Ethical Funds Inc. joins international investors in call for transparency in oil and mining

Ethical Funds Inc. is the only Canadian signatory to a global pact calling for greater disclosure by extractive industries worldwide.

The Statement, known as the Investors’ Statement on Transparency in the Extractives Sector, gathers fund managers and pension funds from the UK, US, Europe, Canada and South Africa to support a UK-led intergovernmental effort to boost transparency standards in the oil and mining industries in developing countries. An estimated $3 trillion in assets is represented by the funds signing on to the statement.

The statement calls on global extractive companies to play an active role in the UK government’s Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which seeks to bring companies and governments together to disclose contracts in developing countries. The aim is to reduce business risks and costs related to poor governance and corruption.

“This is an extremely ambitious undertaking – nobody is kidding themselves that rooting out corruption is going to be merely a matter of pledging support for a government statement,” said Karina Litvack, head of Governance and Socially Responsible Investment at ISIS Asset Management, which coordinated the Investor’s Statement. “But companies and their investors simply cannot standby as governance standards continue to deteriorate, even as we become ever more dependent on these distant resources to fuel our own economies.”

For more information, visit ISIS Asset Management.

Back to news and  archives