Frequently Asked Questions

1. How was the London Accord created?
2. What are the objectives of the London Accord?
3. Who provides the reports?
4. Who should read the London Accord reports?
5. Why read investment research on Environmental, Social & Governance issues?
6. Who manages the London Accord?
7. How can I get involved?

1. How was the London Accord created?

The London Accord first started in 2005 when an informal group of financial services organisations, researchers and investors led by Professor Michael Mainelli came together to discuss how investment research expertise could help inform policy-makers on issues such as climate change and other Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) issues.

For background information on the first year of the project, read The Road to London.

2. What are the objectives of the London Accord?

The London Accord is an “open source” research resource that intends to share investment research produced by the international financial community on ESG issues and to make it accessible to a range of audiences including policy-makers, investors, entrepreneurs, NGOs and members of the public. Recognising that today’s extra financial and social issues are tomorrow’s key investment drivers, the London Accord acts as a nexus between the financial services industry and society to engage on long-term thinking about ESG issues, finance and policies.

3.  Who provides the reports?

Our contributors comprise mostly financial services organisations that devote significant efforts to investment research in general and about environmental, social and governance issues in particular.  However, we do also welcome relevant research from other organisations including academic centres, public sector organisations and research organisations.

We are grateful to our contributors for sharing their investment research on ESG issues thereby helping to make high quality research on ESG issues and finance widely accessible.

Access the full list of reports.

4.  Who should read the London Accord reports?

Ideally, sharing investment research thinking and methodologies should be helpful to policy-makers, solutions providers and NGOs to understand how the financial services community integrates ESG aspects in its activities. We hope this in turn helps informing more effective policies that work with financial services thinking, particularly on things such as cap-and-trade, investment assessment and portfolio allocations.

5. Why read investment research on Environmental, Social & Governance issues?

Investment research is conducted by experts from the international financial community and represents an extraordinarily valuable source of information.  

We hope you find this “open source” of investment research on ESG issues clear, accessible and useful.

We hope investors realise that the London Accord shows the time is right to change investment strategy markedly due to climate change and other ESG issues. Over the past decade, investment opportunities in areas such as microfinance, carbon reduction, cleantech and SRI have increased in relevance. There are existing and near-term opportunities of significance. Great changes in investment methodologies and weightings are taking place. We anticipate the trend toward sustainable investment will continue.

We hope policy-makers find the London Accord a valuable source of investment expertise and a useful way to understand financial services thinking on ESG issues. We believe that appropriate policies and incentive schemes are needed to address current challenges. We are convinced that policy schemes working with market mechanisms, such as cap-and-trade systems, will result in significant investments flows in ESG.

Acknowledging the need for innovations and new technologies to address current challenges, we hope solution providers, entrepreneurs and companies hoping to deliver ESG solutions are aided by the variety of reports provided.

We hope that the London Accord’s “open source” approach to investment research shows NGOs and activists how financial services institutions think. If the London Accord helps NGOs and activists understand how financial services institutions evaluate climate change and other ESG aspects as a way to make money, great. If the London Accord helps them understand how to influence financial services institutions towards sustainability, that’s even better.

6. Who manages the London Accord?

The London Accord is an “open resource” provided and managed by Z/Yen Group Limited, in close collaboration with our contributors and sponsors.

7. How can I get involved?

If you would like to share investment research on ESG issues or for any other query, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If you would like to receive regular news updates, sign up to the Long Finance community and then select the London Accord group.