In its latest review, Vigeo downgraded Canada’s environmental performance after the country decided to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol at the end of 2011.

Regarding the Eurozone sovereign issuers, Vigeo’s ranking continues to show the relative weakness of countries such as Greece, Portugal and Italy, whose bonds value has significantly deteriorated in recent months. These countries were flagged by Vigeo as early as 2007 for their relative weaknesses in terms of institutional governance (in particular corruption, press freedom, independence of justice, etc...).  

On the other hand, Finland, Luxemburg, Germany and the Netherlands feature at the top of Vigeo’s Eurozone ranking and have all maintained the best ratings from financial rating agencies to date.

Supplemented by Vigeo’s rating of local authorities and other public or private debt issuers, this sovereign country rating service enables our investor clients to integrate ESG risk into the construction and management of their money-market and bond portfolios.

These articles are written for a wide audience and are freely available on our website.

The series was inaugurated with a first issue dedicated to the theme of sustainable palm oil, while the ninth annual meeting of the RSPO ("Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil") was held in Malaysia.

Two issues have followed: one devoted to agricultural operations and discussions on access to land in developing countries and one dedicated to sustainable animal rearing, in the context of the 2012 - 2015 strategy published by European Commission for protection and welfare of animals.

          Sustainable Palm Oil - Sustainability Focus #1

          Agricultural Operations - Sustainability Focus #2

          Sustainable Animal Rearing - Sustainability Focus #3

• Ircantec selected Vigeo as environmental, social and governance research provider to help them implement their SRI approach. Ircantec is a French institution providing complementary pensions to contract public employees and public authorities, with € 6 billion assets under management. Its objective is that its entire portfolio of securities is in compliance with its SRI investment charter by the end of 2012, thus formalizing its investor responsibilities vis-à-vis its affiliates and the society as a whole.

• For the first time, Vigeo rated the social and environmental performance of the 40 largest companies traded on the Moroccan stockmarket covering the respect for human rights and the environment, human capital development, responsible governance, business ethics and commitments to local communities. On January 30th, in a ceremony organised in Casablanca in partnership with Aswat, Nicole Notat, president of Vigeo, presented 8 “Top CSR Performers” awards to acknowledge the most advanced companies : BMCE Bank, BMCI, Centrale Laitière, Cosumar, Lafarge Ciments, Lydec, Managem and Maroc Telecom. Read the press release

• Following an external audit process conducted on all its sites, Vigeo has obtained the renewal of the CSRR-QS 2.1 certification, as recognition for its Equitics methodology, its analysis and monitoring processes. This quality certification, which Vigeo obtained for the first time in March 2009, was launched by the AI CSRR (Association of Independent Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility Research) to promote high quality research and extra-financial analytical standards.

• Vigeo’s rating used in two bonds issuance processes : On March 20th, 2012, the Ile de France region issued an innovative bond, totaling EUR 350 million, targeting exemplary social and environmental projects. Vigeo’s rating, which supported this socially responsible bond issue, placed the region at the top of its ranking of 26 European local authorities. In 2011, the French Community of Belgium had already successfully carried out a 'socially responsible' fundraising on the basis of its good extra financial performance as rated by Vigeo.

• On June 6th, 2012, the first Italian SRI day will take place in Rome. Vigeo is a partner in this event, organised by the Forum per la Finanza Sostenibile (FFS). The objective is to address all relevant issues regarding the implementation of SRI policies in investment processes. Each session will consist of a presentation of the main results of empirical research performed within the Sustainable Investment Research Program (SIRP) and discussion panels composed of SRI practitioners. Vigeo will take part in the roundtable dedicated to ESG methodologies and rating. The conference will end with the celebration of the FFS’ tenth anniversary.

• On July 2nd, 2012 Vigeo will participate in the Responsible Investment Corporate Access Conference in Zurich, organised by Tradinfo and Fair Impact. This conference represents an occasion for listed companies, investors and Responsible Investment (RI) experts to discuss the latest topical issues on Energy Efficiency and profitable business cases. Vigeo will take part in the panel discussion dedicated to 'Energy Efficiency in the Utilities Industry'. For more information about the conference and registration details : www.ricazurich.com