Part 1: Introduction to Erika Karp & Greg Elders
Why this subject? Why now? Erika Karp, Cornerstone Capital Group founder and CEO and a former Wall Street research chief, counts off asset owners, asset managers, investment banks, social media, NGOs, regulators, accountants, exchanges. ‘Everything is moving toward more transparency, collaboration and understanding of what sustainability means to the capital markets,’ she says.
Greg Elders, senior ESG analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, sympathizes with IROs who think investors don’t care, but insists there’s growing awareness of how water issues, energy efficiency, employee turnover, safety and other issues are affecting profitability.
Elders, whose Twitter handle is @gregoryelders, is part of a team formed by Bloomberg to provide unbiased analysis and context around all of its data. ‘No good, no bad, no buy, no sell, but data-driven research, and that’s something we’ve brought to ESG as well,’ he sums up.

More in this series:
Part 2: Defining ‘corporate sustainability’ and examples from around the world
Part 3: The data challenge
Part 4: Engagement & the ‘Shareholder Alignment Frontier’
Part 5: Linking diversity
Part 6: Here come the Millennials
Part 7: The momentum keeps building

Produced by Bloomberg and IR Magazine, February 2016