREVI) is the first Brazilian investor to subscribe to the principles. The fund is establishing a work group to develop concrete methods to apply the principles.

"We will seek tools to be able to measure the level of social responsibility in economic terms," informed the president of the PREVI, Sérgio Rosa.

The president of the Brazilian Foundation for Sustainable Development, Isaura Frondizi, said she believes that a large number of Brazilian investors will be interested.

"Besides not wanting their image to be associated with enterprises that harm society, there is the credit risk, especially for long-term investments, such as in the construction of a hydroelectric plant.

"If 20 years from now its [generating] capacity falls as a result of a diminished water supply, it will be financially impaired."

Agência Brasil

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil Starts US$ 12 Million War Games and Vows to Grow 4% in 2009

The Brazilian economy is expected to expand 4% in 2009 as oil exploration bolsters ...

Latin America Is Going the Brazilian Way, Not the American Way

Foreign ministers from 34 of the 35 countries in the Americas met this week ...

Brazil’s Development Bank Has Loaned Close to US$ 50 Billion This Year, a Record

The BNDES, Brazil's National Bank for Economic and Social Development, announced that it disbursed ...

Very Un-Brazilian

I have heard Brazilians comment that people in other countries, US and Europe specifically, ...

Exports Up in Brazil with US$ 34 Billion Surplus for the Year

Brazil has exported US$ 12.549 billion in September. On the other hand imports reached ...

Brazilian Doctor Gets US$ 1 Million Award in US for Work with Kids

Brazilian Zilda Arns Neumann, a pediatrician who founded and leads Pastoral da Criança (the ...

Iron and Cars Bring State of Minas, Brazil, Record Exports

The state of Minas Gerais, in southeastern Brazil, exported the equivalent to US$ 1.49 ...

US Foundation Tells Brazil to Break Patents If Needed to Keep AIDS Program Going

On the heels of an article published yesterday, January 3, in the Boston Globe, ...

Training in English and Food Safety to Improve Brazil’s Tourism Appeal

The project Paths of Flavor (Caminhos do Sabor), promoted by the Brazilian Ministry of ...

Brazilian market sells organic fruit

Brazil Is World’s Second Largest Producer of Organics and 70% Is Exported

Sales of organic products at supermarkets in Brazil should surpass 1.25 billion Brazilian reais ...