Research Guides: Company and Industry Research: Sustainability

Socially Responsible Investing

The term 'socially responsible investing' has different meanings for different people: pacifist, green, faith-based, sin-free, Shari'a-led, etc. Here are some links to mutual fund families, banks, and investment clubs that cater to the 'socially aware' investor or saver.

Amana Mutual Funds Trust
The Amana Funds invest according to Islamic principles, or sharia. Generally, these principles require that investors avoid interest (riba) and investments in businesses such as liquor, pornography, gambling, and banks. The Funds avoid bonds and other fixed-income securities while seeking protection against inflation by making long-term equity investments.
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Sharia compliant investment solutions.
Pax World Mutual Funds
Pax World Funds believes in Sustainable Investing – the full integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into investment analysis and decision making. Pax avoids investing in companies that are significantly involved in the manufacture of weapons or weapons-related products, manufacture tobacco products, or engage in unethical business practices.
Yahoo egroups - Women Investors
Investment clubs bring together prospective as well as veteran investors on a single platform. Usually, they are a common online forum where the veterans can share their experiences and investing philosophy and discuss companies and sectors.

Nonprofit Organizations

GuideStar
GuideStar maintains a database that gathers and publicizes information about nonprofit organizations.
Institute for Liberty and Democracy
To provide governments with the expertise and information to implement institutional reforms in property and business rights that allow citizens to be included in the market economy and thus pull themselves out of poverty and prosper.

Schaumburg's Sustainable Future

Schaumburg's Sustainable Future
Schaumburg’s Sustainable Future is a collaborative project focused on the Village of Schaumburg, Illinois, that analyzes its environmental and cultural history, evaluates its present status as an archetypal “edge city” within American suburbia, and assesses its future prospects as a sustainable community. Sponsored by Roosevelt Professor, Mike Bryson.

Featured E-books & books about Sustainability

Making Sustainability Work: Best Practices in Managing and Measuring Corporate Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts by Epstein, Marc J.
Call Number: AUD HD60 .E67 2008
ISBN: 9781906093051
Epstein (Management, Rice U.) gives advice on how to implement corporate sustainability practices in large organizations, building upon his own research and the "best practices" of some 100 real world companies.
Handbook of Sustainable Development by Giles Atkinson
Call Number: E-book: Ebrary, c2007
Thirty-two international academics and researchers contribute 25 chapters examining what has been achieved so far in the area of sustainable development, on which aspects consensus has emerged, and what remaining challenges lie ahead.

Sustainable Business Practices

GreenBiz
GreenBiz advances the opportunities at the intersection of business, technology and sustainability.

The Sustainable Business Institute defines corporate sustainability as "the business practice of improving profitability, competitiveness, and market share while preserving natural resources and ensuring the well-being of all life on this planet."

Energy Star
Energy Star is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy helping us all save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices.

NYSE Listed Manufacturers

Manitowoc Cranes
Manitowoc Cranes is a Wisconsin firm committed to providing the most innovative, advanced and comprehensive range of lifting solutions, including dredging waterways and building wind farms.

Sustainability Initiatives at Other Universities

Sustainability at Rider University
Rider University, a two-campus university like Roosevelt, has put together this research guide called "Sustainable Rider". It has links specific to the Rider community, in addition to many interesting general web sites.

Social Responsibility Indices

Fortune's Reputation Survey of Most Admired Companies
Check out the best & worst ratings of the worldwide companies surveyed in Fortune's annual review of Most Admired Companies.
FTSE KLD 400 Social Index
A float-adjusted, market capitalization-weighted, common stock index of U.S. equities first launched in May 1990. The index is made of companies with exemplary social and environmental records.
Calvert Social Index
The Calvert Social Index is a broad-based, rigorously constructed benchmark for measuring the performance of large, U.S.-based socially responsible companies. Calvert’s philosophy is that long-term rewards to investors will come from companies and other entities whose products, services, and methods contribute to a more sustainable future.
Environmental Performance Index
Yale's annual EPI Index provides a gauge, at a national government scale, of how close countries are to objectively weighted emissions, pollution, sanitation, and disease-prevention metrics.