Resumen de Financial institutions and non-governmental organizations: An advocacy partnership for sustainable capital markets?
In this article, the Chief Responsibility Officer for Aviva Investors examines the potential for financial institutions (FIs) to work in partnership with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in advocating changes to public policy that promote sustainable capital markets. Many NGOs have argued that the current form of global economic growth is unsustainable-and they routinely engage in public policy advocacy. However, such advocacy has generally proved ineffective, in large part because most NGOs have a very limited understanding of how capital markets function. Investors, for their part, are increasingly recognizing that key aspects of the global economy are on an unsustainable footing. And some are concerned about the negative implications for the long-term value of their assets. But with a few notable exceptions, they have not made systematic efforts to work with governments to correct the market failures. NGO-FI advocacy partnerships could identify specific cases of systemic or sectoral market failures, and recommend long-term changes to the sectoral operating environment that would affect the cash flows and values of companies operating within that sector in ways designed to 'internalize' the effects of negative social and environmental externalities. To foster the development of such partnerships, there is a need for academia to develop learning forums that stimulate the exchange of ideas between the executives within NGOs and FIs in an environment of mutual trust and respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
