Responsible investment bodies: what is Eurosif?

Eurosif, or the European Sustainable Investment Forum, is the overarching responsible investment body for the whole of Europe. Its mission is to “develop sustainability through European financial markets”.

It brings together a number of sustainable investment forums (SIFs) from across the continent; the five founding SIFs being from the UK (UKSIF), France (FIR), Germany (FNG), Italy (Forum per la Finanza Sostenibile) and the Netherlands (VBDO). Belgium, Spain and Sweden joined later on.

Eurosif also boasts a number of high-profile member affiliates – which include institutional investors, financial services providers, academic institutes, trade unions and NGOs – that represent over €1 trillion in assets. EIRIS, FTSE, Triodos Bank, Bloomberg and KPMG are among those organisations to be signed up.

The pan-European sustainable investment body helps members and national SIFs to promote and network their services, as well as undertaking crucial research into the socially responsible investment (SRI) sector’s growth.

For example, its third High Net-Worth Individuals and Sustainable Investment study revealed in November that over the past two years, sustainable investments made by high net-worth individuals in Europe had increased by almost 60% – compared to just an 18% rise in the total wealth in this demographic.

Eurosif’s board of directors is made up of representatives from each of the national SIFs, and its executive director is Francois Passant.

Visit Eurosif’s website here.

Further reading:

Ethical and sustainable: what’s the difference?

What kind of investor are you?

Drop in ethical fund sales part of a ‘general decline’

Sustainable investment flourishes amongst European high net-worth individuals

The Guide to Sustainable Investment 2012 (NEIW edition)