At the opening panel session of the Triple Bottom Line Investors conference held in Frankfurt, Germany on Nov. 2, BFSD members discussed their PRIME (Project for the Responsible Investment Management of Endowments) initiative. Deutsche Bank’s Michael Hölz and Calvert’s Barbara Krumsiek both took part in a session which asked the question, “Does Sustainable Investment Provide Value?”.

Along with other panelists from Calpers (California, USA), ABP (Netherlands), and Bank Sarasin (Switzerland) the two Bellagio Forum members and PRIME supporters touched on wide-ranging issues related to sustainable development.

During the session Michael Hoelz explained, “There is a great deal of experience and evidence that indicates that sustainable investment has either no effect, or a positive effect on portfolio performance. Naturally it depends on how one defines the topic. However, it remains the case that the perception among investors is that this type of investment hurts performance. With the Bellagio Forum PRIME initiative, we aim first to spread awareness among endowed foundations. We are interested in providing them with the tools they need to understand this world, and then to talk with their boards, trustees and asset managers about the desire, indeed responsibility to align their asset management practices with their mission.