Emerging Market Disclosure Project Calls for Action

The Emerging Markets Disclosure Project (EMDP) is an international initiative to improve corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG or sustainability) reporting in emerging markets.  The EMDP is under the leadership of a steering committee comprised of representatives from Boston Common Asset Management, Calvert Investments and the Social Investment Forum (SIF) and SIF’s International Working Group, with technical advisory support from the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI).  SIF is also the secretariat for the EMDP. 

In June 2008, the EMDP’s coordinators called on investors to join them in signing onto the EMDP Investor Statement on Sustainability Reporting in Emerging Markets, and 29 global institutional investors with close to $1 trillion in assets under management heeded that call to encourage companies in emerging markets to provide better ESG information.  More than 15 other firms affiliated with the socially responsible investment movement, including investment advisors and research providers, also signed the statement in support of the initiative. 

Today, the EMDP Steering Committee is asking the signatories to confirm their support of the investor statement and, if appropriate, to please provide the EMPD with an up-to-date estimate of their assets under management by March 31, 2010.  For those of you hearing about the project for the first time or who missed the opportunity to sign on in 2008, we also welcome you to sign onto the investor statement by March 31, 2010.  To become a signatory to the statement, we only need an e-mail confirmation from you and, if you are an investor organization, an estimate of your firm’s total assets under management.   

This renewed call to action comes as the EMDP enters its third and critical final phase, which is focused on outreach and engagement to promote greater disclosure of sustainability factors by corporations operating in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Africa and South Korea.  As part of this effort, country teams comprised of local and international investors will be sending letters to and meeting with selected companies, so it is more important than ever that they can point to your support to help persuade the companies to improve their ESG reporting practices.  Please join us.